UK ad regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced a series of rulings, banning ads from fashion retailers including Nike, Lacoste and Superdry over misleading claims about the sustainability attributes of their products.
According to the ASA, the rulings form part of the regulator’s wider investigation of environmentalEnvironmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. More claims in the retail fashion sector, with the ads identified for investigation following intelligence gathering using an AI-based monitoring system which proactively surveys ads in specific sectors. Each of the advertisements were paid Google ads displayed in June 2025.
The Nike ad highlighted “Sustainable Materials” in a Tennis Polo Shirt. In its response to the ASA’s investigation into whether the claim “sustainable materials” was misleading, Nike said that the reference in the ad was intended to reflect the availability of products on the company’s website that incorporated recycled materials, with clicks on the ad directing consumers to the site, which included some shirts displayed with a “sustainable materials” banner, indicating that it contained a minimum of 50% recycled materials. Nike added that all of its Summer 2025 tennis polo shirts contained at least 75% recycled materials and qualified for the “sustainable materials” banner.
The company also noted that the ad had character limitations of 30 characters for the headline and 90 characters for the body text, limiting the level of detail it could include.
In its ruling, however, the ASA said that despite containing 75% recycled material, Nike had not provided evidence to demonstrate that the shirts had no detrimental effect on the environment, taking into account their entire life cycle, and that the company had not made clear the basis and meaning of the claim “sustainable materials,” with the regulator concluding that the ad was likely to mislead.
Similarly, the ASA found that a claim of “sustainable clothing” by Lacoste in an ad for Lacoste Kids was likely to mislead, as it was likely to be understood as meaning that all Lacoste Kids clothes, across their entire life cycle, without the company providing evidence for this, despite progress by the company to reduce the carbon footprint of its products and using more certified recycled and responsible fabrics. The ASA also found that a claim in Superdry’s ad of “Sustainable Style” did not include qualifying information, with Superdry failing to provide evidence to demonstrate that its products had no detrimental effect on the environment, taking into account their entire life cycle, despite the company using 64% sustainable sourced materials in its products.
The regulator said that each of the ads must not appear again in their current forms, and that it told the companies to ensure that the basis of their environmentalEnvironmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. More claims were made clear and supported by a high level of substantiation.
