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Delta flight attendants say their chemically treated Land's End uniforms are giving them migraines, hair loss, and boils - and now they're suing the retailer

Jan 3, 2020, 02:33 IST

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Employees of Delta Air Lines - including flight attendants, gate agents, Sky Club workers, and others - are suing Land's End in a class action suit. They allege in the case, filed in the Western District of Wisconsin on December 31, that their Land's End uniforms are making them sick.

The uniforms have various chemical treatments to ensure the fabrics can stretch, resist staining or wrinkling, and are deodorizing. "The combination of these additives and finishes has an allergic and sensitizing effect on the human body, even if those several additives and finishes are relatively safe in their individual respective quantities," the Delta employees wrote in the lawsuit.

Land's End did not provide a comment. Delta defended the uniforms in a statement to Business Insider, noting that all but one component of the uniform met top textile standards.

"Our top priority continues to be the safety of our employees, which is why we invested in a rigorous toxicology study to determine if there was a universal scientific issue with the uniform," a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. "The results of the study confirm our uniforms meet the highest textile standards - OEKO-TEX - with the exception of the optional flight attendant apron, which we removed from the collection."

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Meanwhile, several Delta flight attendants told Business Insider's David Slotnick recently that the chemically treated fabrics in the uniform are causing hair loss, hives, and other medical issues.

One flight attendant said she got migraines and flu-like symptoms, like extreme fatigue. "It just continued to worsen, to the point where I was having to call in sick," she previously told Business Insider. "I was pretty scared to say anything because I didn't know how they'd handle it."

Another got hives from the uniform."It started with little spots," said one flight attendant. "I just didn't know what it was. The last thing you're going to think is your clothes."

Delta flight attendants aren't the only ones who have said their uniforms were giving them health problems. Flight attendants at Alaska and American have faced similar issues.

Judith Anderson, an industrial hygienist, previously told Business Insider that flight attendant uniforms increasingly involve fabrics sourced from factories abroad with low quality-control standards. That results in inconsistent application of chemicals, or preservatives applied in shipping containers.

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"Some of the chemicals we learned to look for in the Alaska garments were heavy metals like nickel and chromium, also irritant and allergenic dyes," Anderson said. "Also formaldehyde, stain, and flame retardants - the list goes on."

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