ST. LOUIS (Legal Newsline) - It didn't take long for H&M to file a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit that alleges its "Conscious Choice" sustainable clothing line is not made from environmentally friendly materials.
The company filed its motion Dec. 6 in St. Louis federal court, about a month after plaintiffs Abraham Lizama and Marc Doten and their lawyers Daniel Orlowsky and Adam Goffstein filed the case.
The plaintiffs allege violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.
"Plaintiffs' claims rest entirely upon unreasonable inferential leaps from truthful representations regarding the composition of garments in an effort to fabricate and impute falsehoods to H&M," the motion says.
The suit cites four statements from the H&M website, including "Each Conscious Choice product contains a least 50% or more sustainable materials - like organic cotton or recycled polyester - but many contain a lot more than that."
These statements lead consumers to believe the products are "green," the plaintiffs say, even though the clothing line has a higher percentage of synthetics than H&M's main collection.
"Plaintiffs' suggested definition of 'sustainable' is also implausible insofar as it is narrowly focused on environmental benefits," a footnote in the motion to dismiss says. "Indeed, the FTC notes that the term 'has no single meaning to a significant number of consumers, and to some it conveys non-environmental characteristics.'"
The plaintiffs allege the clothing line is not made from sustainable and environmentally friendly materials as advertised and is misleading consumers who have an interest in purchasing "green" products.
Specifically, the plaintiffs claim H&M's "recycled polyester" clothing is sourced from recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles that were "mechanically recycled into polyester fiber."