Swedish retailer H&M and Decathlon will either drop or amend certain sustainability claims from their website after an investigation by a Dutch regulator found their claims to be unclear.
The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) found that both of the retailers made unclear and insufficiently substantiated sustainability claims on their websites with the use of words such as “eco-design” and “conscious.”
In response to the investigation, the two companies have pledged to clearly inform their consumers about the sustainability quotient of their products. They will also be donating $1.1 million in total to various sustainable causes.
“Consumers that wish to make sustainable choices must be able to have confidence in the veracity of the claims that businesses make on their products or websites,” said Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh, board member of ACM.
We are pleased to see that these companies have acknowledged that they should have informed consumers more clearly about the sustainability aspects of their products and that they will adjust various sustainability claims and their substantiations,” she added.
The two retailers managed to avoid any fines by the regulator as they are willing to adjust their business practices and make commitments going forward, FashionUnited reported.
