FTC fines four more retail groups over bamboo “mislabelling”
08/01/2016
Utah-based Backcountry.com was one of four retailers issued with fines for the same alleged violation. The other three are major players in mainstream retail: Bed Bath & Beyond (fined $500,000); Nordstrom, ($360,000), and JC Penney ($290,000).
The FTC allegation is that the retailers broke US law by “continuing to misrepresent or mislabel rayon products as bamboo” despite receiving warning letters from the FTC in 2010, along with a synopsis of previous cases against businesses for the same breach.
In the example the FTC gave in its complaint against Backcountry.com, it said the company had sold a product called the Bridgedale Bamboo Crew Sock, incorrectly labelling it as bamboo instead of rayon and made anti-microbial claims for its “bamboo” products that the FTC says do not stack up.
“It’s misleading to call bamboo that has been chemically processed into rayon simply ‘bamboo’,” said Jessica Rich, director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. She warned that textiles marketed as environmentally friendly alternatives may not always be as ‘green’ as consumers are led to believe.
In 2009, the FTC brought its first set of cases against companies allegedly selling rayon textiles labelled as bamboo. The agency settled charges against four companies and distributed an alert advising manufacturers and sellers that if a textile is not made directly with bamboo fibre, it may not be labelled or advertised as bamboo.
In January 2010, the FTC sent warning letters to 78 companies concerning their “continuing mislabelling” of rayon textiles as bamboo.
At the start of 2013, retail groups Amazon, Leon Max, Macy’s and Sears-Roebuck and its Kmart subsidiaries agreed to pay penalties of more than $1.2 million to settle charges over the issue.
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