Online products tested and found wanting

Over 40 percent of products, including clothing, shoes and bags involving international brands, sold on 29 online shopping sites have failed quality tests.

The city’s market watchdog said on Thursday the brands involved included Rimowa, Etam, Adidas and Guess.

The tests' results were announced ahead of this year's Singles Day shopping spree, which falls on Saturday with big discounts offered on shopping websites. It is a peak time of complaints from online shoppers due to various misleading promotions.

In total, 26.5 percent of 83 batches of clothing sold on 24 online shopping sites were found to be substandard for items such as carcinogenic aromatic amine dyes, pH index, color fastness, fiber content and label information, according to Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

A batch of jeans made by Guangzhou Hongxiang Clothing Co and sold on feiniu.com failed for containing amine dyes, which are carcinogenic and are banned by China's national standard in textiles, officials said.

A batch of Etam knitted sweater sold on Etam's website failed for fluff resistance, while another batch of female clothing sold by Shanghai Meters/bonwe on banggo.com was found to have a high pH index, which can lead to skin allergies, officials warned.

Seven batches of clothing including a batch labeled Hanri's and sold on YHD.com failed for poor color fastness. Dye in clothing with poor color fastness can bleed onto the skin.

A batch of skirts labeled New Look and sold on the business-to-consumer online market Tmall failed for fiber content. They were marked as 100 percent cotton — while the actual contents were polyester fiber, viscose and spandex, the bureau said.

Among the 50 batches of shoes sold on seven websites, 32 percent failed for bending resistance, peeling strength, color fastness and wearability.

Two batches of male shoes labeled Adidas and sold on Tmall failed for folding endurance and peeling strength, which can lead to degumming and cracked soles.

A batch of shoes labeled Camel and sold on JD.com failed for poor color fastness to rubbing.

In addition, half the 50 batches of bags and suitcases sold on nine shopping sites checked by the bureau were substandard. The major substandard items were vibration and shock resistance performance and seam strength.

ULE.com, feiniu.com, YHD.com and bl.com had much  higher rates of substandard bags and suitcases than other websites, while the substandard rate of suitcases was higher than bags, according to the bureau.

On the list of poor vibration and shock resistance performance were a batch of suitcases labeled Rimowa sold on JD.com and suitcases labeled Conwood sold on feiniu.com.

A batch of Guess artificial leather handbags sold on bl.com failed for seam strength, which was 52N compared with the national standard of 196N, the bureau said. Substandard seam strength leads to broken bags.

The bureau has ordered businesses involved to stop selling substandard products immediately, scrutinize and clear stocks and delete, block or disconnect the pages selling these products.