Attorney General Ellison secures injunction and nearly $365k in settlement with clothing retailer regarding deceptive advertising and billing

In multistate investigation, AG finds that company formerly known as TechStyle, Inc. and JustFab misrepresented prices on websites, enrolled customers in costly membership programs without consent, prevented cancellations, and failed to disclose material facts; Minnesota AG also finds collection of added junk fees in violation of Minnesota consumer-protection statutes

Company agrees to court order requiring it to implement changes, make refunds, disclose pricing, stop charging junk fees, and pay nearly $350k into Minnesota’s new consumer restitution fund

October 23, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Keith Ellison today announced a settlement with TFG Holding, Inc., a clothing retailer that offers shoes, clothing, and accessories across several different brands, including JustFab, ShoeDazzle, and FabKids. The settlement resolves claims, investigated in partial collaboration with a bipartisan group of states, that the company deceptively marketed its VIP Membership Program to consumers and then made it difficult to cancel memberships. The settlement also resolves claims that TFG deceptively charged junk fees in Minnesota that the company claimed were to recoup the cost of federal tariffs.

“My mission is to help Minnesotans afford their lives, which is why it’s important for consumers to be able to make informed decisions,” said Attorney General Ellison. “While we all know that tariffs raise the costs of doing business and cause higher prices, that doesn’t allow clothing retailers to use deceptive junk fees to recover those costs. That and the other practices in this case were wrong and I’m glad that my Office was able to put a stop to them, secure refunds, and recover additional funds that can be used to compensate Minnesotans subject to fraud in the future.”

The settlement announced today resolves numerous issues uncovered by Attorney General Ellison during a long-running multistate investigation. AG Ellison alleges that TFG misrepresented the price of goods offered for sale in retail stores in Minnesota by adding a surcharge between 3.75% to 5.25% at the point of sale and labeling the surcharge a “tariff” fee. The fee was used by TFG to recover costs related to import and customs duties. The AG alleges that advertising one price and charging another price with the added “tariff” fee was deceptive. And while TFG is unable to refund the individual fees, they are paying $331,933.72 to account for the funds they received. That money will be deposited into the newly-created Consumer Protection Restitution Account (CPRA), unless the CPRA is already full due to other pending payments.

The CPRA was created by the Minnesota Legislature to be a fund that, among other things, is available to restitute consumers who were harmed by companies that have gone bankrupt or for some other reason are unable to make consumers whole. Prior to the CPRA, whenever a defendant or respondent was required to pay civil penalties to the state of Minnesota, or the Attorney General was unable to reasonably distribute paid restitution to impacted consumers, those funds typically went to the state’s general fund. Now, the Attorney General may deposit recovered funds into the CPRA and distribute them to scam or fraud victims who cannot receive restitution from the entity that cheated them.

Additionally, the settlement negotiated among the several states concerned TFG practice of offering consumers discounted pricing if they enrolled in the company’s VIP Membership Program. Once enrolled in the program, consumers were charged $49.95 a month, unless before the sixth day of each month consumers made a purchase from the company or logged into their membership accounts to “skip” the charge. The charges accrued in the consumers’ accounts in the form of store credits, which could be used on future purchases. Attorney General Ellison alleges that TFG violated state law by:

• Misrepresenting the price that consumers could expect to pay for products advertised on the company’s websites;
• Automatically enrolling consumers, without proper consent and authorization, into a Membership Program that included a recurring charge;
• Implementing and maintaining cancellation policies and practices that frustrated consumers’ ability to cancel the membership; and
• Failing to adequately disclose material facts to consumers, including that by purchasing products they will be enrolled in the membership.

In resolving the Attorney General’s allegations, TFG is required to:

• Clearly and conspicuously disclose material terms of its membership program, including but not limited to, the fact that consumers will be enrolled, the amount and frequency of recurring charges, and the right to cancel;
• Refrain from representing offers or sales of its products as time sensitive when they are not;
• Obtain the consumer’s express informed consent before enrolling them in the VIP Membership Program;
• Provide a simple online mechanism for consumers to cancel their VIP Membership Program and promptly accept and process any request by a consumer to cancel;
• Promptly honor consumer cancellation requests and cease further billing;
• Provide consumers the opportunity to request and obtain a refund of any recurring charge balance accrued within the preceding year; and
• Cease billing recurring charges to any consumer who enrolled in the VIP Membership Program before May 31, 2016 unless the consumer previously skipped a payment, redeemed a credit, received a refund, or made an additional purchase.

As part of the settlement, the company will also be required to:

• Provide automatic restitution to all consumers who enrolled in a VIP Membership Program prior to May 31, 2016, and only made an initial purchase but no subsequent purchases and never skipped a payment;
• Pay restitution to consumers who have an existing eligible complaint against the company that has not been resolved, and to consumers who file a new eligible written complaint with the company or the Attorney General’s office within 90 days of the Effective Date of the settlement that was not previously resolved; and
• Pay $1 million to the jurisdictions involved in the investigation, including $15K to Minnesota, to cover the costs of investigation or to be used for future consumer protection purposes.

The multistate settlement was negotiated by the District Columbia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Texas, and was joined by an additional 29 states.

Junk Fees Legislation

Business and consumers should know that, effective in 2025, Minnesota’s consumer-fraud statutes now specifically contain provisions defining how and when it is illegal for retailers to advertise a price that does not include all mandatory fees or surcharges. Importantly, the law is not a pricing regulation and does not dictate how much someone can charge for goods or services. Instead, the law requires that the price advertised, displayed, or offered include all mandatory fees and surcharges. This law went into effect after TFG’s unlawful conduct took place. Attorney General Ellison alleges that TFG’s junk fees violated Minnesota’s general consumer-fraud statutes.

To help businesses comply with this new law, and to offer consumers guidance about what they can expect, the Attorney General’s Office released a set of Frequently Asked Questions.