Is Logan Garments Sponsorship a Scam?
Nobody has ever accused me of being uninquisitive. I remember one time I saw a little dancing cat on the corner of my screen, it had a little red top hat and was doing that little kick thing that they used to do in all those old movies. Now every fiber of my being told me clicking on it was a bad idea, except my curiosity streak. That was many years ago, and I haven’t seen the dancing top hat cat since, but I still remember the virus spawned pornado that hit my computer almost immediately after I clicked it.
It’s this level of curiosity which drives my thirst for adventure and a storage unit full of toys necessary to fuel my next adventure. It makes me the perfect target for questionable propositions like the next MLM which I won’t sign up for but will sit through a presentation to see what the newest gimmick is all about.
So when I get hit up on Instagram from Logan Garments, I was 100% sure what to make of it. Knowing it wasn’t legit, I turned to the mighty Bingler and searched “Logan Garments Scam.” It popped up a couple of videos and forums about people talking about Logan Garments and how the sponsorship was a joke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=DpKKh-SofNc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjdwcSLLpcA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGdEgzZ7l64
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According to the videos people were saying you send in $140 for a couple of articles of clothing. Then Logan Garments helps promote you on social media and their website as long as you are wearing their clothing. Ok, that is a unique twist on sponsorship, because sponsorship usually means they pay you to wear their clothing. Maybe this is why they are reaching out to people with a measly 170 Instagram followers. But hey switch dancing top hat cat with Illuminati looking pyramid, and sure I will bite. There are two sides to every story, and if I am going to write about it, I should at least do due diligence. I sent a message back and stated, “Sure I am interested.” But first lets rewind, to the sketchiness that says.. “So not legit” in a blond valley girl way.
The First Rule of Sponsorship is that you have to be more valuable to the company than they are to you. That’s not really a rule, I made that up, but marketing doesn’t work if it doesn’t make money short term or long term. Sponsorship is just a form of marketing. If someone, like myself at the time, only had 170 Instagram followers, you have zero value to that company. Depending on the product, I would guess you need at least 10k to have value. Active/Urban clothing, crossing international boundaries, minimum of 50k.
They Offer Social Media Marketing etc. However, their social media profiles are not that robust. They have 64K followers on Instagram, and yet they only have a 600 to 800 person interaction rate. Looking through all the Instagram accounts I follow, that amount of personal interaction is typical for someone that has 10 to 15 thousand followers. That is a lot of followers, don’t get me wrong, but for an international clothing company, with 64k followers, handing out sponsorships, promising social media promotion they don’t have a lot of interaction. Most likely they are purchasing followers. They only have 900 Youtube subscribers and their Team Talent that is distinguished enough to earn spots on their website, don’t have a lot of Youtube views. Even if you make it to their website, your videos are hosted on their Youtube account, and you won’t get much exposure. The social media aspect doesn’t have any value another red flag.
Below is a screenshot of three of their athletes featured on their website. I would assume these are some of the ones they invest the most in because they have prime space. These are likes on YouTube Videos. The most impressive video has 642 views since Feb 20, 2019. That is not a lot for an international company promising social media marketing.
The Next Are Screenshots of Three more of their featured athletes and their Instagram followings. Once again nothing impressive. One has 802 Followers but is also following 948. Usually, you can get followers if you follow people. However, most followers that are not a negative value is 435 which is not an impressive value for an international company promising social media marketing.
At this point, the LGA sponsorship is not bringing much value in the way of social media marketing.
The Team Talent Quality Level
I do not mean to take away from their talent. I cannot ride a skateboard; I cannot dance. I used to ride BMX a long time ago, and I used to kickbox. Any attempt to do freerunning or parkour would land me in the hospital. Their talent is much better than I am or will ever be, except maybe in the kickboxing and BMX, even though that was so long ago I would give them the benefit of the doubt. That being said, they aren’t on the level to warrant sponsorship. They aren’t. They are people who put in hard work, they may get there someday, but they aren’t there yet. Logan Garments is exploiting and cashing in on their dreams. They are better than I will ever be, but they aren’t on the level that would get a sponsorship from a legitimate company who is using primary channels to advertise. Nike, Redbull, Adidas, or any other company isn’t going to come to these people fill out a check and say wear this. That is the difference between paying to be sponsored and being sponsored.
I thought I would at least get two pieces of technical gear. If the gear was crap, I could use it as trash fabric in a desert slot canyon. So if you Googled “Is Logan Garment Sponsorship a Scam?” and got to this page, here is your answer.
YES and NO but really YES!
Not Really, because you would get two pieces of cool gear out of it. I mean I have paid 70 bucks for a technical hoodie or dope baselayer before. That would assume that you get what you pay for. However, in this case, LOGAN GARMENTS IS A SCAM.
I looked through their product offering and found two pieces that I would like and added them to the Sponsorship Box. It came to a total of about $140 something with shipping. This transaction took place on January 4th, 2019.
I was traveling to California for the BOATSMITH Festival and was hoping that it would arrive before I left. I had selected a base layer and wanted to give it a try a the festival. I checked the order status at the beginning of February and noticed that it was still in processing. I wrote them and suggested they cancel my order and refund my card; it was obvious that it wouldn’t get there in time. In which case they told me they were trying to locate the package for me.
I responded and let them know I didn’t want the package anymore and that I just wanted the refund. A week later I followed up with them when they told me it was moving through the system and assured me the issue would come to an end by the end of the month.
I told them to forget the order and give me a refund. They told me it was too late that they couldn’t refund me and that if I refused shipment, I wouldn’t have goods or the money. Once again a lot of red flags went off. According to their return policy, if I get the product, decide I don’t like it, I can return it for a refund, but I can’t get a refund if it doesn’t ship? It seems like the company has every reason not to ship the product.
At the beginning of March, I checked the status of my order, and it was still in processing. At this time I initiated a chargeback with my bank. After a month of investigation, my bank credited my account the full amount that I paid. Logging into my Logan Garments Account, guess what it says? Order is still in processing. I decided to inform LGA about my credit back so they could adjust their books accordingly, or not ship the product (if they ever intended to in the first place) and their response was.
I am not sure they are happy that I got my money back. If so they wouldn’t have fought so hard to avoid giving it to me. The bank didn’t just give me money; the bank is most likely going after them. They can’t be happy about that.
Maybe the clothes they make are worth it. They look great, but I will never know. When writing this article, I look back at an Instagram message that LGA sent me. It was a mistell. The message was meant for someone else.
Gear sponsorship is given to people who can promote and get a product in front of as many people as possible. While I am sitting here looking at my whopping 170 something Instagram followers, who are mostly my close friends, my first thought is, “Really? Sponsoring me isn’t worth that many dollars.” Why do I know this? Well, I have been sponsored in the past, and I was expected to draw a lot of eyeballs to the brand/product. If you don’t have 50k followers and it’s an international brand, it’s probably not legit.
Paying for the product is not a bad idea if it’s worth it. However, one thing is clear if LGA is a legitimate business. It has way too many problems to trust with your money. Avoid LGA for any reason. Remember the first (made up) rule of sponsorship; you have to bring in more money than they give you. Well, you give them $140, and that is the amount of money you bring in. They have to maximize that amount of money.
I guess that this is a group of friends who make some cool things for themselves to wear. They market it as a legitimate company. When people start to complain about getting scammed, another one of the friends makes a Logan Garments Testimonial video. The actual Team Talent Videos and models are from the group of friends. Occasionally they bring someone into the fold or fulfill an order so they can get a testimonial or keep some people thinking it is legitimate. I can’t be sure and can’t prove it, but that is my assumption.
You can only get into the Facebook Group after you have purchased a Team Talent Box. The Facebook group has over 2000 current people in it. I am assuming several people have left out of frustration. But doing the math 2000 x 140 = 280,000. Not a bad racket these guys have going on. I didn’t use all of the numbers, because it appears that some of the Facebook profiles are members of Team Logan who have made duplicate ones.
I didn’t look at everyone in the Facebook group who had uploaded videos or who was active. There could be even more amazing talent in the fold, but I didn’t see it. There wasn’t that many people active for “2000 + sponsored members”. The product may or may not be worth the money, who knows? It appears that you may or may not get that. Don’t take your chances. The Logan Garments Sponsorship, while cheap for pretending to be something it’s not, is hokey from the start and it’s obvious. This is a case of buyer beware. The real scam comes from the refusal to refund for products that won’t ship. I am not sure that they ever had the intentions to ship them in the first place. I can’t say 100% that they were going to, and I can’t say that they had fraudulent intentions, all I know is that what it appears like. i wouldn’t give money to them twice.
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If you are in the United States, contact your bank and your Attorney General. After enough complaints with the Attorney General, the state department can put pressure on the English Government to press charges.
If you live somewhere else, there should be someone in your government who is in charge of the legal process. Reach out to them, make sure to include links to people all over the world, who are in the same situation as you. They will be more likely to act when they know that this is something that transcends international boundaries and there are thousands of victims.