Real fur found in jumper
FIRM WITHDRAW ITEM AFTER INVESTIGATION BY ADVERTISING BOSSES
A ‘FAUX fur pom pom’ jumper sold by online retailer Boohoo was found to contain real animal fur, ‘most likely’ rabbit, according to advertising watchdogs.
The Manchester fashion empire said it had a ‘strong commitment’ against the sale of any products containing real animal fur and confirmed an internal investigation was under way. The company has also stopped placing orders with a supplier and withdrew the jumper from sale after a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was made.
The ASA upheld the complaint from animal protection group Humane Society International and ruled the advert for the £7 jumper on the firm’s website was misleading and breached advertising codes.
The authority’s ruling stated: “The ad must not appear again in the form complained about. We told Boohoo.com UK Ltd not to state that products included ‘faux fur’ if that was not the case.”
Humane Society International bought one of the jumpers after seeing the online advert in September last year.
The ASA said the group commissioned a test report from an independent textiles analysis expert, a copy of which was provided to the watchdog. The report stated that the sample had been identified microscopically by detailed examination and comparison with authentic reference samples, and included detailed notes on the shape and texture of the fibres,” said the ASA in a ruling.
“The results reported that the ‘faux fur’ from the sample was real animal fur, most likely rabbit. We acknowledged that Boohoo had removed the product from sale following receipt of the complaint. We also acknowledged that they had quality control procedures in place to identify real animal fur, though we understood they did not retain detailed reports on the tested stock other than to say that it had passed those tests.
“Boohoo’s records showed that a sample of fur from the product in question had passed internal tests. However, given that we had seen evidence that the product obtained by Humane Society International contained real animal fur, we concluded that the ad was misleading.”
In response to the ASA’s investigation, Boohoo said items, believed to be the jumper’s pom poms, were obtained from an external UKbased supplier, who were aware of the company’s commitment against the sale of real fur and had signed a supplier acknowledgement form committing to not supplying products containing real fur.