On Greenwashing
This is the second post in a series of three posts that are all related. There’s a lot in these three topics, and I want to go deep into them.
On Fast Fashion (Read here)
On Greenwashing (read on!)
On Avoiding vs Living with Fast Fashion (coming soon)
If you get the basics of fast fashion, you’re probably wondering well okay, I’ll make sure to not buy from those retailers - H&M, Zara, Forever 21. Easy enough, right?
If only. Unfortunately, the lack of regulations around the fashion industry’s supply chains, manufacturing practices, and materials means that there’s a lot of room for brands to market themselves as more sustainable than they are. This is what is known in the industry as Greenwashing.
What is Greenwashing?
From Investopedia:
Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company's products are environmentally friendly.
From CorpWatch:
Disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.
Where do we see Greenwashing?
My favorite example: boxed water. If you’ve been in any airport in the last few years, you’ve probably seen it. “Boxed water is better”, claims the label in bold letters contrasted on a stark white background. Better… how? Their branding is great, and reading their website really makes you feel like they’re making a difference. They plant trees! Wow! Recycled materials? Cool. They even have an initiative to clean beaches. Who doesn’t love pristine beaches, am I right?
Okay, let’s get real for a second though. A few clicks away from their homepage, you come to this image:
What do you notice? Did you notice that at the very bottom in tiny cramped writing it says “3% plastic film”? This material is also known as layered cardboard is really hard to recycle in most places. So while all of their marketing says that they’re better, you have to ask yourself - “Better than what?” Better than throwing away plastic bottles? Better than reusable water bottles or even refilling plastic water bottles? You can answer that one.
You can probably think of other examples: food from Pepsico/Nestle that is repackaged to look like it came straight from a farmer’s market, Keurig K-cups, Dawn dish soap. Aw, but the duckies! I know… And so do the people behind those genius commercials.
How to spot Greenwashing in Fashion
I hope you understand the harm that can come from marketing something as being more green than it is. People who aren’t doing their research (unlike you, smarty pants!) are likely to fall into these traps laid out by people who get paid a lot of money to set them. I don’t blame you if you’ve fallen for these tactics before, you’re one person against an army of people who are dedicated to figuring out how to make people who care about the earth buy things that aren’t necessarily-100%-guaranteed-absolutely-positively good for the planet.
In the fashion industry, we see this very commonly, especially in the last few years with all of the attention on this issue. It can be hard to spot, but if you’re looking into a brand, there are some ways to spot greenwashing. Once you practice looking for these signs of greenwashing, you’ll start seeing it everywhere.
Initiatives to reduce carbon emissions
A brand that is talking a lot about what its corporate office is doing to reduce carbon emissions might be trying to distract from the fact that their supply chain isn’t being evaluated in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Their Instagram and website might be filled with pictures of happy people working surrounded by a forest of plants, biking, or cleaning up local parks. If they’re not focused on their manufacturing practices, sources of their raw materials, and shipping and transportation emissions, they’re not focusing on the right thing.
Spotlighting eco-friendly materials
Bamboo, cotton, rayon- All sound better than they really are. While the raw materials might give us the warm fuzzies, the process of making them into wearable and usable fabrics can be extremely water-intensive, contribute to water pollution, and ecologically damaging including deforestation.
If you’re curious about the impact of materials that you see on your clothes, you can check out this index: https://msi.higg.org/page/msi-home
Look out for certifications such as GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) and OCS 100 (Organic Content Standards) on certain raw materials.
A sustainable “collection”
This is to me as good as McDonald’s (in America) saying that they’re vegetarian-friendly. So you want me to eat a tiny salad and french fries and call it a meal? Similarly, what good is one H&M collection when the rest of their line is the same old? Brands that hope that one small line of organic cotton t-shirts or clothes that “give back” are 100% guilty of greenwashing and hoping that their efforts in one area can cover up their lack of movement or progress in others. Beware!
Overall vagueness in statements, claims, and goals
Like I said above, words like “sustainable,” “ethical,” “green,” and “eco-friendly” have no official meaning in the industry, so there’s nothing stopping brands from using these words to try to make themselves seem better than they are. Even statistics and data that they provide should be scrutinized - look closely at the timeframes that they’re comparing, their company size, and when the data was last updated. If their goals seem really squishy or only attainable because they moved manufacturing locations to somewhere with tighter regulations, that might be a sign that they’re doing the bare minimum and just paying lip service to sustainability.
Brands known for Greenwashing
Brace yourselves, this might sting a little. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of brands that are known to boost their eco-friendliness through PR initiatives and marketing content.
H&M
Zara
Fashion Nova
Nasty Gal
Everlane
Nike
Asos
Calvin Klein & Tommy Hilfiger - This is an interesting one. Comment below if you can figure out why I’ve listed them here!
The Simple Take: Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Do your research, and make sure that you’re comfortable with the amount of data that you’re seeing on the brand’s supply chain and labor practices.
My favorite resource for researching particular brands is Good On You’s brand directory: https://directory.goodonyou.eco/ I love the way they break down each brand by environmental impact, labor practices, and animal rights. This way you can choose what matters most to you, and how much!
Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. If you’re reading this and curiously research a bunch of brands that you’ve made purchases from, don’t feel bad! We all start somewhere, and I encourage you to vote with your wallet moving forward.
Sources:
https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/greenwashing-in-fashion
https://goodonyou.eco/how-can-you-tell-when-a-fashion-brand-is-greenwashing/
My last post in this series will be on how you can reconcile shopping fast fashion and also I’ll include some of my personal favorite brands if you want to dive in and explore some sustainably made clothes and home goods!