Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has alleged that consumers are being duped into paying a premium for productions falsely labeled as sustainable but have no credentials to prove it.

As per a report by The Guardian, CMA is investigating many such claims made by British fashion brands. The analyst estimate, UK consumers spend £54 billion annually on clothing and footwear. According to estimates, fashion is responsible for between 2 per cent and 8 per cent of global carbon emissions. It also causes huge amounts of wastes and pollution.

Buyers opting for sustainable products are being bamboozled by sweeping claims, according to the report, resulting in a loss of trust which could stop the UK reaching its climate commitments.

Cecilia Parker Aranha, Director-Consumer Protection, CMA says, around 60 per cent of people had said they were either likely to or fairly likely to be willing to pay more for products, and about 9 per cent more for products that were environmentally friendly.

Claims being investigated by the CMA include unfair comparisons that individual items of clothing are “better for the environment” without qualifying how; claims about the use of recycled materials in new clothing; and entire ranges of clothing within stores being branded as “sustainable”.

The CMA will name the companies it considers to be the worst offenders, as an example to the rest of the industry, and ask them to make changes. If they do not make changes to their advertising, they could be taken to court.