@HobbesIsMyTiger Thank you for your detailed explanation. I will be modifying my POA and submitting a new one. I appreciate your help!
@Haegan2005 Yes you are correct. They are just using Gildan blanks. We use the Print on Demand services to print our designs on them and also sell some officially licensed merch as an extra. All of this merch is sold under our separate registered brand.
They might be able to authorize you LEGALLY. Amazonās policies often donāt take that into account though. If they ask for documentation they want something very specific and wonāt accept anything outside of that.
I suspect that Gildan is cracking down on sellers offering their printed t-shirts which use Gildan blanks as Gildan products.
If the product name includes Gildan it is likely to be an IP violation.
IMO any more than a bullet point identifying a Gildan blank is an IP violation and even that is if you are not sourcing directly and Gildan has given you permission.
I doubt your supplier can authorize any use of the Gildan trademark for a product which has been modified from its original form. And if Gildan is the source of the complaint, I suspect they do not want their trademark in this mannerr.
It says āPotential Intellectual Property Misuseā so Gildan didnāt file an infringement claim. The bots flagged the listings. Amazon sells Gildan products so they probably take infringement more seriously on that brand.
This is interesting. There must be something linking your account (which does use Gildan blanks, via Printful) to the Gildan brand. 
Have you checked your keywords, or any backend terminology? Have you checked your images themselves, as well as their file names?
@papy We did use similar terminology, like what the products are made out of, I.e (100% ring spun cotton) or (142 GSM..) etc. Other than that, we were using a 3rd party app to upload our listings to Amazon. And the app was using Printful mockup images for alot of our listings. We were in the middle of changing the images on the amazon side when this happened.
We initially believed that Amazon flagged us for using these mockup images, but the mockup images were quite standard, they just had a shirt with our designs on them, on a white background with nothing else.
But after not getting any response on the amazon side for out mockup images POA, we decided to change our strategy. Our previous POA is as follows;
Additional information
Hello Amazon Team,
I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to address the suspension of our account due to potential intellectual property misuse involving Gildan products.
Root Cause:
Upon thorough internal review, we've determined that our account was flagged due to the use of Gildan product images in our listings. These images were unintentionally imported from another software source during our product uploads. We deeply regret this oversight and sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience it may have caused.
Permissions and Valid Proofs:
While our product offerings include hoodies and sweatshirts sourced from Gildan, we emphasize that we do not sell Gildan-branded products on Amazon. Instead, we offer custom-made merchandise under the () brand, a representation of which can be viewed on our official website at:
Further supporting our claims:
We possess a letter of authorization from (supplier) , which allows us to sell Gildan products with our unique branding on Amazon.
Gildan has granted (supplier) the authorization to resell their products on platforms like Amazon.
We have been in direct communication with both (suplier) and Gildan. Attached are the screenshots of our discussions with (brand manager) from (supplier) on our Slack Group, showcasing our commitment to ensure compliance with all guidelines.
Also enclosed are the purchase invoices for the flagged ASINS; . These documents further authenticate our genuine business operations.
Corrective Measures:
To rectify our oversight, we've liaised with (supplier) to validate their authorization for the supply of Gildan products.
All product listings containing the Gildan product images in question have been removed from our Amazon store.
Preventive Steps:
We've instituted a stringent review procedure for all product listings, ensuring that images and descriptions are precise and non-infringing.
We have streamlined communication with our suppliers to routinely verify the authenticity and necessary permissions for all products listed on Amazon.
With a comprehensive understanding of the situation and the robust measures we've put in place, we earnestly request the reinstatement of our account. We pledge our commitment to prevent such lapses in the future and are enthusiastic about recommencing our operations on Amazon.
Should you require any more details, further documentation, or clarifications, please let us know. Your understanding, prompt attention, and assistance in this regard are deeply appreciated.
Best regards,
The most improbable but not impossible explanation is that Printful is using some counterfeit Gildan product.
Unless there is a mass of suspensions, or Printful advises you of this, it would be hard to appeal, without ceasing to deal with Printful.
Even if that were the case, as OP is stating they made no mention of the Gildan name in their listings, that wouldnāt cause it to get flagged by the bots.
Thereās something in the listing that made the bots have a problem with it.
Not to mention thereās almost zero incentive for anyone to make fake Gildan goods. Their stuff doesnāt have any kind of logos or branding on it and their products are cheap.
OP needs to scrutinize the listings that were flagged very closely, including all images, keywords, etc.
@lake Printful did inform us of a mass suspension when our account got blocked. But they told me that it was due to Amazon, and not something on their side. The Permission letter that I got from Gildan is dated January 2023. And my account got banned in May. There is definitely something there, but I was also informed that Amazon had updated its policies around that time and many accounts got suspended because of it.
@GGX Now that you mention it, we did use product descriptions from Printful for these Gildan blanks aside from our normal product description. Could Amazon have flagged it because of these? The copied descriptions are as follows;
Made from soft fleece inside and outside, the Unisex Heavy Blend Zip Hoodie combines functionality and style. This hoodie has a premium-feel metal zipper, front pockets, and overlapped fabric for seamless full front printing. Itāll be a crowd-pleaser: add it to your store and see for yourself.
* 50% cotton, 50% polyester
* Fabric weight: 8 oz/ydĀ² (271 g/mĀ²)
* Yarn diameter: 20 singles
* Soft fleece fabric inside and outside
* Air-jet spun yarn for reduced piling
* Regular fit
* Metal zipper
* Front pouch pockets
* Unlined hood with color-matched drawcord
* Overlapped fabric across zipper
* Double-needle stitching at shoulders, armholes, neck, waistband, and cuffs
* Safety Green: Compliant with ANSI/ISEA 107
We did not think that these would impact our products, we even consulted Printful about it and they recommended that we put these in the Description of Amazon listings for the customers. Also, we had opened a case log 2 days before Amazon suspended our account with some ASINs listed there, asking for their guidance in changing the product images. As we were submitting new images and Amazon was not reflecting our requested changes on those products. Could opening a case log, and asking Amazon to go through some of the store SKUs to reflect my desired changes got Amazon to flag the account?
I donāt see anything there that would infringe on their trademark. Maybe one of the descriptive phrases is trademarked? Seems doubtful since everything said is pretty generic.
What about product images? Do any of them show the gildan name or a gildan tag ANYWHERE in the image?
What did printful say about the mass suspension? Take anything they say with a grain of salt though, they donāt know Amazon policy.
Amazon does not explain the reasons for mass suspensions. Nor do they tell sellers or their suppliers what has changed when accounts have been reinstated.
Nor do they necessarily reprogram their bots when they have reinstated accounts.
Reinstatement is mostly by trial and error on reinstatement requests, and not to be relied on to be stable.
But remember, I am the most pessimistic person to consult on this type of issue. I believe Amazon will willingly accept seller losses to protect Amazon from IP litigation.
And I believe that at least three silos are required for a permanent remedy, and we all know how hard it is to involve two silos.
Any chance their brand name is listed as a keyword?
Did any of the images show a shirt clothing tag with GILDAN on it? The bots also scan images of registered trademarks.
@GGX No, the images were also generic. They were standard mockup images, just the merch with our design on top. There were no labels, tags, nothing that could link us to Gildan.
@lake I used to believe a billion-dollar company like Amazon would have much better services for their sellers than this. We still want to work with them but they are not telling us what exactly they want or even what tripped their bots to flag my account. Also, can you please elaborate on Silos? Iām not familiar with the terminology.
@Setalpz The images were as generic as they come. Think of a plain shirt, with a white background. They were just mockup images that we uploaded through a third-party app and we were in the middle of changing them when my account was deactivated because they did not look good.
The thing is they want YOU to figure out what the issue is, identify that issue (root cause), and explain how you intend to correct the issue. Theyāre being opaque on purpose.
Think of it as a girlfriend whoās angry and wants you to figure out what you did to upset them and wants you to figure out how to make it up to them. If this sounds immature and unprofessional to you, itās because thatās how Amazon actually is. (Iāve had instances where they literally ghost you on an appeal by closing it with no response).
Thereās a possibility, due to the mass suspension you cited, that Amazon suspended a ton of printful vendors because they donāt like something about that business model, in which case I have no idea how to appeal that, and my guess is thereās no path forward unless Amazon decides to reverse the mass suspension as a whole.
If itās something on the listings that caused it (and the mass suspension couldāve occurred due to many sellers using similar listings), you need to identify the issue (root cause), correct it, and explain how you corrected it and intend to prevent the issue from reoccurring.
I would suggest, if you still have access to this information and are comfortable sharing it, that you post screenshots of at least one of the problem listings, including the detail page itself, all images (and videos), and all listing attributes in seller central so that other people can scrutinize it and see if thereās something you missed. If you have prior versions of those ASINs you should post that as well, since Amazon has been known to revert things for no reason to old versions of things.
Our friend Lake is referring to the Silo Management Method of Bureaucratic Administration, which is commonly employed by governmental institutions and large corporate conglomerates the world over.
Many are the unintended ills - not the least of which are lethargy in response to evolving situations & circumstances, obstinate resistance to change in purpose and/or prerogatives, and a marked tendency exhibit the so-called āfiefdomā mentality, among others - which stem solely from the left hand being kept purposefully ignorant of what the right hand is doing.
@Dogtamer You have, as expected, articulated the essence of this management style,
It is the antithesis if the matrix management fiasco of the 1970s and 1980s, based on little capability for thought and analysis.
As for @Ali s other questions, if they told you the answers, you would know, and if you knew, you could abuse and undermine the enforcement activities. Amazon is highly protective of proprietary information and were you to have these answers it would be easier to fabricate the appearance of compliance.
Amazon is not unwilling to lose good sellers as a result of IP compliance efforts. There are too many sellers to manage, and more offers than demand.