Kolon Industries Inc., South Korea’s leading textile and chemical material producer, plans to recall one of its outdoor jacket brands, which was found to contain an excessive level of a cancer-causing material, a consumer rights group said Friday.

According to Consumers Korea, Kolon’s “Active” outdoor jackets were found to contain “p-aminoazobenzene” far exceeding the permissible level. The material can cause cancer in wearers.

“We conducted a safety and quality evaluation on 12 outdoor jackets of nine different brands and found that the inside lining of Kolon’s Active jackets contained about 20 times more of the chemical than the permitted level,” it said in an emailed report.

The consumer rights group said that it asked for an immediate recall of the products early this month, and Kolon and related home shopping companies have pledged to take action.

An official of the group said that the delay in enforcing the recall is due to the company’s own quality evaluation to confirm the latest findings. “The company will likely start recalling the products starting today,” she added.

South Korea’s market for outdoor clothes mostly for mountain climbing, sports and others has been growing fast as health-conscious people are getting more interested in diverse leisure activities.

According to industry experts, the sales of such outdoor clothing had already exceeded 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) and they will likely surpass 4 trillion won this year. 

(Yonhap News)