The Office for Competition and Consumer Protection, together with the Commercial Inspection, checked almost 1,000 batches of children's clothing; almost 1 in 4 had irregularities – the Antitrust Office reported on Friday.
The checks were carried out in the first half of 2026 and 166 traders, including producers, wholesalers and retailers, were subjected to them. Among the companies audited, UOKiK listed Coccodrillo, KiK, Pepco and Smyk.
949 batches of children's clothes were tested, including 113 were tested in the laboratory. “The clothes are common, everyday products, so the Commercial Inspection controls them all year round. This year, we have paid peculiar attention to children's clothes up to 168 cm tall" - stressed UOKiK.
Irregularities were detected in marking 188 batches of children's clothing. ‘This was, inter alia, the discrepancy between the information on the natural material composition given on the product on the store's website and the composition declared straight on the product or the labels attached to it; the usage of non-compliant fibre names, e.g. “cotton” alternatively of “cotton”, “polyester” alternatively of “polyester”, “viscosa” alternatively of “viscosa”; the failure to usage the rule from the highest to the lowest content to the percent of natural material composition,’ the Authority stated.
In addition, experts at the UOKiK laboratory examined samples of 113 batches of children's clothing in terms of compliance of the actual natural material composition with the description declared by the maker or the product marking. Irregularities were found in 27 of 113 product batches examined (24%). The non-compliance of the actual natural material composition with the declared by the maker besides implies an irregularity in the labelling of the product.
AB, PAP
