H & M's "conscious" clothing violated Norwegian law

The global clothing giant H&M has a so-called “Concious Collection” - (conscious in Swedish) that is marketed as environmentally sustainable. But H&M's advertising has caused the Norwegian Consumer Agency, the Consumer Authority, to look red after the Norwegian NRK asked the question.

- What we saw was that they (H&M eds.) Marketed "Concious" as a sustainable collection without telling what it meant. Customers have the right to be able to make conscious choices, says Elisabeth Lier Haugseth, head of the Consumer Authority for SVT.

She believes that H&M thus violated the Norwegian Marketing Act. The Norwegian authority agrees with H&M about changes in marketing, but the company does not want to be interviewed by SVT but gives a written answer:

"Note that what the Consumer Authority has looked at is whether the information related to our Conscious products is accurate enough - not whether our products are sustainable or not."

But the issue of clothing at all can be regarded as sustainable, says Elisabeth Lier Haugseth at the Consumer Authority is the biggest problem.

- "Sustainable" when it comes to clothing is problematic because it is one of the most environmentally destructive industries we have in the world today, according to Elisabeth Lier Haugseth.

The Swedish Consumer Agency writes to SVT that it has not reviewed H & M's marketing but claims that there are high demands on environmental advertising:

"It is important to remember as a company when using environmental claims is that you always have to be able to substantiate what is claimed, and for environmental claims there is a high standard of proof."