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posted September 24, 2007
Four Minnesota men have decided that something smells with their hunting apparel, and that suspicion has led to a lawsuit claiming that scent-disguising clothing has duped hunters out of millions of dollars by selling them a product that doesn't work.
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Today, it's accepted in the outdoor world that scent-disguising clothing is something that's a requirement for the successful deer hunter. Deer, after all, are very sensitive to smell. So when activated carbon clothing was introduced several years ago, hunters flocked to it like, well, deer to the smell of apples.
The attractiveness of scent-stopping clothing has meant hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales, creating a "must-have" line of clothing. Today, virtually all clothing manufacturers have some variety of scent-stopping clothing.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota alleges the clothing doesn't work and hunters have been - and continue to be - defrauded. ALS Clothing of Muskegon, Michigan, the manufacturers of the Scent-Lok clothing line is named in the suit. The suit says ALS is the largest manufacturer and license holder for scent suppression clothing, and licenses their products to at least twenty-two other companies, including Gander Mountain, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shops and Browning Arms. Those four, incidentally, are also listed in the suit.
The suit alleges the five firms conspired to deceive customers, as well as concealing the truth about scent-disguising clothing. "Consumers have been duped into spending significant amounts of money on a product that does not work as represented" the suit states.
A spokesman for ALS says the suit is baseless, saying the company had conducted "years of research" and collected "hundreds of testimonials from consumers over the years." ALS products carry a guarantee that says users will experience "unalarmed animals downwind."
The company says testing performed by Intertek Testing Services of Cortland, New York shows the fabric performs as claimed. Additional testing performed at the University of Windsor in Ontario and North Carolina State University, the company says, further supports their guarantee.
Attorneys are requesting a class-action status for the suit, saying that "tens of thousands" of Minnesota hunters have been deceived into buying millions of dollars of odor-eliminating clothing.
This lawsuit isn't the first question raised about scent-suppression. Hunting chat rooms and internet postings have raised questions about the effectiveness of the technology for some time. One of the most vocal critics of the clothing, outdoor writer and author T.R. Michaels, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he was responsible for much of the "stink" about the whole idea of scent-killing clothing. "Hunters," Michaels says, "have been screwed. They have been misled. And they are making tons of money off the stuff."
Michaels isn't involved in the lawsuit, but has had numerous and ongoing exchanges with ALS and the U.S. Patent Office questioning the performance of the clothing.
The question of the efficacy of scent-blocking technology has, indeed, been one that has been heavily debated since the introduction of the technology more than a decade ago. Now, it seems the question may be one with millions of dollars at stake.
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