Polish consumer authorities find irregularities in children's clothing

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) and the Trade Inspection conducted audits on nearly 1,000 batches of children's clothing during the first half of 2026. The inspections covered 166 businesses, including manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers such as Coccodrillo, KiK, Pepco, and Smyk.

Approximately one in four batches contained irregularities, primarily related to labeling. Issues included discrepancies between online product descriptions and physical labels, the use of non-compliant fiber names (such as using ‘cotton’ instead of ‘bawełna’), and failing to list material composition in descending order of content.

Laboratory testing of 113 batches revealed that roughly 24% had a material composition that differed from the manufacturer's declaration. In some cases, the discrepancies were significant; for example, a pajama set labeled as 80% cotton was found to be entirely polyester, and a cardigan labeled as 97% cotton contained less than half that amount. Affected companies have been required to withdraw contested products from sale and rectify labeling errors.