This is a repost from my old  blog and may not reflect my current understandings of the topics discussed.

This is an updated guide to greenwashing from my original 2019 post.

Greenwashing is when companies make more effort to appear sustainable through their advertisement and marketing than their practices actually reflect. It is a way to jump on the "sustainability trend" and to encourage consumers who want to shop more sustainably to shop at them instead of brands that genuinely care for the people and environment. Sustainable Collections like Conscious by H&M, Aware by Vero Moda, or Primark's Wellness Collections are examples.

Over the last years, spotting greenwashing has become increasingly more difficult. More brands have jumped on the train to appear green or more ethical. They may add a location of assembly, a percentage of recycled materials into their products, or add "sustainability policies" to their website where they tell you everything they want to do and care about. While these are not bad beginnings, they do not necessarily reflect the reality behind the brand's marketing surface. This is where learning to spot greenwashing is an increasingly useful tool. It helps you decide if the claims they make have a hold.

Sustainability is on a spectrum 

Sustainability exists on a spectrum. It isn't really that one brand is sustainable while another one is not. There isn't one perfect brand out there as fashion is not an industry that leaves a positive impact on the planet. Rather, we have plenty that makes different efforts towards more sustainable practices on different levels (and those who are failing entirely.) This means you may have to compromise and prioritize your values when you want to purchase something firsthand. Maybe you only want to buy natural fibers and have to opt for conventional cotton over synthetics, or maybe only recycled fibers but there's not any that truly contain 100%? Good ethics or the most sustainable materials? There's not a perfect way to do any of this, and what you can access is personal. The best you can do is your best at the given moment. (Personally, I think this starts with learning about the industry and what goes into your clothing, but that's an entirely different topic.)

 How to spot greenwashing 101

1. Go to their site and read what they have to say about their own environmental impact and responsibilities, and ethical considerations. How much transparency do they have? Are workers getting paid fairly? Do you get any information about their workers and workplaces? Where are their factories located? What materials are their clothes made out of? How are these raw materials sourced? Which processes are used? How much are they producing? And are any of their claims certified by an independent 3rd party? (You can't really certify yourself unbiased.) 

You want to know as much as possible, and for the knowledge to be positive. Workers should have fair pay and basic human rights. None should go to their work without proper safety equipment. Location is important because it gives an indicator of that country's minimum pay and generally how they have treated workers' rights and safety in the past. What your clothes are made out of is about which impact the production of that raw material takes. Conventional cotton is incredibly intensive in water and pesticides, synthetics are an oil-derivative. Organic means agriculture practices that work more with nature, without pesticides, and uses less water. Linen and hemp are plants that manage well with little resources. Bamboo (Lyocell) uses a lot of chemicals to be broken down into the soft material it is from wood. The same goes for Viscose, and so on.

Look for good certifications like:

› OEKO-TEX®: 

› Eco-Cert

› Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)

› Global Recycling Standard (GRS)  

› SA8000: 

› BlueSign®  

› Cradle to Cradle

and many more. Here's a list.

Choose materials like:

› Recycled or deadstock materials (especially for animal-derived materials, plastic, and cotton)

› Regenerative or organic

› Linen, Hemp

› Lyocell, Viscose 

› Tencel

Some online retailers are notoriously fast fashion and meet none of these requirements. I want to make it easy by naming a few: Shein, Rombew, Zaful. If you look at their sites you will find no information about the production, ethical treatment, and the majority of the clothes are made from plastic. The pictures are often taken from other creators as well. If you're lucky, your order shows up in the mail after a while, but you have technically no idea what it is made of or if the description even is genuine in the first place. What goes into their dyes, how are the workers treated, are they paid a fair living wage, how are the animals treated? You simply won't know. Personally, it's not something I would risk knowing our skin is our largest organ that absorbs 60-70% of what it touches.

2. Notice their wording. The wording is important when you want to know if someone actually is doing something or if they only aim to do something in the future. Setting goals and postponing them when the goal-year has passed and they failed is something that could have been taken straight out of politics. When a brand says they "want to work towards something at x year" or "reach x goal by x year" this is not telling you anything about what they're actually doing right now or if they ever will accomplish it. Ask: Are they saying something about how they want to accomplish this? Are they showing the results of the works they already have done to reach that goal in time? Or are there just words and nothing more? 

3. Browse their catalog to see what their shop actually reflects. Pick a handful of various products and look at the details. What are they made out of? How many percentages of each material?  Where was it made? What else does it say about the material? Is it open and want to explain to you how something is produced or more closed off and secretive? Does it say anything at all? Does it tell you how to properly take care of the garment?

When I buy new garments I aim to buy them as "clean" as possible. By this I mean that I do not want mixed materials, e.g. 50% synthetics and 50% organic cotton if I don't have to. Mixed materials are generally not recyclable which means your garment will be burned or downcycled when you choose to dispose of it. (Hopefully, in a very long time since you have to address longevity in your own care for the garment to make it sustainable.) Additionally, I try to stay away from synthetics in clothing that I feel do not need it. Instead, I will choose recycled alternatives (certified or ECONYL, as recycled plastic may come from firsthand plastic bottles made simply to be recycled) in swimwear and sportswear where the qualities of synthetic materials have a stronger purpose. We are living with a plastic problem and one way to deal with it is to reuse it, and not support the overproduction of virgin materials. However, it is not unproblematic as even recycled plastic items shed microfibers and need some virgin fibers to make the recycled fibers usable. If you can, aim to wash it as little as reasonably, at low temperature, and use an eco-friendly detergent. If you can afford it purchase a microfiber collecting bag or filter when you wash it, e.g. Guppy Friend, to collect up most of the microfibers that release from your garments during a wash. Hang to dry.

4. Are they taking responsibility for the repair and disposal\reuse of their products?

Most brands produce something and then it's up to the consumer to dispose of it when they're done wearing it. Most products are not recyclable and will therefore end up as waste in a landfill or burned instead of being reused or recycled. The future of the fashion industry is circular. This means brands have to take responsibility for the end-of-life treatment of what they produce and not be okay with the excess waste being shipped to poorer countries or burned without a second glanze. Does this brand let you send your used garments back so they can better dispose or reuse them? Do they offer repairs if something breaks? Both are something that should be in the interests of brands that truly care about sustainability.

5. Are they inclusive? Are they respectful of cultural items and garments?

A brand also has to take into consideration its audience, and the people they profit off. If they are only selling clothes in sizes XS-L they are not really being inclusive, and how can the sustainable fashion industry being sustainable and ethical if it only caters to a certain part of the population? Most of all, accessible? The same goes for those who are allowed to model their products, how people are treated at HQ, and so on. The latter is difficult to know and rather is a question of what comes out 'later' than what you as a consumer know right now. However, you can look up controversies around a brand by simply googling it and see if it has had any rundowns around this. If so, how did they deal with it? Does the brand respect cultural garments and accessories, or are they ripping them off with no consideration for or cooperating with the minority groups they represent?

6. Are they giving back? 

Giving back is not something all brands can do, especially smaller ones. It costs, and sometimes you are just trying to survive on the market. However, there are different things brands can support to actively support sustainability projects, ethical treatment, and so on in issues related to the industry. Some are being Certified B-corporation and 1% for the Planet, or humaniterian projects. They do not alone tell you if a brand is sustainable or not thought. Some will check if they offset their carbon emission for transportation, for example, however personally I don't believe carbon offsetting to be particularly effective so it's not something I weigh heavily.

Regardless of what you are buying, overconsumption is never sustainable. Consider if you need something new if you can get it secondhand, DIY with something you already have, or by swapping with someone before you buy it brand new. Those are always a more sustainable solution than firsthand consumption. Even sustainable brands.  Half of the impact of your clothing is the responsibility of the brand. The other half is up to you. The most impactful consumer action is longevity.