Regulators in France, the UK and the US are increasing efforts to tackle misleading environmental claims – making robust, verifiable sustainability practices a legal and reputational imperative, write White & Case partners Sonja Hoffmann and Yann Utzschneider and associates Spencer Beall and Janina Moutia-Bloom.
In Spring 2025, a group of consumer protection authorities from the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) issued a joint open letter to the fashion retail sector on the use of environmental claims.
Co-signed by regulators in Australia, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Colombia, Fiji, Peru, Seychelles, Turkey and several EEA countries, the letter reminds the industry of its collective responsibility for an estimated 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 20% of wastewater worldwide.
The letter showcases a multinational interest to hold the fashion industry accountable for environmental ramifications of fashion production and exemplifies how the mere accusation of potential violations is enough to severely damage a company’s reputation and the value of its brand. This encourages players, as the ICPEN letter states, to "raise standards" in how they communicate their sustainability credentials to consumers. This article will highlight related legal developments in France, the UK and the USA.
France
France leverages EU legislation to address environmental issues, notably the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (Directive 2005/29/EC), recently revised by the Directive 2024/825 on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition and effective from 27 September 2026.
In parallel, the draft EU Green Claims Directive (proposed in 2023 and still in the EU legislative process) aims to ensure reliable and accurate consumer information for companies’ environmental claims.
Certain EU consumer legislation, such as the UCPD, can be enforced by the "Consumer Protection Cooperation Network" ("CPC") for national authorities to work together on consumer issues affecting more than one Member State. Recently, the CPC found an online fashion retailer in breach of regulations due to deceptive sustainability claims.
Consumer associations in France typically base their lawsuits on article L.121-1 of the French Consumer Code, targeting false or misleading claims that could significantly alter the economic behaviour of a reasonably attentive and informed consumer. Although NGOs have taken several companies, including fashion brands, to court, few cases have reached a verdict, mainly due to procedural hurdles.
There are growing options to target greenwashing practices; notably the law on anti-waste for a circular economy of 10 February 2020, which mandates consumer information on the environmental qualities of textile and footwear products. Similar bills on the environmental impact of the textile industry are in the pipeline.
Soft law is also a powerful tool for supplementing the existing regulations. For example, in 2023, the French National Consumer Council published guidance on making environmental claims.
To expedite resolution of greenwashing complaints, some stakeholders turn to the Advertising Trade Jury, which issues non-binding opinions on the compliance of ads with the sustainability recommendations of the Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority.
United Kingdom
The UK has a fragmented, and not yet ‘mandatory’ regime to regulate consumer-facing ‘green’ claims, so action on greenwashing persists largely outside of the courtroom. In recent years, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have intensified efforts to curb both deliberate and inadvertent greenwashing in business-to-consumer communications.
The CMA has focused on the fashion industry; issuing sector-specific guidance in September 2024 entitled ‘Complying with consumer law when making environmental claims in the fashion retail sector’. The CMA guidance applies to all businesses making environmental claims about clothing, footwear, fashion accessories, or related services, including packaging, delivery and returns.
The CMA guidance is timely, particularly as the CMA gains its new enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC) effective from 6 April 2025. The DMCC has overhauled the UK’s consumer protection regime, with the CMA now empowered to bring direct enforcement action against companies and to impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches of consumer law, including greenwashing. The CMA guidance lays the groundwork for future enforcement action against fashion industry players, potentially leading to legal challenges against the power of English courts to issue fines.
United States
There is no federal law setting standards for environmental claims on consumer products. However, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") is poised to revise its Green Guides to offer updated guidance on more recent advertising buzzwords for fashion and apparel products, such as ‘sustainable’ and ‘recyclable’. Meanwhile, steady efforts to improve environmental accountability in the fashion industry continue through consumer-led greenwashing lawsuits and state legislative developments.
FTC Green Guides
False or misleading marketing claims are actionable as unfair/deceptive acts under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Last revised in 2012, the FTC’s Green Guides clarify how this Section applies to green marketing claims and provides principles for creating transparent green claims by helping companies understand how consumers are likely to interpret them. The anticipated updates have been on marketers’ radar since the FTC proposed revising the guides in 2022. Although not legally binding, adherence to the guides can help fashion producers mitigate the risk of violating Section 5.
Consumer Class Actions
Consumer class action litigation related to terms like ‘sustainable,’ ‘conscious choice’, ‘recycled’, ‘carbon neutral’ and related carbon-offsetting claims, are common in US courts, affecting some of the world’s most well-known fashion brands. These lawsuits concerning false/misleading green claims often rely on state unfair competition, deceptive trade practice, and/or false advertising statutes as the legal basis for cause(s) of action. However, several class actions have specifically referenced the Green Guides when alleging that a company’s green claims are misleading, especially when state laws align with Section 5 of the FTC Act and/or defer to the FTC’s interpretations of unfair or deceptive business practices.
State Legislative Developments
Several states are working on laws that complement the aim of the Green Guides, potentially impacting future greenwashing class actions. For example, California’s Responsible Textile Recovery Act, enacted in December 2024, mandates that apparel manufacturers with at least US$1 million in annual turnover are responsible for the entire lifespan of their products, from production through recycling, to encourage reusable materials and environmentally-friendly business practices (eg repair and upcycling of products).
Other states, including New York, Washington and Massachusetts, recently developed bills aiming to increase textile producers’ environmental accountability. Although none of the bills survived review, fashion producers could be exposed to alternative forms of liability for making unsubstantiated green claims if such bills are reintroduced and enacted.
Reflections on the status quo
Holding fashion retailers accountable for greenwashing remains a priority for regulators and other stakeholders in the US, France and the UK. It has become one of the most significant ESG-challenges for fashion companies in terms of reputational and financial risk exposure.
Efforts are unfolding at a regional level. For example, the EU’s proposed Green Claims Directive aims to "protect consumers and companies from greenwashing" and "improve the legal certainty as regards environmental claims and level playing fields on the [EU’s] internal market". At a national level, the regulatory framework remains inconsistent, but the range of tools is growing, with a recent example of complaints before the Danish Consumer Ombudsman.
Fashion producers operating globally should be aware of potential investigations, class actions and securities litigation and shareholder activism worldwide if their marketing claims prove threadbare. Unified global coordination, communication and process management are key to navigating compliance and litigation risks effectively.
Beyond "environmental"
Critically, corporates must also think beyond the traditional "environmental" impacts associated with greenwashing. The EU UCPD also explicitly provides that consumers must be protected from misleading "social aspects" of sustainability labels. Regulators and stakeholders are already investigating fashion companies related to misleading social disclosures.
The forthcoming EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) related to overproduction and waste management will also pose future ESG-related compliance challenges and risks for companies. Furthermore, the fashion industry’s increasing reliance on fossil-fuel derived synthetic fibres (particularly polyester) will draw scrutiny on plastic pollution, particularly in the year of the anticipated conclusion of the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations.
Reproduced with permission from the Forward Law Review. This article was first published in the Forward Law Review.
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