Bamboo textile case settled

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has reached a settlement with The M Group Inc., operating as Bamboosa, a company that produces bamboo clothing, over allegations that it was making false environmental claims and mislabelled merchandise.

According to the FTC, the company has agreed that it will “not make any future bamboo claims unless they are true and backed by reliable evidence, and that it will no longer claim that the clothing and bath products it sells are made of bamboo fiber when they actually are made of rayon (viscose) processed from bamboo plants.”

The FTC also noted that “the proposed settlement bars Bamboosa from making any false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims that any textile product is made of bamboo or bamboo fiber, is antimicrobial or retains the antimicrobial properties of the product from which it is made, or is biodegradable.”

Three other companies—Sami Designs LLC, trading as Jonäno; CSE Inc., trading as Mad Mod; and Pure Bamboo LLC—settled similar FTC complaints in August 2009, after agreeing to stop making false claims and to abide by the Textile Act and the FTC’s Textile Rules.

The move follows a similar ruling on bamboo fabrics by Canada’s Competition Bureau earlier this year, which aimed to crack down on unsubstantiated ‘green’ claims.