Green claims in fashion

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has issued an update to its Green Claims Code to help businesses in the fashion sector follow their consumer law obligations when making green claims.

Back in May 2024, we reported that following an investigation by the CMA, the fashion retailers ASOS, Boohoo and George by Asda had given undertakings to improve their practices – see here.

As part of the follow up to its investigation, the CMA has now issued additional guidance to ensure that businesses are “complying with consumer law when making environmental claims in the fashion retail sector“. While the guide focuses on retailers, it is relevant to anyone who manufactures or distributes clothing, footwear or fashion accessories.

The point that the CMA makes is that no matter where a company is in the supply chain, each business is responsible for making sure any environmental claims are accurate and supported by evidence. Although the guide is not exhaustive, it encourages companies to think about changes they should make to ensure compliance and look at all aspects of their business practice (for example, as well as the products themselves, it covers related services such as packaging, delivery and returns). In particular, businesses must respect the following principles:

• claims must be truthful and accurate;
• claims must be clear and unambiguous;
• claims must not omit or hide important relevant information;
• comparisons must be fair and meaningful;
• claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service;
• claims must be substantiated.

The guidance sets out helpful examples on how:

• to describe fabrics clearly and precisely;
• to make sure “range marketing” is not misleading (including the name of a range);
• to be clear when using filters and other navigational tools for an online purchase;
• to ensure comparisons are clear;
• not to use imagery and icons in a misleading way;
• not to hide important information and avoid using unclear terms;
• to make environmental claims clear and accurate and ensure environmental targets are presented clearly;
• to make it clear if a claim is based on specific parts of a product’s life cycle.

It also reminds companies to:

• check any claims third parties make about their products and make sure suppliers can back up claims;
• put in place processes to make sure your claims are right;
• think about the overall presentation of claims.

Any organisation that manufactures or distributes clothing, footwear or fashion accessories should review the CMA’s guidance before making green claims to ensure compliance with their consumer law obligations. Failure to do so could result in the CMA taking action which can result in significant reputational harm.

Should you wish to discuss issues relating to greenwashing or the Green Claims Code, please contact Charlotte Bolton and Iain Connor.