Greenwashing in Fashion
Greenwashing is an unfortunate, proliferate trend that capitalizes on the demand for environmentally sound products. It’s a play on the term “whitewashing”, which means using misleading information to gloss over bad behavior. The trend is especially unfortunate, because it often takes a technical expert to spot it, and in this way, deceives many consumers into thinking a product is environmentally sound.
At best, greenwashing looks like misleading information or giving a false impression, like either exaggerating a small benefit or highlighting one initiative a company is undertaking (i.e. offsetting carbon impacts of shipping its products) while ignoring an insidious, destructive impact (i.e. forced labour in supply chains). At its worst, it can mean flat out lying, without backing up claims with fact sand details.
In the fashion industry, and specifically, among smaller start-ups and businesses, marketing products as “sustainable”, “ethical”, “recycled”, “eco-friendly” or “animal-friendly”, has become lucrative for companies. The problem is that some of these companies are capitalizing on the trend, without actually assessing the impact of their operations, sourcing or value chain.
When shopping, there are signals that some conscious shoppers look for. Others like me, often reach out to companies who do not back up their claims, for more information, read annual reports or look for verified standards companies adhere to. Though the average shopper may easily fall prey to greenwashing by companies, it’s the corporate responsibility of a firm - no matter how small, to ensure that the information they’re publishing and marketing is verifiable, and that companies are not giving a false impression.
Companies can do this in a number of ways. Some standards for the fashion industry are listed in a previous post here. Other options include signing up for an internal audit by a third party (like Ampersand) who can easily help you roadmap your company’s commitments, highlight any gaps, and help you communicate what you’re doing and stay away from greenwashing.
