Bamboozled . . . .

First it was allegedly mislabelled organic cotton and now Fashionista reads about the risk of mislabelling textiles that contain bamboo fibres.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that it has warned 78 retailers including such heavy-weights as Wal-Mart, Macy's and Bloomingdales "that they may be breaking the law by selling clothing or other textile products that are labelled and advertised as "bamboo", but actually are made of a manufactured rayon fiber".

As the FTC explains on its website "How to Avoid Bamboozling Your Customers", "most “bamboo” textile products, if not all, really are rayon, which typically is made using environmentally toxic chemicals in a process that emits hazardous pollutants into the air. While different plants, including bamboo, can be used as a source material to create rayon, there’s no trace of the original plant in the finished rayon product."

A "bamboo" product should be made with, guess what, bamboo fibre - but apparently, bamboo products are often referred to as "mechanically processed bamboo" which does not sound very 'green' to Fashionista. If a product is described as "bamboo" then it must be possible to establish by scientific evidence that the product is made of actual bamboo fibre and has all the qualities of bamboo products such as natural antimicrobial properties, being biodegradable. This sounds complicated, but there is help at hand in form of FTC's business guide fittingly entitled "Threading Your Way Through the Labelling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts" and "Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?" for the bedazzled consumer.

Fashionista is amazed to read that as a result of the Canadian Competition Bureau's efforts to ensure that textile articles are accurately labelled and advertised, more than 450.000 textile articles have already been re-labelled and over 250 websites corrected!

Emma Watson: sharing her magic with People Tree

Emma Watson seems just too perfect.

Not only has she grown up on our screens preserving a squeaky clean image, but she is now: one of Britain's highest earning actresses; one of the faces of Burberry (and has helped her little brother to kick start his modelling career by drawing him in to her latest photoshoot for the brand); and fashion's latest pioneer of enivronmentally friendly and planet aware clothing. This last venture: her "Love From Emma" range is a capsule collection which Ms Watson has developed working as a creative advisor with People Tree: because she believes in the cause and not because she has any "designs" (sorry) on being a fashion designer.

The "Love From Emma" range (catalogue pictured) features organic and Fairtrade certified cotton, and is targetted at the younger consumer base, bringing environmentally sourced and created fashion to conscientious teens everywhere.

People Tree has had a lot of publicity for its worthy mission statement and the promises it delivers, but Fashionista thinks that signing up Britain's darling is a very savvy move indeed. The "Love From Emma" target market is the exact age group which is likely to identify or relate to her. She is one of their peers, and if she feels passionately about the humanitarian issues surrounding readily available fashion and the use of fashion as a tool to alleviate poverty, then there is every chance that her passion can inspire others in her age group to feel the same way.

Fashionista asks: are we about to witness a shift in consumer choices and behaviour? Will cheap, readily available fashion choices be replaced by more considered choices which take into account the environmental and humanitarian impact associated with such items. It certainly looks as though this is one bandwagon which is being readily jumped on, but how far this bandwagon will travel remains to be seen. Fashionista is hopeful that the journey will be a long and successful one...

Organic or not organic . . . . . ?

Fashionista was shocked when she first read in the distinguished German Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) that allegedly large volumes of organic cotton produced in India and used by high street chains such as H&M, C&A and Tchibo may have been contaminated with genetically modified cotton. Not surprisingly, the article led to a flurry of comments, both from the companies and institutes concerned as well as other industry bodies and even the German government. After all, organic is all about non-GMO and GM cotton seeds are prohibited under organic standards.

According to FTD, Indian authorities uncovered this scandal in April 2009, following which French certifier Ecocert and Dutch certifier Control Union were ordered to pay fines amounting to tens of thousands of Euros (it may be that this was for non-conformities in their certification processes rather than fraud, and that changes have since been made). Both certifiers are also working for H&M (who allegedly knew of the scandal and was in contact with the certifiers to ensure that this incident would not happen again). C&A and Tchibo apparently did not have any knowledge of this matter until informed of it by FTD. The companies have reacted in different ways: while Tchibo has now stated that its organic cotton products are not affected because its current cotton products originate not from the affected areas in India but from Turkey, C&A has announced that it will continue to sell organic cotton from India but will investigate this matter and talk to the certifier.

Lothar Kruse, who is leading the independent laboratory Impetus based in Northern Germany which checks fibres and yarns for smaller eco fashion houses claims that - generally speaking - about 30 percent of the organic cotton test material he receives is genetically modified. The figure may be unexpectedly high, but could be explained on the basis that a great number of samples sent for testing may already be suspected of being contaminated. In any event, certifiers of organic textiles and other textile industry bodies have been eager to try and limit the damage by explaining the difficulties of growing and using GM crops next to organic crops, and by clarifying the figures stated in the FTD article. Certainly, it has to be kept in mind that by stating something is 'organic' this does not necessarily amount to a purity claim. Stating that something is 'organic' in most cases will mean that ingredients or materials with certain qualities have been used and certain procedures have been complied with. Contamination may occur due to factors which are outside of the control of the relevant farmer/manufacturer/distributor/etc..

Without wanting to dig deep into the discussions, explanations and justifications, the debate shows clearly the fragility of reputation of this relatively young and overwhelmingly well-meaning industry, how easily it can be thrown into turmoil and how difficult it can be to confirm that a product does indeed fulfil the criteria claimed on its "green" label. This matter confirms that a functioning and widely recognised certification system with uniform standards for organic products is becoming more and more important. Not just to serve as a marketing instrument in 'normal' times but equally importantly to strengthen consumers' confidence in times of doubt that the product they are buying fulfils all the 'green' criteria claimed on the label.

Looking for an excuse to shop?

No-one can fail to have be moved by the tragic scenes reaching us daily from earthquake-torn Haiti, or by the stories of human misery which accompany them. It is therefore with a sense of pride that Fashionista notes that this year's Fashion For Relief initiative will be dedicated to aiding the victims of this disaster.



Right: This year's Fashion For Relief will be opened by Naomi Campbell and Sarah Brown

This year's Fashion for Relief catwalk show is scheduled for 18 February, the night before London Fashion Week begins. After the catwalk show all the dresses will be auctioned off to support this deserving cause. Since the UK economy is officially moving out of recession today, Fashionista urges her friends to sweep the cobwebs from their credit cards and do the noble thing! Adds Modeliste, let it never be said that the fashion community is so selfishly preoccupied with appearance as to lose track of reality in the real world.

Avoiding invasions of privacy

Fashionista knows that personal information is one of most valuable currencies of the twenty first century, including for websites in the fashion industry. Its value can, however, be diminished, and relationships with customers damaged, if privacy is not taken seriously.

Here are some top tips which our friends at law firm Olswang have put together for online retailers and others wanting to capture customers' data:

1. Work out what personal information you need and what you are going to do with it. You should only collect the information you need to provide your services, so a bit of thought about what this actually means pays dividends. You should communicate to customers the ways in which you will handle that information and, in an online context, this is often done via a privacy policy.

2. Obtain consent, where possible, at the actual point of data collection, particularly where it is important for the customer to understand non-obvious uses that you intend to make of the data (for example, giving their information to a third party). The concept of "consent" is more "light touch" in the UK compared to the rest of Europe, so if you are a pan-European fashionista you need to take consent particularly seriously, because continental Europeans do.

3. A special word about email. Fashion followers like to be kept up to date, but they will only appreciate an unsolicited marketing email if they have consented to receive it. The way in which you obtain that consent is also important – the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") recommendations in its Privacy Notices Code of Practice are good practice (and many continental Europeans would say they are the law anyway).

4. Notify the ICO that you want to collect or process personal information. The process is simple and, unless you are exempt, failure to do so is a criminal offence.

The ICO has a range of enforcement powers for those who don’t follow the relevant legislation, including the ability to fine companies or in some cases even to prevent them using certain personal information they have collected.

The only tip on matters of style that Fashionista dares to venture is that giving a good customer experience in matters of privacy is likely to be more fashionable in 2010 than doing the absolute minimum to comply with the law.

For more information contact Marc Dautlich on marc.dautlich@olswang.com.

Retail + TECHNOLOGY

Fashionista's friends at law firm Olswang hosted Retail +TECHNOLOGY recently and brought together more than 75 leading lights from the retail and technology sectors, including keynote speaker Maurice Bennett CBE. If you're interested to hear what people thought, see the Talking Heads Guide.

Their next event promises to be just as interesting and focuses on Digital money + TECHNOLOGY - click here for details.

Winter Sales 2010 in Brussels

Ready, set, go: the Belgian sales have started!

Fashionista is fascinated to learn that in Belgium sales are regulated closely. This means that traders (including those really cool Belgian boutiques) can only sell products in a 'sale' ('solden' in Dutch/'soldes' in French) twice a year: winter sales in January and summer sales in July. Both periods are defined by law for all of Belgium. The first official sales period for 2010 began on 2 January and will end on the last day of the month.

The regulations provide that the products must be sales items that have already been on sale in the same store and before the start of the sales there is a black-out period ('sperperiode' in Dutch/'période d'attente' in French), during which it is prohibited to have sales in the clothing, footwear and leather sector.

Belgium is an outsider in Europe as it comes to its regulation of sales. In some Member States (e.g. France, Italy, Spain), it is up to regional or local authorities to determine the periods during which such end-of-season sales may take place. Other Member States do not have specific legislation concerning the timing of end-of-season sales (e.g. Finland, The Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom). In these Member States the rules prohibiting misleading advertising are the main rules regarding end-of-season sales and other special sales events.

Each year several large Belgian fashion stores infringe the sale regulation, in particular with respect to the black-out period. And what is more compared to large fashion stores, the smaller boutiques run by independent and self-employed retailers are liable to proportionally larger penalties for infringing the sale regulations. So various organisations representing self employed traders are lobbying for an amendment of the current sales regulation. It is expected that Belgium will agree to this, as the European Commission recently issued a formal notice of default to the Belgian State for not having abolished (amongst other things) the sales regulation while implementing the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

Meanwhile, Fashionista and Modeliste are off to find some bargains in Brussels . . . .

Posted for Christine - for Fashionista-at-Law's Brussels desk.