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
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.
