More than half of the functional claims on online outdoor clothing are exaggerated

Do outdoor functional clothes really offer features like sweat absorption, waterproofing, and UV protection?

Yesterday, the Beijing Consumers' Association released the results of a comparative test on 40 pieces of outdoor functional clothing purchased online: more than half of the outdoor garments made exaggerated functional claims, particularly those advertising moisture-wicking and quick-drying properties. Several well-known outdoor brands, including “Columbia,” “Hi-Tec,” “Decathlon,” “Digao,” and “Jack Wolfskin,” were found non-compliant. Problematic outdoor clothing was sold on websites such as Tmall, JD.com, No.1 Store, Dangdang, Amazon, and Mbaisha. The public can visit the Beijing Consumers' Association website to view the full list.

Outdoor functional clothing refers to garments that offer special features such as waterproofing, UV protection, and moisture-wicking, in addition to normal apparel. Due to their technical nature, their prices are surprisingly high.

For this test, the Beijing Consumers' Association randomly purchased 40 pieces of outdoor functional clothing from several well-known online shopping platforms and commissioned the National Textile Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Center to conduct tests. Out of these, 22 did not meet national standards. The issues were mainly related to missing or inaccurate usage instructions, discrepancies between labeled and actual fiber content, and unmet functional claims.

Functional features of outdoor clothing were the main focus of testing, and also where the most problems were found. According to the Beijing Consumers' Association, 21 items failed to meet functional standards, with exaggerated functional claims, especially those advertising moisture-wicking and quick-drying capabilities showing signs of false advertising.

The association noted that all 40 garments were purchased online. Many consumers trust brand flagship stores, but findings showed that both official brand stores and general merchant shops selling online had poor quality functional clothing, with pass rates below 50%. This indicates serious quality issues with outdoor clothing sold online.

The Beijing Consumers' Association said that out of 34 garments claiming to have moisture-wicking and quick-drying functions, 16 actually performed poorly and failed to meet requirements. Brands involved included well-known names such as “Hi-Tec,” “Columbia,” “Mountain Road,” and “First Outdoor.”

Among them, the men’s stain-resistant, waterproof, three-in-one jacket (product code 16940849) sold by “Haomai Mai” and labeled as produced by Taikoo Resources (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd. under the “Columbia” brand had poor moisture permeability. Taikoo Resources (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. sent two letters to the Beijing Consumers' Association stating that it is the sole general agent for Columbia in China and that it has not signed any supply agreements with “Haomai Mai”. It claimed that any unauthorized sales are illegal counterfeits or smuggled goods. Later, the company sent another letter stating that the sample’s appearance showed no significant difference from genuine products and that they could not conclusively determine the product’s authenticity.

Functional clothing typically uses relatively uniform fabric fibers, which should be less prone to issues. However, testing found that 3 garments had discrepancies between actual and labeled fiber content: one men’s jacket from “Decathlon,” an ultra-lightweight outdoor skin jacket from “Hi-Tec,” and a two-piece men’s jacket from “Jack Wolfskin.”

In addition, six garments failed waterproof performance tests. The women’s autumn/winter new model jacket “Renaults” sold by No.1 Store’s Renaults flagship store had an actual water resistance value of just 13% of the standard.

Furthermore, one ultra-lightweight outdoor skin jacket from “Hi-Tec” did not provide UV protection.