Italy’s competitive guards said on Monday that the company had a million euros ($ 1.15 million) for false and confusing claims on the efforts of the e-commerce giant, which was “green”, for false and confusing claims.
The AGCM Watchdog accuses the quickly fashionable colossal founded by China, “to pursue a misleading communication strategy regarding the characteristics and environmental influences of its clothing products”.
The fine was imposed for Infinite Styles Services Co. LTD, the company that is responsible for the administration of Sheins product trade website in Europe, the watchdog said in a statement.
The AGCM accused “of misleading and/or misleading environmental messages and claims … when advertising and selling clothing products with Shein -Branded”.
In some cases, these were “vague, generic and/or excessively emphatically and in others, misleading or merginen”.
In particular, it was found that claims about the recyclability of products are “either wrong or at least confusing,” it said.
Consumers were easy to believe that Shein products were exclusively from sustainable materials and completely recyclable: “A statement that does not reflect reality due to the fibers and current recycling systems used”.
The AGCM also had problems with the retailers’ claims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030 and not to achieve emissions by 2050.
These “vague” promises by a company in which phenomenal growth has been recorded in recent years was “refuted by an actual increase in the greenhouse gas emissions of Shein in 2023 and 2024”, it said.
Environmentalists have warned long about the damage that the wasteful trend of the fast fashion sector generates in mass line that is quickly thrown away.
Fast fashion consumes massive amounts of water, creates dangerous chemicals and blocks landfills in poor countries with textile waste and at the same time generates greenhouse gases in production, transport and disposal.
Shein did not immediately answer a request for a comment.
