A small business owner has gone viral after accusing Sam’s Club of stealing her designs.
Tik Tok User Ashley (@sunmilkshop) began by linking to another creator’s video shopping at Sam’s Club, who drew attention to a cream crewneck sweatshirt emblazoned with “Tennessee” and an embroidered purple flower.
Ashley then says, “If you’re new here, my name is Ashley and I design and sell embroidered apparel. And one of my main collections for my small business for the past year and a half has been my state flower collection.”
At the time, she showed the camera some of her embroidered crewnecks, including an identical “Tennessee” one with the same color scheme and flower.
“I don’t have any plans for what to say here,” he added. “I just wanted to show you some of my teams. I have a huge container that I keep at my house to take pictures in when it’s sunny.”
Ashley did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok comment and email.
Small business owner admits she ‘can’t compete’ with Sam’s Club
He then went on to say that while he “can’t compete” with Sam’s Club’s prices, he is making “as many deals” as he can.
“On my website, these designs are 20% off,” she said, as she showed viewers a stack of floral-embroidered state T-shirts. “I have about 30 states at the moment and everything is completely illustrated by me. There is so much detail in the design and I promise you, like everything else, you get what you pay for. They are very high quality and a lot of love and dedication has gone into them.”
“It breaks my heart to see something like this happen to my small business, because I’ve worked so hard to get this done,” she added. “So yeah, I also wanted to thank everyone who has been shopping at small stores and taking care of my small business while I’ve been trying to navigate this very unfortunate and strange situation. Thank you so much.”
Viral claims about trademark irregularities
The video has racked up 759,000 views. Sam’s Club did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via contact form.
This isn’t the first time a business owner has accused a larger brand of bad faith dealings. Earlier this summer, a woman went viral after claiming the clothing store From Francesca owed him over $100,000. Another user said he lost $4,000 in affiliate marketing after Pacsun cancelled a large number of orders without warning him.
@tiendasunmilk If you want to support small businesses and/or don’t have a @Sam’s Club membership… I’m your girl😎🌸 #sam’s club #greenscreenvideo ♬ Original sound – Sun Milk Shop
“Sam’s Club should charge everyone at the door,” he wrote in an on-screen text.
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