Companies have claimed coffee infused underwear could cause weight loss
Creative Crop/Getty; Inset: John W Banagan/Getty
Not quite, says the Federal Trade Commission.
In a final order announced Monday, the FTC banned two companies, Norm Thompson Outfitters Inc. and Wacoal America Inc., from making those false marketing claims, ordering them to pay $230,000 and $1.3 million, respectively, which the FTC can use to refund customers.
According to the FTC, which originally settled with the two companies in September, no scientific proof backs up marketing claims by Norm Thompson Outfitters. "The company made claims that wearing its shapewear would eliminate or substantially reduce cellulite; reduce the wearer's hip measurements by up to two inches and their thigh measurements by one inch; and reduce thigh and hip measurements 'without any effort.' "
Its products had been sold via mail order and on the company's Norm Thompson Outfitters, Sahalie, Body Solutions and Body Belle websites.
The complaint against Wacoal America levied similar allegations about the company's iPants. "Specifically, the company made false and unsubstantiated claims that wearing iPants would: substantially reduce cellulite; cause a substantial reduction in the wearer's thigh measurements; and destroy fat cells, resulting in substantial slimming," the trade commission reported.
The order forbids the two companies from claiming that any garment containing any drug or cosmetic causes substantial reduction in body size "unless they are not misleading and can be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence."
"Caffeine-infused shape wear is the latest 'weight-loss' brew concocted by marketers," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "If someone says you can lose weight by wearing the clothes they are selling, steer clear. The best approach is tried and true: diet and exercise."
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