Originally Posted by bkay

I think you are mistaken. It's said over and over again that some Kona fabric is not Kona fabric. I personally spoke with the Robert Kaufman representative on the phone. He called me to tell me the fabric I sent was not Kona. He told me they sold to both Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. He promised to look into the problem with the "not kona" fabric labeled as Kona.

Kona is a registered trademark for fabric sold by Robert Kaufman Companies. No one else can use it for fabric. To do so would be a trademark infringement and the perpetrator would be subject to criminal penalties.

Kaufman appears to use the Kona trademark for solid colors only. There is a company called Kona Bay fabrics. It seems to be a small company. The only Kona Bay fabrics I've seen are prints.

What bothers me about this often repeated story is that JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby end up being the bad guys in the consumer's mind. That is just not true and not fair to those companies. Kaufman either has lost control of their distribution system or is not selling what they claim to be selling to those companies.

In reality, if JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby were using the Kona trademark on non-Kaufman fabric, they would be sued for big bucks immediately.

(Can you tell this ugly situation really bothers me?)

bkay