After Target pulled sheets that it says were mislabeled as Egyptian cotton from its shelves, dropped the supplier, and offered refunds to customers, other stores that carry products from the same supplier conducted their own reviews. Walmart announced today that it will no longer sell the company’s Egyptian cotton sheets and will give shoppers refunds, but won’t drop the company as a supplier like Target did.
If you bought Fieldcrest brand Egyptian cotton sheets from Target in the last two years or so, you may be due a refund. The retailer discovered that Welspun had substituted another type of cotton while labeling the sheets as Egyptian cotton, yet the mislabeled products still sold for up to $75.
Now Walmart is also issuing refunds, having sold sheets made from the same problematic fiber under its home-goods brands Better Homes & Gardens and Canopy. The retailer promises refunds to customers who bring in the affected sheets, their tags, or a receipt from purchasing the sheets for a refund.
“Our customers trust us to provide products that are what they say they are on the label,” a Walmart spokeswoman told Bloomberg Markets. “Welspun has not been able to assure us the products are 100 percent Egyptian cotton, which is unacceptable. While the sheets are excellent quality, we are offering our customers a full refund.”
Shoppers pay premium prices for long-fiber cotton types like Pima or Egyptian. This sheet scandal might lead those shoppers to question the entire idea of labeling: if you can’t depend on the label to tell you the origin and contents of a product, what can you depend on? That’s a scary prospect for sheet-makers and retailers alike.
The importance of labels is what led Target, Walmart, and another retailer of Welspun products, Bed Bath and Beyond, to review the products and reconsider their relationship with the supplier.
Wal-Mart Drops Welspun Egyptian-Cotton Sheets After Review [Bloomberg Markets]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
No comments:
Post a Comment