Activewear brand Lorna Jane claimed its clothes could prevent Covid spread, fined $3.7 mn

Women’s activewear brand Lorna Jane had promoted that its product ‘LJ Shield Activewear’ used a “groundbreaking technology” to eliminate the virus “on contact with the fabric.”

An athleisure clothing chain was fined $3.7 million for falsely claiming that its garment could prevent coronavirus disease (Covid-19) during the peak of the pandemic in Australia. Lorna Jane Pty Ltd, which manufactures and retails women’s activewear, had promoted that its product ‘LJ Shield Activewear’ used a “groundbreaking technology” to eliminate the virus “on contact with the fabric.”

Lorna Jane said that a substance, promoted as ‘Lorna Jane Shield’, would eliminate all viruses including Covid-19 when sprayed on its activewear. (Lorna Jane)

In its marketing campaign, the Australian company said that a substance, promoted as ‘Lorna Jane Shield’, would eliminate all viruses including Covid-19 when sprayed on its activewear. It claimed that the substance permanently adheres to the garments, making “transferal of pathogens” to the garments impossible.

In December 2020, the Australian competition regulator instituted proceedings against Lorna Jane for alleged false and misleading claims and against the company’s co-founder Lorna Jane Clarkson for allegedly being knowingly concerned in the conduct. A federal court, in its ruling, ordered Lorna Jane to pay $3.7 million for making false and misleading representations to consumers, which a judge called “exploitative, predatory and potentially dangerous.”

These example images were used across various media that formed part of the LJ Shield Activewear marketing campaign in July 2020.

The judge observed that the conduct of the company in this particular case emanated from a ‘high managerial level within the company’ and ‘was directed by Ms Clarkson’. The company admitted that Lorna Jane Clarkson was involved in crafting the words and designing the graphic used in the marketing campaign and also made false statements in an Instagram video regarding activewear.

“This was dreadful conduct as it involved making serious claims regarding public health when there was no basis for them,” Rod Sims, chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, said in a statement.

“This type of conduct is particularly harmful where, as here, consumers cannot easily check or monitor the claims made,” he added.

Lorna Jane accepted the court's ruling and said the company was itself misled by a supplier.

"A trusted supplier sold us a product that did not perform as promised," said CEO Bill Clarkson in a statement. "They led us to believe the technology behind LJ Shield was being sold elsewhere in Australia, the USA, China, and Taiwan and that it was both anti-bacterial and anti-viral. We believed we were passing on a benefit to our customers."

Lorna Jane has 108 stores in Australia as well as a number of international stores, including in the USA and New Zealand.