The international fashion brands that ran afoul of Shanghai's quality inspectors pulled products from store shelves yesterday.
But questions remained over the magnitude of the alleged defects and why no domestic brands were involved in the spotchecks, carried out at some of the city's top malls.
At least one of the brands is conducting its own tests to confirm the results of the city's quality watchdog.
The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said on Thursday that it found problems with 17 of the 40 foreign fashion brands it had sampled and ordered stores to remove the products.
The offending goods included coats, jackets and pants made by well-known fashion houses such as Burberry, MaxMara, Dior and Zegna.
Problems ranged from too much formaldehyde - a potentially dangerous chemical - to bad color quality and false-content claims.
The bureau said it carried out the inspection to "ensure people will have better buys during the Spring Festival," but it didn't say why only foreign brands were targeted.
A Shanghai Daily check yesterday found that stores were generally complying with the bureau's orders.
At Burberry's outlet in Plaza 66 on Nanjing Road, pants that the bureau claimed were subject to fading had been returned to the company's Hong Kong headquarters.
"The pants were just for display this year, and not a single pair had been sold," said Gu Beili, the store's director.
Armani Collezioni jackets, said to lack "fiber content," were removed from shelves as soon as the company received the bureau's notice.
"Our products passed quality tests in Italy before they were exported to China," said Cheng Heng, Armani's sales manager in Shanghai. "We are still investigating the affair, to see whether there is a quality standard difference between the two countries."
Zegna, an Italy-based brand, said it won't recall pants that allegedly had color and fiber-content problems until the company's own tests are finished.
"If we confirm the bureau's inspection result, we'll stop sales and recall any products sold," said Maggie Xu, an official in Zegna's market department. "Otherwise, we'll negotiate with the bureau to resolve the problem."
The bureau said it had entrusted the tests to an "institution of authority" but wouldn't name the group or provide additional details.
