NASCAR announced earlier this week that it has partnered with Hey Dude and that a collection of five shoes will be dropping for sale, three of these inspired by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. What causes a slight irk is that the brand was involved in fraudulent marketing and shipping practices not very long before.
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The Federal Trade Commission charged that the company suppressed negative reviews and violated the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule in multiple ways between 2020 and 2022. First, it failed to issue shipping delay notices to consumers. Second, it failed to cancel delayed orders and deliver prompt refunds. Finally, it issued gift cards instead of monetary refunds, as required by the rule for purchases ordered but not shipped.
The Commission also contended that more than 80% of the reviews that provided four or less than four stars weren’t displayed on the website. All these charges forced the company to settle in September 2023.
Notably, the company was procured by Crocs Inc. in February 2022. The subsequent proposed court order required Hey Dude to pay $1.95 million to the FTC, to which it obliged. The commission sent out PayPal payments valued at $1.9 million to 36,757 customers as refunds earlier this month. The disadvantage that NASCAR will have by being associated with Hey Dude is obvious.
The Elliott-inspired shoe will mimic the paint scheme of his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy and the Larson-inspired one will mimic that of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. Both shoes will be available on the Hey Dude website, Rack Room Shoes, and other retailers for a price of $74.99. In addition to theirs and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s there’s also a pair that pays homage to the Daytona 500.
Megan Malayter, NASCAR’s VP of Licensing and Consumer Products, told the press, “HEYDUDE is an ideal partner to add to NASCAR’s licensing portfolio and one that will absolutely resonate with NASCAR fans.” It certainly is an interesting decision on the sanctioning body’s part that it decided to turn a blind eye to the company’s troubled recent history.
