Saying 'Cashmere,' 'Leather,' or 'Solid Gold' on Etsy: The Material Description Rules That Get Sellers Sued

Etsy spent the back half of 2025 in a Manhattan federal courtroom fighting to not be responsible for the word "cashmere."

A trade group had been quietly buying "cashmere" garments off Etsy, sending them to a lab, and finding that some contained no cashmere at all — just acrylic, polyester, or ordinary sheep's wool. Etsy's response was not to defend the listings. It was to sue the trade group and ask a judge to confirm that, under federal law, the platform isn't on the hook for what its sellers write. Etsy largely got what it wanted: the case settled in March 2026 with Etsy's immunity intact.

That outcome should make every seller sit up. If Etsy isn't liable for a false material claim, the liability doesn't vanish — it lands on the person who wrote the listing. That's you.

Most of our coverage here focuses on trademarks and copyright, because that's where most suspensions start. But material misrepresentation is a separate, quieter legal exposure that has nothing to do with brand names — and after the cashmere fight, it's heading straight up the enforcement priority list. Here's exactly what the rules are and how to stay on the right side of them.

The cashmere case, briefly

The dispute is Etsy, Inc. v. Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute, filed December 22, 2025 in the Southern District of New York (case 1:25-cv-10589, before Judge Jesse Furman).

The Cashmere and Camel Hair Manufacturers Institute (CCMI) is a trade body for real cashmere producers. For years it has bought items labeled "cashmere" from marketplaces and lab-tested the fiber content. When tests on Etsy purchases came back showing little or no actual cashmere, CCMI demanded Etsy police the term across its whole site. Etsy removed the specific flagged listings but refused to manually vet, in its words, "over 100 million existing and new product listings." Instead it went to court for a declaratory judgment that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act shields it from liability for sellers' descriptions.

Etsy's own filing contains the line every seller should remember: "Etsy already requires sellers to honestly and accurately describe their items." Translation — the platform's defense is that responsibility sits with the seller, not the venue. The case was voluntarily dismissed on March 5, 2026, each side paying its own costs. Etsy kept its shield. Sellers kept the risk.

The takeaway in one sentence: when a marketplace wins a Section 230 fight, it's confirming that you, the seller, are the "information content provider" legally answerable for your product claims.

This is not an Etsy-policy problem. It's a federal-law problem.

When you call something "cashmere," "genuine leather," or "14k gold," you're making a claim governed by actual statutes and FTC rules — not just Etsy's house rules. Four bodies of law can reach an independent Etsy seller:

1. The Lanham Act, Section 43(a) (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)). This is the federal false-advertising statute. It lets competitors — and trade groups like CCMI — sue over commercial claims that misrepresent the "nature, characteristics, or qualities" of goods. You don't need a registered trademark in the picture. Saying an item is made of a material it isn't made of is textbook false advertising.

2. The FTC textile and wool labeling rules. The Textile Fiber Products Identification Act (enforced through 16 CFR Part 303) and the Wool Products Labeling Act apply to anyone who sells, advertises, or offers textile and wool products — online sellers included. They require that fiber content be disclosed by generic fiber name and percentage by weight, in descending order. A key trap: any amount of wool must be disclosed, and you can't bury a small percentage under "other fiber." "100% cashmere" is a fiber-content claim with a legal meaning, not a vibe.

3. The FTC Jewelry Guides (16 CFR Part 23). These govern words like "gold," "karat," "silver," "sterling," "vermeil," and "platinum," alone or combined with "filled," "plated," "overlay," or "electroplated." The distinctions are precise and unforgiving (more below).

4. The FTC Leather Guides (16 CFR Part 24). You don't have to call real leather "leather," but if a non-leather material looks like leather, you must disclose that it isn't. And "bonded" or "reconstituted" leather can't be sold as plain "leather."

On top of all that, every U.S. state has a consumer-protection / unfair-and-deceptive-practices law, and a buyer or attorney general can use it.

The exact words that get sellers in trouble

Textiles and fibers

"Cashmere," "100% wool," "silk," "linen," "organic cotton," and "merino" are fiber-content claims. If your supplier's spec sheet or your own knowledge can't back the percentage, don't print it. Use what's true: "wool blend," "cashmere-soft acrylic" (note: describing the feel, not the fiber), or an accurate breakdown like "55% acrylic, 45% nylon." "Organic" has its own certification expectations — don't use it as a synonym for "natural."

Jewelry and metals

This is the category where well-meaning makers slip most often, because the trade terms have exact definitions:

• "Solid gold" / "gold" implies the stated karat all the way through. Plated or filled pieces are not "gold."
• "Gold-filled" and "gold-plated" are not interchangeable. Gold-filled has a thick bonded gold layer (a defined minimum); gold-plated is a thin electroplated coating. Calling plated jewelry "gold-filled" is a misrepresentation.
• "Vermeil" has a specific meaning: sterling silver base plated with at least 10k gold of substantial thickness. Don't use it for ordinary gold-plated brass.
• "Sterling" / "925" means 92.5% silver. "Silver-tone" or "silver-plated" base metal is not sterling.
• "Diamond" means a mined diamond. Lab-grown stones, moissanite, and cubic zirconia must be clearly identified as such — "diamond" without qualification is deceptive.

When in doubt, qualifier words save you: "-plated," "-tone," "-filled" (only if accurate), "lab-grown," "simulated," and "CZ."

Leather

"Genuine leather" should mean real animal hide. "Vegan leather," "faux leather," "PU leather," and "leatherette" are fine as long as you use them — the violation is letting an imitation read as the real thing. "Bonded leather" must be disclosed as bonded, not sold as "leather."

The sneaky non-material words

The same honesty rule reaches claims like "waterproof" (vs. water-resistant), "hypoallergenic," "nickel-free," "handmade," and "vintage" (Etsy reserves this for items 20+ years old). "Handmade" and "original" carry their own scrutiny — we cover that in what counts as an original design on Etsy and in proving your items are actually handmade.

What Etsy actually does to you — and what the law does

Etsy's enforcement and your legal exposure run on two separate tracks, and both can fire at once.

On the platform side, a buyer who receives an item "not as described" can open a case, and Etsy's Purchase Protection program will often refund them — out of your pocket — including original and return shipping. Repeated "not as described" cases drag down your shop, invite listing removals, and in a pattern can lead to suspension. If your shop is already on thin ice, see what to do when Etsy suspends you and how to appeal an Etsy suspension. The cheaper route is prevention — the same instinct behind avoiding suspension in 2026 and watching the words that get shops shut down.

On the legal side — separate from anything Etsy does — a competitor or trade group can bring a Lanham Act claim, the FTC can act on its labeling rules, and a state attorney general or buyer can sue under consumer-protection law. The cashmere litigation is proof that organized industry groups are actively buying, testing, and pursuing marketplace material claims. They couldn't pin it on Etsy. They can absolutely pin it on a seller.

A 15-minute description audit

Run every active listing through this:

1. Find every material word in your titles, tags, and descriptions — cashmere, wool, silk, leather, gold, sterling, diamond, waterproof, hypoallergenic, organic, handmade, vintage.
2. For each one, ask: can I prove it? Do you have a supplier spec sheet, a fiber-content label, an assay/stamp, or your own first-hand knowledge of how it was made?
3. If you can't prove it, qualify it or cut it. Switch to "-plated," "-style," "-inspired," "-tone," "faux," "blend," or an accurate percentage. Describe the look or feel ("buttery soft," "gold-tone") instead of asserting the material.
4. Don't inherit claims blindly. If you dropship or use a print/produce partner, their listing copy is now your legal statement. Verify it; don't paste it.
5. Keep your receipts. Save supplier specs, fiber labels, and any test or certification documents in one folder. If a claim is ever challenged, contemporaneous proof is your best defense.
6. Re-list with the honest version. Accurate descriptions also cut your "not as described" cases and returns — this is margin protection, not just risk avoidance.

None of this means you have to make your listings boring. "Buttery-soft brushed acrylic in a cashmere-style knit" sells just as well as a false "100% cashmere" — and it can't be lab-tested into a lawsuit.

The pattern across all of this is the one we keep coming back to: marketplaces are spending real money to make sure they aren't liable for what's in your listings. That's the clearest possible signal of where the responsibility actually sits. Describe what you genuinely sell, qualify everything you can't prove, and keep the documentation that backs you up.

ShieldMyShop scans your listings for the language that draws complaints, takedowns, and "not as described" cases — material claims included — before a buyer or a trade group does. Start a free trial and audit your shop's wording in minutes.