Zalando to Drop ‘Misleading’ Environmental Claims
Europe’s biggest fashion e-tailer will no longer be describing its merchandise as sustainable following a long-term “dialogue” with several European consumer authorities, the European Commission said Thursday.
Zalando, which had already jettisoned its sustainability “flag,” has committed to removing any other “misleading” and “unjustified” symbols and terms by mid-April. This includes the use of “sustainability” itself, which will be stripped from its search function. Instead, consumers will only be able to filter for products based on specific characteristics, the European Union’s executive arm said.
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In place of icons of leaves or trees, the multi-brand retailer will provide “clear information” about a specific item, such as a percentage figure of how much recycled material it contains. Zalando will also revise its “Sustainability Page” with two “detailed” web pages with information about its product standards and sustainability-related approaches and strategies.
“Many consumers want to make their consumption greener,” said Belgian politician Didier Reynders, the European commissioner for justice. “It is important for them to have reliable information so they can act upon it and make truly sustainable consumption choices. We must also prevent traders who could try to benefit from consumers’ good intentions.”
The move crystallizes what has been a growing crackdown on deceptive or unsubstantiated green marketing claims that has markedly changed the way fashion purveyors signpost goods that they tout as better for the environment. When scrutiny over the Higg Materials Sustainability Index spilled over to the brands and retailers that used its data to justify their green declarations in 2022, formerly de rigueur in-house eco-designations, such as H&M’s “Conscious Choice,” Zara’s “Join Life,” and Mango’s “Committed,” quickly tumbled out of favor.
Zalando’s sustainability flag itself withered under the critical gaze of the Norwegian Consumer Council, which convened a jury the same year to award the company with its inaugural grønnvaskingsprisen, or greenwashing prize. By marketing its clothes under the tab “sustainability,” Zalando was giving the impression that “we can buy our way out of environmental challenges,” the jury said.
Any similar labels that haven’t already returned to whence they came will likely be picked off when the EU’s anti-greenwashing directive on empowering consumers for the green transition enters into force. Only sustainability labels based on official certification schemes or approved by public authorities will be permitted on the single market. Unless backed by credible evidence, phrases like “environmentally friendly,” “natural,” “biodegradable,” “eco” and “climate neutral” will not.
Current rules in the world’s largest trading bloc, which require businesses only to “provide truthful information” to consumers and “refrain from misleading consumers to influence their choices,” are broader and more subject to interpretation.
Zalando says that its agreement is a mutual one, and as such any proceedings against it have been discontinued, albeit subject to the implementation of the aforementioned changes. It will have to submit a report on the roll-out to the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network, the EU watchdog coordinated by the European Commission and led by authorities from Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It was the latter group that started a coordinated action with Zalando nearly two years ago.
The retailer, a spokesperson said, supports a “standardized application of existing policies to ensure that no practices are used that could be misleading to customers.” It also called the outcome a “first step in providing clarity to the industry on what a compliant sustainability experience could look like.”
But it also warned of potential pitfalls if the mandates aren’t applied fairly or uniformly “with the idea of ensuring a level playing field in our sector.”
“As a number of textiles-specific legislations will be developed over the next few years, we encourage EU policymakers to establish a consistent regulatory framework that will enhance not only consumer trust but also consumer engagement, while providing legal certainty for companies,” the representative said.
