Polyester Blanket Producer Faces Greenwashing Lawsuit
Home goods player Berkshire Blanket & Home Company was hit with a class-action lawsuit claiming its “EcoSoft” blankets are misrepresented as sustainable.
The lawsuit filed on Friday in a district court for Massachusetts, where Berkshire is headquartered, takes issue with marketing claims that the 100 percent polyester blanket in question is “for the planet” and uses “half the water.”
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“It is unclear whether this references half of the water of competitors, half the water it previously used, or some other half,” according to the 46-page complaint listing Malachi Woodiwiss, Tyler Bennett, Eric Patton, Aimen Halim, and Ashia Jones as lead plaintiffs. “This could still be a substantial amount of water with significant environmental impact, yet Berkshire makes no attempt to substantiate its claim that the amount of water being used is somehow better for the environment.”
The lawsuit also take issue with Berkshire’s claims of “zero-water dyeing” on the same grounds.
The class-action suit states that the five primary plaintiffs from Idaho, Tennessee, Texas and two from Illinois purchased their blankets at Costco and Walmart stores.
“EcoSoft” blankets were not found on the Berkshire website as of Wednesday afternoon, but they were available on Amazon, Costco and Walmart e-commerce sites, priced between $20-$50.
The nine claims in the suit are for deceptive trade practices under the five state laws, and the remaining four are on behalf of all current and future plaintiffs for negligent misrepresentation, fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of express warranty. No dollar figure is specified for damages.
Berkshire Blanket & Home was founded in Ware, Mass. in 1993, acquired by New York-based CSW Private Equity in 2006 and then sold to China-based SUMEC Textile Light Industry Co. 10 years later.
Of note, Chicago-based Halim sued Buffalo Wild Wings in March saying its chicken nuggets were “boneless wings” in a lawsuit that was quickly dismissed. In 2021 Halim also sued Hefty with similar greenwashing accusations for claiming its trash bags are “recyclable.”
Sourcing Journal reached out to Berkshire for comment.
Greenwashing lawsuits are piling up, and with mixed results. Canada Goose and Allbirds successfully dodged lawsuits against them last year. While H&M got one greenwashing suit dismissed, it’s still fighting a similar claim in New York. Nike, too, was recently accused of deceiving consumers by “misleadingly” marketing some products as “environmentally friendly.”
