FTC cracking down on bamboo claims

New publication helps retailers, suppliers follow guidelines
Home Textiles Today, Aug. 17, 2009

New York – The Home Fashion Products Association has issued an alert about the Federal Trade Commission charging suppliers with deceptive labeling and advertising over the use of the word “bamboo.”

The FTC has charged four sellers of clothing and other textiles products for claiming bamboo construction on products manufactured from rayon. The complaints also charge the companies with making false and unsubstantiated “green” claims that the products are manufactured using an environmentally friendly process, that they retain the natural antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant, and that they are biodegradable.

“It is a violation of the FTC textile labeling rules to identify a fabric as simply 100% bamboo or 100% bamboo rayon. Bamboo is not a generic fiber,” wrote Robert Leo of Meeks, Sheppard, Leo & Pillsbury, the association’s counsel.

Rayon is the generic name for a fiber made from cellulose such as pine, spruce, hemlock or bamboo.

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