Retail Week quotes Ilona Bateson on the CMA’s investigation into environmental claims in the fashion retail sector

Yesterday, the CMA published an open letter to businesses in the fashion sector, and three retailers gave undertakings to reform the way they make sustainable claims. In doing so, the CMA reiterated the aim of its Green Claims Code: to give businesses better tools to make accurate and truthful environmental claims about their products. 

Ilona Bateson, Associate, provided comments to Retail Week. She considers how the Code could be further developed in the future for fashion businesses and suggest the action they should take now. 

See a snippet of her comments below:

Do the commitments made by these brands set a benchmark for the sector?

As this letter is specifically aimed at fashion retailers (and the wider supply chain), the expectations from the CMA are clear and so yes, they should act as a benchmark for the fashion sector in the UK. These undertakings reduce the ambiguity in terms of the expectations for the use of words such as “eco”, "responsible” or “sustainable.” As the undertakings make clear, these terms need to be explained to the consumer, but importantly, this goes further than just the requirement to substantiate, as these undertakings show how it should be done (e.g: including percentages of recycled fibres). As mentioned above, additional practical guidance would be helpful to fashion businesses so that they understand their obligations and don’t inadvertently breach the code despite their best efforts. Despite the fact that this letter does act as a benchmark, the brands that have been targeted (i.e: ASOS, Boohoo and George) do not have particularly strong sustainability credentials and / or greenwashing track records, so it remains to be seen whether the rest of the industry will feel that this letter too applies to them.

Read the piece in Retail Week here.