PARIS — Just days before Canadian athletes don the company's apparel at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics,

the official kit provider of Team Canada, Lululemon is facing legal challenges, as environmental advocacy organisation Stand.earth, files a first-of-its-kind complaint in France against the fashion retailer for greenwashing its products.

Filed with the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) on 24 July 2024, the complaint seeks a rescission of Lululemon’s ‘Be Planet’ advertising campaign. The claim is supported by global law firm Hausfeld & Co LLP as part of their pro-bono practice.

Complaint regarding Lululemon

“We are asking French officials to investigate how Lululemon can claim to ‘Be Planet’ while creating more planet-harming emissions every year than half a million cars,” Stand Executive Director Todd Paglia said. “Lululemon customers worldwide deserve to know the true impacts of the company’s climate pollution, not the greenwashed version it uses to sell products.”

The complaint focuses on Lululemon’s Be Planet campaign, which Stand alleges makes numerous claims which give the general impression that Lululemon’s practices, products and actions avoid harming the environment, and instead contribute to “restoring a healthy planet". Stand alleges that these claims constitute a misleading commercial practice which is prohibited by the French Consumer Code, as amended by the ‘Anti-Waste and Circular Economy’ (AGEC) law and the ‘Climate and Resilience’ law.

This complaint will mark the first test of the French Regulator's readiness for a wave of new European legislation. The EU passed a new greenwashing directive in February of this year and is developing a Green Claims Directive. This will require sustainability claims to be checked by an independent and accredited verifier and will include new rules on governance of environmental labelling schemes to ensure they are solid, transparent and reliable. The DGCCRF, which regulates greenwashing claims in France, investigated more than 1,000 businesses regarding greenwashing in 2021 and 2022, and found that one in four was in breach.

Lululemon is one of the world's biggest fashion brands and an influential company. Through its ‘Be Planet’ campaign, Lululemon presents itself as a company whose actions and products contribute to a healthier environment and planet. Although Lululemon has taken some actions and set some targets to reduce the harmful impact of its business operations and products, Stand's position in its complaint is that Lululemon's business is inconsistent with its public claims to be an environmentally positive company.

The French action comes less than six months after Stand’s filing of a similar complaint against Lululemon in its home country of Canada in February, which resulted in the Competition Bureau Canada officially opening an inquiry in April to investigate concerns that the apparel company misleads customers about its environmental impact.

“We are seeing increasing interest in combatting greenwashing from NGOs and other stakeholders, such as investors, consumers and regulators,” said Simon Bishop, Partner at Hausfeld in London. “Demand for products and businesses which are sustainable and aligned with stakeholders’ values continues to rise and this can incentivise companies to claim to be more ‘green’ than they actually are. If this happens, such companies should be alert to the risk of litigation or regulatory investigations.”

Additional information

Fashion is a multi-trillion dollar industry responsible for producing of global greenhouse gas emissions, and those emissions are expected to drastically increase. The industry’s manufacturing processes disproportionately rely on coal and other fossil fuels, undermining climate stability while also causing a devastating impact on the health of supply chain workers and their communities.

Fossil fuels enter the supply chain through synthetic fibers made from oil and fracked gas, the ongoing practice of burning coal for heat at garment factories, fashion manufacturers’ continued reliance on fossil fuels for electricity, and the heavy fuels required to transport their goods. According to the Apparel Impact Institute, the most important change brands can make to cut emissions is to transition their manufacturing to renewable energy.

Stand.earth delivers large-scale solutions to climate and environmental problems worldwide. For more information, please visit their website.

Hausfeld’s environmental team has a reputation for pioneering ground-breaking climate impact and ESG claims. We won the ‘Innovation in Sustainability & ESG’ award the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards in 2021.