Competition Markets Authority urges entire fashion sector to use new agreements as benchmark for best practice on green claims
Asos, Boohoo, and George at Asda have formally pledged to root out misleading environmental claims about their clothes, more than a year after being targeted by a greenwashing investigation by the UK's competition watchdog.
Yesterday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it has secured agreements from the fast fashion brands which commits them to ensuring the green claims they make about their clothes are "accurate and clear".
The three firms, which collectively make more than £4.4bn annually from UK fashion sales, have pledged to regularly provide the CMA with reports on how they are complying with the agreements.
In an open letter published yesterday, the CMA urged all fashion retail businesses to use the new deals as a benchmark for their own green claims and marketing practices.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, hailed the agreements as a major milestone in the effort to tackle greenwash in the fashion sector.
"Following our action, the millions of people who shop with these well-known businesses can now have confidence in the green claims they see," she said. "This also marks a turning point for the industry. The commitments set a benchmark for how fashion retailers should be marketing their products, and we expect the sector as a whole - from high street to designer brands - to take note and review their own practices."
The "undertakings" signed by the companies this week commit the firms to new rules around the use of green claims, which include clearly setting out for criteria of clothing ranges marketed as environmentally friendly, such as Asos' "responsible edit" line or George at Asda's "George for good".
The firms have also pledged to not use natural imagery, such as green leaves, logos or icons in a way that suggests a product is more environmentally friendly than it is, and to avoid "ambiguous" terms like 'eco', 'responsible', and 'sustainable' to describe fabrics. More specific terms, such as 'organic' and 'recycled', should be displayed instead, substantiated with details of the percentage of fibres in a fabric, the agreements stipulate.
In addition, the fashion companies have pledged to ensure any marketing to promote environmental targets is supported by a clear and verifiable strategy, and ensure statements made by the companies about accreditation schemes and standards are clear and set out whether they apply to products or a firm's wider practices.
The agreements have been secured 18 months after CMA formally launched an investigation into the three companies, after they were flagged up during a review of alleged greenwashing in the fashion sector.
The deals signed between the fashion brands and the CMA mark the latest milestone in the UK regulator's campaign against greenwashing in product and service marketing in the UK, as it looks to protect consumers and ensure a level playing field for companies selling genuinely green products and services.
Since September 2021, companies selling products or services into the UK have been required to comply with the CMA's Green Claims Code, which demands all environmental claims are truthful and accurate; clear and unambiguous; substantiated; and consider the full lifecycle of the product or service.
In the years since, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has also issued a series of decisions against airlines, oil and gas companies, and car manufacturers as it seeks to crack down on misleading, decontextualised or unsubstantiated green advertising claims.
Yesterday, the advertising regulator banned an advert from an artificial grass manufacturer that claimed one of its ranges was environemtnally friendly, after concluding the claim did not stand up to scrutiny.
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