SPA Brands Face Sanctions from Fair Trade Commission for 'Vegan Leather' Greenwashing
Major domestic SPA brands in South Korea, including Musinsa Standard, Topten, Misso, Spao, and Zara, have been sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for advertising synthetic leather clothing as environmentally friendly products under the name 'Vegan Leather.'
The FTC determined that such actions constituted 'greenwashing' by broadly using terms like 'eco' without actual environmentally friendly practices.
On the 15th, the FTC announced that it issued a warning for violations of labeling and advertising laws against four SPA clothing companies: Musinsa, Shinseong Tongsang, E-Land World, and ITX Korea.
According to the investigation, these companies purchased fabrics made overseas, including in China, but did not conduct any additional environmentally friendly processes. Despite this, they used eco-friendly expressions like 'eco' and 'environmentally conscious' without basis.
Clear Criteria for Eco-Friendly Labeling and Advertising
According to the FTC's related guidelines, 'eco-friendly products' refer to goods that have improved environmental attributes or efficacy compared to other products of the same use.
However, if environmental benefits are only achieved at certain stages of production, and the overall lifecycle impact—from raw material acquisition through production, distribution, usage, and disposal—negates or even reduces these effects, the product cannot be advertised universally as eco-friendly.
Additionally, if only some of the components of the product received eco-friendly certification or if only certain toxic chemicals were not detected, referring to the entire product as 'eco-friendly' would also be considered false or misleading advertising, according to the FTC's explanation.
In this case, the FTC took into account that the companies acknowledged the legal violations and voluntarily rectified the issues, thus only imposing a warning. An FTC representative stated, "We plan to continue monitoring greenwashing and unfair advertising practices in online platforms, and we will respond rigorously when detected."
Image source: (from left) Screenshots of Musinsa Standard and Topten synthetic leather products for sale. / Provided by FTC, Photo = Insight
