So H&M’s recently-launched Conscious Collection might not be as sustainable as it appears (BIG SHOCK). According to Dezeen, the Swedish label has been accused of employing “misleading marketing” for the eco-friendly line, and in doing so, violating Norwegian law.
As the story explains, the Norwegian Consumer Authority (CA) is alleging that the Swedish clothing retailer provides “insufficient” details about the Conscious Collection, often “glazing over specific information about the clothing’s benefits, composition and specifications.”
And because of all that vagueness, the CA director says that consumers could potentially be “misled by ‘greenwashing’ statements featured in companies’ marketing strategies,” adding that “consumers should know if a garment is based on five percent recycled material or 60 percent.”
“We consider this information important for the consumer as the clothing is marketed as being less harmful to the environment,” the organization’s director said, and that can cause some consumers to make “an economic decision that they would not otherwise have made”.
Based on that, “the CA concluded that H&M’s portrayal of the sustainability of its collection breaches Norwegian marketing laws.”
H&M, for its part, told Dezeen that they were in contact with the NCA about ways in which they can make marketing materials surrounding their Conscious Collection more “precise,” while also clarifying that the watchdog group wasn’t “looking into whether [their] products are sustainable or not.”
If it’s that simple then the fix should be too. If it’s not, well…
You can read more about it at Dezeen.
