The Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) has imposed a €1 million fine on the company responsible for managing the European e-commerce platforms of a well-known Chinese fast fashion brand, due to the use of misleading and/or omissive environmental claims (green claims) in the promotion and sale of the brand’s clothing products (see AGCM communication dated August 4, 2025). The sanction refers to environmental assertions published in certain sections of the company’s website, which were found to be, at times, misleading or omissive, and in other instances, vague or overly emphatic.

 In particular, in the first section, the environmental claims—such as those concerning the "design of a circular system"—were deemed vague, generic, and misleading, lacking clear information about concrete programs to implement such a system, as well as those related to “reduce, reuse, and recycle”. The statements included in the second section emphasized the use of “green” fibers, but failed to clearly indicate the actual environmental benefits of the products and did not specify that this product line represents only a marginal share of the total items sold by the Chinese fashion giant. Furthermore, such statements could have misled consumers into erroneously believing that the products in this collection were entirely recyclable.

Finally, the declarations made in a third section—regarding the company’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050—were not only considered vague and generic, but were also contradicted by the actual increase in the company’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 and 2024.

 The AGCM emphasized the need for companies operating in highly polluting sectors—such as fast and ultra-fast fashion—to comply with their duty of diligence, especially when making environmental claims that may significantly influence consumer choices.