'Snuggie' Sleeved Blanket Classified as a Blanket, Not as Apparel, CIT Says
The “Snuggie,” a popular “as-seen-on-TV” blanket with sleeves, is classifiable in the tariff schedule as a blanket, not as wearing apparel, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued Feb.10 (here). Though capable of being worn, the Snuggie would not be worn “ordinarily” for everyday activities, CIT said. Snuggies are also marketed and sold as a blanket and used in a similar way, it said.
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Allstar Marketing Group, the importer of the Snuggie, protested CBP’s classification of the Snuggie as other knitted garments of manmade fibers under subheading 6114.30.30, dutiable at 14.9%. Allstar said it refers to the Snuggie on purchase orders and invoices as blankets, calls it a “blanket with sleeves” on packaging, shows the Snuggie being used as a blanket in commercials and sells the Snuggie in the bedding department of retail stores rather than the apparel department. It argued the Snuggie should be classified as a blanket in subheading 6301.40.00, dutiable at 8.5%.
The Supreme Court defined wearing apparel in an 1893 decision as “all articles which are ordinarily worn – dress in general.” Some 110 years later, in a case brought by Rubie’s Costume, the Federal Circuit adopted that definition and added that wearing apparel includes “clothes or coverings for the human body worn for decency or comfort,” finding some Halloween costumes were able to provide decency and comfort but were not classifiable as apparel because they were not “ordinarily worn.”
The government argued the Snuggie is similar to clerical, professional or scholastic gowns and robes that “have wide-armed sleeves and flow loosely around the body.” But unlike those garments, the Snuggie has no closure and is worn with the opening at the back. The Snuggie’s physical characteristics do not resemble a “normal article of apparel” or an article “ordinarily worn” in any commonplace way, CIT said. Allstar also markets it as a blanket, not apparel. “The marketing materials depict people using the Snuggie as a warm cover, as one might use a blanket, albeit one held in place and permitting greater use of hands with the addition of the sleeves,” the court said.
Rather, as a large piece of fabric used as a covering for warmth, the Snuggie is a type blanket, CIT said. Though it includes sleeves, those sleeves are “incidental to the Snuggie’s use as a blanket,” and “support, rather than detract from, the Snuggie’s 'primary design and use' as a blanket because they ostensibly enable the Snuggie to remain in place and keep the user warm while allowing the user to engage in certain activities requiring the use of their hands,” CIT said.
(Allstar Mktg. Grp., LLC v. U.S., Slip Op. 17-15, CIT # 13-00395, dated 02/10/17, Judge Barnett)
(Attorneys: Joseph Spraragen of Grunfeld Desiderio for plaintiff Allstar Marketing Group, LLC; Hardeep Josan for defendant U.S. government)