United States - Four National Retailers Agree to Pay Penalties Totaling $1.26M for Misleading "Bamboo" Labels

Four large national retailers - Amazon, Leon Max, Macy’s, and Sears - have agreed to pay penalties totaling $1.26 million to settle charges they labeled and advertised products as “bamboo” when the merchandise actually was made of rayon. According to the FTC, the penalties reflect the amount of products the retailers continued to sell after ignoring warning letters the FTC sent them and other companies in 2010. Although so-called bamboo textiles often are promoted as environmentally friendly, the process for manufacturing rayon — even when it is made from bamboo — is far from “green.”