Namiwear Brand LLC Did not deliver clothing after purchase from 2021 and 2023. Refused refunds. spotsylvania VA

BACKGROUND

This report is meant to give a comprehensive breakdown of my allegations against Dominic Jiminez of Namiwear Brand LLC. Dominic through Namiwear is a social media influencer, fashion designer, and comic book writer. Namiwear is the fashion brand while Tenpinz and Soul Search are his comics. Tenpinz is published through Namiwear brand LLC. Namiwear is an anime streetwear fashion brand that has been in business since approximately 2019. The business would frequently utilize a pre-order model in which the customer would prepay for items and would eventually receive them based on what date was on the listing. Items would be promoted as being produced in limited quantities and once sold would not be relisted.

Since the beginning of 2023, Dominic has created a discord channel which is a public forum people can join where they could get updates directly from Dominic. As of December 30th, 2023, there are 640 members in the discord. Throughout the summer of 2023, he would move away from handing customer inquiries through direct messaging on social media and ask customers to join the discord channel. Dominic at times was rude, sarcastic, and dismissive of customer inquiries regarding updates on the production of items as well as refusing refunds. He would argue and insult customers which in turn would incite customers. Moderators would also be rude to customers with one instance of a moderator insulting the entire channel with an ADHD insult who would later double down on their comments with no supervision or apology from Dominic.

This was all visible to other members of the discord. Frequently people would be banned from the discord either by Dominic or one of his moderators for speaking up, questioning motives, or being argumentative with Dominic. This created an environment of fear where nobody could question Dominic without being banned from the discord. Between July 2023 and December 2023 due to his website rebranding after his alleged end-of-business sale to promote his comic book Tenpinz, customers would be locked out of their Namiwear accounts. The only way for a customer to have information about their past and pending orders would be either through email if they didn’t lose access to the email or the discord channel.  If a customer is banned from the discord channel, they will not have any other way to get information about their pending purchases. As of December 2023, customers can log in to their Namiwear accounts, but a banned customer would only learn this by checking of their own volition. His website is not formatted well for mobile so accessing the website on your phone makes it difficult to see where you would log in to view your account.

Frequently Dominic would announce he would step away from the discord. At times expressing it to us as not wishing to speak to his customers, he’s done talking to us, and no longer wishes for us to have access to him. Control would be passed to his moderators who frequently would not be given all the information or the ability to make decisions such as refunds but function as a megaphone of Dominic’s. In December of 2023, Dominic would have the discord rehauled with a human-monitored AI template for his discord. Allegedly Dominic has stepped away from the operations of Namiwear leaving it in the hands of his marketing/operations managers. In the discord, we were told it is a group of 5 people who are investing in Namiwear to handle the backlog and handle existing orders. On a video call with one of the new moderators, they stated that since taking over operations for Namiwear they were still collecting and sorting all the information and were not aware of many of his practices and would attempt to address them in the coming days. Currently, the discord updates channel has had its history blocked from non-moderators, and the complaints channel was removed entirely. Dominic has since deleted many of his Instagram posts and has announced across social media that he was stepping away from social media due to the criticisms he’s received from consumers, members of his social media audience, and others.

ALLEGATIONS

Violation of the Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule

 I believe that Dominic Is in violation of the mail, internet, or telephone order merchandise rule by refusing refunds to customers. Some customers have been able to obtain a refund however not without hostility from him and in one instance on social media having someone’s username and message to him posted on his Instagram to his nearly 26K plus followers in addition to complaining about refunds he has given. Many customers have been waiting for merchandise going as far back as 2021 and have asked for a refund rather than waiting for their purchases. On August 4th, 2023, he made a post in the discord stating he would no longer do cash refunds.

In other posts to the discord, he stated that refunds disrupt the process. While he has stated that a damaged or defective item would make someone eligible for a refund. His actual refund policy states otherwise. His refund policy in 2020 did allow for cash refunds in any case. However, the policy has since been changed and currently does not allow refunds for pre-order items which cannot be refunded before shipping, which is the majority of his items. Delays are not grounds for refunds, Refunds can only be store credit. Clearance items cannot be refunded. This also includes items purchased with a discount code. Before 2023, Dom used to give regular updates regarding the status of items, however for several reasons ranging from his health, full-time job as a digital art teacher, time available, Preparing for tests such as the praxis or other reasons, items would be frequently delayed, and updates would become increasingly scarce as time went on.

I did attempt to reach out to Dominic on November 13th of 2023 requesting a refund for all my pending purchases stating that due to the behavior of what I was witnessing in the discord, I no longer wished to support the brand as a customer and politely asked for a refund. He did say I could request a refund once my items arrived however, he stated that clearance items or items that use a discount code are not eligible for cash refunds.

 We would periodically get visuals outlining what would be shipping or put into production, rarely be given a definitive date for the shipping of items besides a month or a season (such as spring 2024) with no definitive date of when future pending items would be produced or shipped. If dates were stated, they were rarely honored before being delayed. In October of 2023, he made a post on Instagram saying that he could sell whatever he wanted and would even use a message from a customer in the discord to promote his booth number at Anime NYC 2023 stating that he’s “selling whatever I want” in response to the customer writing “Please don’t sell no more clothes while you’re there”. Articles of clothing have been promoted for sale since the alleged end of business sale. Based on the master sheet of pending orders shown to us by his new operations manager on a video call with some of the consumers, only $880 of revenue was ever refunded in comparison to the hundreds of thousands made in revenue. On January 2nd 2024 Dominic would come again on the discord and promise that refunds will be scheduled in the coming weeks. However no definitive date was given and customers are still unable to obtain a prompt refund at this time. Per Dominic on January 4th 2024 “The refund policy Refunds are only being processed for items that follow the policy either damaged or sizing so far the only product I'm accepting refunds on are the yusuke jacket because that's the one that went out that has some issues but moving forward that's how they will be processed it has to be after an item has been received.” The admin would follow up with more detail writing: “Refund Policy for Namiwear Discord Channel Refund Eligibility: Damaged Items: Notify us upon receiving a damaged item for a replacement or refund. Incorrect Sizing: Exchange available for sizing issues. Non-Refundable: Change of Mind: Refunds not issued for a change of mind. Wear and Tear: Normal wear over time not eligible. Refund Request: DM Namiwear Support with Order Number. Include clear photos of any damaged items. Refund Processing: Approved refunds processed within a reasonable timeframe. Refunds issued to the original payment method. Note: We may update this policy; changes will be posted in the Discord channel. Questions? DM Namiwear Support.”

Engaged in Unfair, Deceptive, and Abusive Practices

The Noir Caesar Lawsuit

I believe Dominic deceived consumers by misrepresenting information regarding his lawsuit with his former partner Noir Cesar and blaming many of the production problems on them. Around May of 2022, Dominic announced via his socials that he would be taking legal action against his former partner Johnny O’Bryant III, the owner of Noir Caesar Entertainment. Allegedly the lawsuit was occurring during this time, but this is the first public mention to consumers. Their initial partnership was a 70/30 split. Dominic alleged breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair and deceptive trade practices, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, promissory estoppel, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and conversion in his lawsuit and was seeking over 200k in damages. The lawsuit would be involuntarily dismissed without prejudice on August 29/30th 2022 based on a dismissal document I received from O’Bryant as well as verifying it with records from the Mecklenburg Superior Court. Between March of 2022 and August of 2022, Dominic would make several social media posts to raise money for the lawsuit via his “Save the Wave” campaign. He would re-release previous items of his, items that may have been promoted as produced in limited quantities and would not be re-released. This would allow customers a second chance to purchase an item they missed. Discount codes would also be provided to customers via social media during this time. After the lawsuit was dismissed, he would make several posts insinuating the lawsuit was on hiatus and would blame Noir Caesar for all the problems in production even in 2023.

End of Business Sale

Customers were told between February 2023 and June of 2023 that the business would no longer be selling clothing and limited-edition items were put back on sale along with several end-of-business discount codes. The business has a pre-order model. And would advertise items as being limited edition where limited quantities would be produced until sold out and would never return to stock. During the time of the lawsuit, many limited-edition items were brought back into the shop. Encouraging customers who missed out on the first release of the item that they had another chance. It should also be noted that he offered afterpay as well for his elligble purchases making it easier for customer to proceed with the purchase and not have to pay the full funds at once. The business would shift gears to promoting Dominic’s comic book Tenpinz, this is when the website was rebranded. Dominic posted a jacket he formerly had for sale in October 2023 and had a social media post mocking his consumers with a dance that the store would be resuming. As of December 30th, 2023, Dominic has started selling clothing based on his comics on his website. Listings do not include a date of production or shipping even on more specific items like a button-up or a bucket hat.

Surf Club

Surf Club is Namiwear’s membership club where for a monthly or yearly charge. While in some instances offers would vary based on whether you paid monthly or yearly. Customers would be granted discounts (both online and in-person at conventions), early access to items, access to member-only items, priority customer service, and behind-the-scenes looks. Around April of 2023 during the end-of-business sale, the surf club was promoted as being the only place to have access to the anime/pop culture merchandise and also offered rare, signed collectibles from celebrities, guest vendors, and other brands making items specifically for the surf club. People were encouraged to purchase before May 1st, 2023 before memberships closed. If you were not a member you would still have access to the normal shop which would have merchandise from his comics. Responding to someone in an Instagram comment Dominic would write that yearly members would get 25% off and monthly members would get 15% off. Discounts are unclear as I received from another customer a confirmation sign-up email which would give 10% off their purchases and another customer who signed up for a yearly membership which granted 50% off. These offerings would become redundant throughout the end-of-business sale when all items were put up for sale throughout those months with discounts between 60-75% off being offered to all consumers. Sometime in the fall of 2023 current surf club members memberships were abruptly cancelled without explanation and no refunds were given for already paid memberships. As of December 30th, 2023, the surf club doesn’t exist as it did before. Rather it exists as a Patreon membership ranging from 5$, 15$, and 25$ a month, only offering behind-the-scenes looks at Tenpinz volume 2. In September of 2021, it was offered for 20$ monthly. In January of 2022, the lowest price was 10$ a month. In May of 2023, it was offered for 30$ Every 3 months. In December 2023 it was offered for 60$ a year.

Promoting older items as newly produced items

One particular item was released for purchase in late September - early October 2023, the “Death the Kid” track jacket inspired by the character Death the Kid from the anime/manga Soul Eater. And was promoted as a limited-edition item that would be taken down by October 20th, 2023. On its listing the item was promoted as having a production time of 4-5 weeks, 1-2 weeks for transit, and 1-2 weeks for shipping and handling. However, In November 2021 he posted this same jacket and promoted it as a 1:1 on Facebook and his site for 300$. The same pictures from 2021 were used in 2023. it likely was a sample as the jacket did not turn out the way Dominic wanted according to his caption on Facebook. When the Item was “re-released” in October it was being sold for 80$ plus shipping and handling and was being mass-produced. A customer, likely the one who purchased the original in 2021 commented on Instagram “Nooo my 1 of 1 won’t be special anymore” with Dom commenting “yours will be I’m making a few changes to this one”. As customers, we have no idea what these changes are, and it is not reflected in the images. This Jacket is the first new product with a sample picture of the item that was not a drawing since the end of business sale.

Non-disclosure or explicit mention of FAQ before purchasing items.

FAQ or terms were not explicitly disclosed when purchasing items. The FAQ would be at the bottom of the website however in 2023 the FAQ is not accessible without having been given a direct link to the FAQ. The FAQ has had its policies deliberately changed between 2020 which did allowed for cash refunds under any circumstance to its current iteration where none are allowed, and store credit could be granted. Under the current refund policy, items that used a discount code were not eligible for a cash refund. It is unknown how many discount codes have been promoted in the last two years, however there are at least 24 different discount codes promoted between 2021-2023 across social media platforms

Questionable quality of current items vs advertised.

In December of 2023, customers did begin receiving some items. One item in particular is the “Yusuke” jacket which is a staple item for the brand. The item is a bright green denim jacket which is embroidered in the back, front, and sleeves. On the sleeves, the jackets would be numbered vs about how many were produced (i.e., 50/200) and the year produced. The current version of the item that customers are receiving is a lighter green that appears more washed out than what was advertised. The new jackets do not have embroidering on the sleeves and the buttons are now engraved with “Namiwear” on them. On a video call with the admins who took over operations in December of 2023 allege the new denim is more expensive. Customers were not informed of the change in material and style. Customers in the discord have expressed concern and disappointment in the new style of the jacket received which was not advertised as such when originally purchased. There is also one customer who reported sun damage or staining on their item when they received it after waiting nearly a year for their item. Customers have been expressing concerns that pending items will not be of the quality previously seen by the brand.

Engaged in Deceptive Pricing

I believe committed price deception based on how certain items were priced between 2020-2023. Items would start at one price point, and be taken down due to the limited-edition model of the business where items would only be produced at a certain quantity once. Then under the premise of the lawsuit, end-of-business sale, or other whims would be re-listed and promoted on social media as being brought back again. The price point could be raised by hundreds of dollars but would have discount codes offered as well. Discount codes could vary between 30-75% off the list price after the item was marked up. Consumers were under the impression that they were getting a second chance to purchase limited edition items at a discounted cost when in some instances the consumer paid higher than what the item was initially listed at in the past or lower than the item has ever been for purchase potentially affecting profit and funds to put the items into production. Some items were listed at half their price without disclosing that it was relisted at half price before any discounts. This is despite Dominic’s insistence that the cost of producing items has increased since the pandemic. Using a discount also locks a customer into his policy and would be ineligible for a refund.

 Customers were not charged sales tax for their online purchases. There are reported actual sales of $289,000 based on an Experian filing on December 4th, 2023. However, it is unknown if he paid the taxes for our purchases or if he ever paid the taxes at all, putting that responsibility on the consumer for items they never received.

Breaching Consumer Rights in Privacy

I believe he broke consumer protection laws by posting pictures of packages shipping across social media where customer names and addresses are fully visible by screenshotting and zooming in on the photo on a smartphone. Dominic would do this periodically to prove to customers that orders were being shipped. While in some posts information was not visible. There are several that clearly show names and addresses. When customers pointed this out in the discord amongst other customer concerns, they were banned from the discord.