Fast fashion brands may be succeeding in speed to market, but the quick-turn products are failing in safety standards.
According to China’s Xinhua news, four fast fashion brands were named as China’s top five worst for safety in terms of imported garments.
In recent trials, Zara, H&M, Forever 21 and Mango were the brands most frequently found to fail quality and safety tests, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement.
A total of 12,305 cases of imported apparel, valued at roughly $48 million, failed quality tests in the first six months of this year, overwhelmingly as a result of unclear Chinese instructions on labels. However, 396 of those quality failure cases were failed safety tests, and the four brands accounted for 107 of those cases, or 27 percent.
Clothing can fail safety tests if found to be potentially hazardous to consumers or the environment. For example, Xinhua reported, 1,442 imported children’s garments failed quality tests after failing to meet pH level standards, which could harm children’s skin.
Chinese law stipulates that all imported apparel should be inspected by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the country’ quality watchdog, before entering the Chinese market.