According to the Guangzhou Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau, casual garments produced by some popular brands were declared substandard by the latest quality control tests in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
Other well-known brands, such as Jessie, Boton, IVYKKI, Playboy and Vero Moda also failed the tests.
The bureau released the results on Monday. It sampled 100 types of products from 89 domestic and international brands. Sixty-eight percent passed the tests.
“All substandard clothes have been taken off shelves and dealers selling unqualified goods will have their licenses revoked in serious cases,” an anonymous official with the bureau told the Global Times on Tuesday.
H&M, a popular Swedish clothing brand with 2,300 stores in 41 countries and regions, is also on the list.
“Only one type of clothing failed the test. The problem is seam splitting,” Amy Fu, a press officer for H&M, told the Global Times. “We take this issue seriously and all clothes of this type have been taken off shelves in Guangzhou.”
H&M has requested its China branch apologize to customers and prepare to accept returned items.
This is not the first time well-known brands were exposed as substandard in China.
In April, Zara, a popular brand from Spain, and US-based Hush Puppies were also rated substandard after quality control tests in Beijing.
The fabric in a type of Zara trousers made in Morocco did not match the contents declared on the label. As well, Zara failed three other quality tests.
In early 2007, Shanghai authorities exposed clothing quality problems in nearly a dozen top luxury brands, including Chanel, Armani, Christian Dior and Burberry.
“If such big brands are not as good as they say, I don’t know what brands we can believe,” Maggie Zhang, a Beijing resident who frequents Zara and H&M, said in an interview with the Global Times on Tuesday. “The authorities should improve supervision.”
Global Times