Italy’s competition authority appears to be gearing up for another greenwashing enforcement action. This time, the agency is taking on the online fashion retailer Shein over the company’s sustainability claims. Among the allegations, the competition authority alleges that Shein has misled consumers by inaccurately promoting its usage of “green fibers” in clothing production as well as falsely advertising its “evoluSHEIN” collection as “sustainable.” ESG Today writes about the enforcement action stating that:
“According to the regulator, the investigation is focused on the possible misleading nature of environmental claims in several sections of the website, including “#SHEINTHEKNOW”, ‘evoluSHEIN’ and ‘Social Responsibility’ areas of the site, with the Authority alleging that the company ‘would try to convey an image of production and commercial sustainability of its clothing through generic, vague, confusing and/or misleading environmental claims regarding ‘circularity’ and product quality and their responsible consumption,’ to benefit from increased consumer sensitivity on the environmental impact of their consumption choices.”
Over on LinkedIn, Ken Pucker – who knows a thing or two about the apparel/textile industries – posted about findings on circularity from the Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report. According to the report:
“🛢️#Synthetics (derived from fossil fuels) ‘continue to dominate’ growing from 67m tonnes to 75m tonnes. #Polyester accounted for 57% of fiber production.
♻️Recycled polyester share decrease from 13.6% to 12.5% market share. Only 2% of recycled polyester is via textile to textile supply. Overall recycled fiber use declined as well.
⭕️ Less than 1% of global fiber market share came from pre and post consume recycled fibers.”
Italian authorities may be on to something here.
Further, Italy’s competition authority is also pursuing luxury fashion brand LVMH over alleged human rights violations. The new investigation against Shein could show an emerging pattern in the regulator’s focus on ESG in the fashion industry. Shein and other fast fashion companies face scrutiny for their unsustainable practices including contributions to global textile waste and subpar working conditions in their supply chains. US regulators have also taken an interest in these companies with two Consumer Product Safety Commissioners calling for a probe into Shein and Temu on consumer safety grounds.
With growing international pressure, including enforcement actions and greenwashing laws, it’s getting harder for brands to use labels like “sustainable” without being called out. Companies choosing to promote sustainability in their advertising must be careful to portray their efforts honestly and transparently, and claims should never be made that have no underlying basis in facts and data.
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Photo credit: Koshiro – stock.adobe.com
