‘100% Bamboo’ Walmart Products Made with Rayon, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Walmart has misled consumers by claiming certain textile products are made with bamboo fibers when the items are, in fact, made with rayon.

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The 25-page lawsuit says that in-store labeling and product descriptions on Walmart.com and SamsClub.com repeatedly state that the items at issue are made with “100% Bamboo” and therefore “eco-friendly,” “sustainable” and “[in] harmony with nature.” Despite these representations, the suit alleges, the products are actually made with rayon, a textile fiber manufactured from cellulose.

According to the case, some of the products at issue include the Ottomanson Bamboo Luxury Bath Towel Set, Bamboo Sheets – Sweet Home Collection 1800 Series Deep Pocket 4 Piece Set, Pine & River Chilled Bamboo Cooling Weighted Blanket, LUXE Life 100% Organic Bamboo Washcloths for Babies and Adults, Sweet Home Collection Hypoallergenic Bamboo Memory Foam Pillow, Leading Lady Luxurious Bamboo Nursing Sleep Bra, Home Trends 300 Thread Count Bamboo Sheets, Serenity Organic Self-Cooling Luxury Bamboo Comforter and No Boundaries – Juniors Eco-Friendly Stripe Tee Shirt.

Although textile manufacturers may take cellulose from a plant source such as bamboo in order to produce rayon, the process involves chemical reactions that materially distance the resulting fiber from its natural origins, the complaint explains. Per the filing, textile products composed of this manufactured cellulose fiber must use the generic name “rayon” in advertising, regardless of the plant source from which the cellulose precursor was produced.

The mega retailer also claims that the “bamboo” products are “renewable and environmentally sustainable,” the lawsuit relays. For example, the suit says, the Home Trends 300 Thread Count Bamboo Sheets are advertised as “environmentally friendly” and “[in] harmony with nature.” In addition, Walmart’s marketing purports that the “sustainable” bamboo fiber content of the Serenity Organic Self-Cooling Luxury Bamboo Comforter “will appeal to your sense of luxury and your desire to help the planet,” the case states.

As the complaint tells it, Walmart has long been aware of these alleged misrepresentations. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning letter notifying the defendant that “failing to properly label and advertise textiles misleads consumers and violates both the Textile Rules and the FTC Act,” the filing explains.

In subsequent years, the FTC announced a handful of settlements with other major companies that also received the warning and purportedly continued to unlawfully misrepresent their products, the lawsuit says. Despite the FTC’s warning letter and public crusade against its competitors, Walmart has allegedly continued to falsely market rayon textile fiber products as bamboo, the suit claims.

The plaintiff, a Boston resident, purchased a pillow from a Walmart Supercenter in November 2019 because she believed it was made with bamboo fibers as represented, the case says. The woman would not have paid as much for the product, or purchased it at all, had she known it was, in fact, made with rayon, the complaint contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in the United States who purchased a textile product from Walmart that was made with rayon but marketed as made with bamboo.

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