Hunkemöller sued by German shopper advocate for greenwashing

Dutch lingerie retailer Hunkemöller has been sued by a German shopper advocate. The lawsuit is because of deceptive advertising in its on-line store about sustainability. Dutch retailer Peek&Cloppenburg and German style group Popken Style GmbH have additionally been warned.

Verbraucherzentrale Rheinland-Pfalz shared the information on their web site. The German shopper group warned a complete of three on-line style retailers relating to deceptive claims about sustainability, a apply that’s often known as ‘greenwashing’.

‘Utterly arbitrary if merchandise include sustainable materials’

Hunkemöller marketed part of their assortment as being constructed from ‘sustainable cotton’. Nonetheless, this cotton is blended with largely conventionally produced cotton, the patron advocate discovered. Subsequently it’s ‘fully arbitrary’ wherein clothes the environmentally pleasant materials is used, Verbraucherzentrale Rheinland-Pfalz writes.

Sustainable cotton is blended with largely conventionally produced cotton.

“It isn’t sure that the articles marketed as sustainable are literally manufactured from this extra environmentally pleasant cotton,” says regulation professional Jennifer Häußer from the German group.

Peek&Cloppenburg and Popken Style warned

The patron advocate warns that, not like the time period ‘natural’, statements like ‘sustainable’, ‘local weather impartial’ or ‘environmentally pleasant’ usually are not legally outlined. As an alternative, corporations resolve for themselves what they imply.

The time period ‘sustainable’ shouldn’t be legally outlined.

Along with Hunkemöller, Dutch style model Peek&Cloppenburg and the German firm behind Ulla Popken have been additionally warned about greenwashing. Nonetheless, the businesses modified their web sites and reached an out-of-court settlement with the patron recommendation middle.

Hunkemöller: ‘By no means supposed to mislead shoppers’

Hunkemöller says the corporate is stunned by the information. The model mentions it has responded to the warning by Verbraucherzentrale Rheinland-Pfalz and made modifications on their web site, including: “We need to make clear that it has by no means been Hunkemöller’s intention to mislead shoppers.”