Wal-Mart sued over 'Egyptian cotton bedsheets'
Wal-Mart sued over 'Egyptian cotton bedsheets'
A Michigan woman is taking the retail giant to court, and Wal-Mart has itself admitted that the sheets in question “may contain non-Egyptian cotton fibres”.
2 min read
The sheets in question were made by Welspun India Ltd [AFP]
Wal-Mart, the American department chain store, was sued on Tuesday for falsely claiming that bed sheets, made by an Indian company, were “100 percent Egyptian cotton.”
Dorothy Monohan of Michigan has accused Wal-Mart of violating US laws governing textile fibre labelling and advertising, and has pointed out that Wal-Mart questioned the fibre content of Welspun India Ltd’s products in 2008, but only halted sales of the mislabelled sheets two months ago in September.
At that time Wal-Mart called Welspun India Ltd’s inability to guarantee that its products were 100 percent Indian cotton “unacceptable” admitting that customers may have been inadvertently misled and purchased products that “may contain non-Egyptian cotton fibres”.
Other major US companies including Bed, Bath, and Beyond and J.C. Penney Co are said to be reviewing their current relationships with Welspun.
Speaking to Reuters a Wal-Mart spokesman said that the company planned to fight the case against it which was filed with the US District Court in Manhattan.
Egyptian-origin cotton has a reputation for being superior to other types of cotton, but this has been called into question recently.
While Welspun has admitted it’s at fault, Managing Director Rajesh Mandawewala said earlier this year that the problem was “fiber provenance,” not cotton quality.
"People assume that Egyptian cotton is better because Egypt was an exotic place where cotton with long fibers was raised...Longer fibers make for stronger, smoother thread, and “Egyptian cotton” sounds special, like Moroccan leather or French perfume. But it’s the long fibers, not some unique attribute of Egyptian soil or climate, that makes the cotton better, " wrote Virginia Postrel, retail industry expert, in August.
While Welspun has admitted it’s at fault, Managing Director Rajesh Mandawewala said earlier this year that the problem was “fiber provenance,” not cotton quality.
"People assume that Egyptian cotton is better because Egypt was an exotic place where cotton with long fibers was raised...Longer fibers make for stronger, smoother thread, and “Egyptian cotton” sounds special, like Moroccan leather or French perfume. But it’s the long fibers, not some unique attribute of Egyptian soil or climate, that makes the cotton better, " wrote Virginia Postrel, retail industry expert, in August.
"Not all Egyptian cotton has long fibers and not all long-staple cotton comes from Egypt. In fact, farmers there are decreasing the acreage devoted to producing it, because the demand for shorter staples is so much higher," she added.
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