Fast fashion is inescapable in our current day, from social media hauls to the $10 dresses arriving at your door in two days. But behind the cheap prices and quick deliveries are detrimental environmental costs: textile waste, toxic dye pollution, and carbon emissions that can make up a lifetime’s worth of output.
As more and more people start to become environmentally conscious, fashion brands have responded with “sustainable” lines and “eco-friendly” marketing campaigns, which can be deemed as progressive and promoting sustainability. But do brands truly give up the low-grade, non-biodegradable but easily accessible materials that make up half of their collections, or are they just saying what we want to hear?
Enter greenwashing: one of the fast fashion industry’s favorite tricks.
What Is Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is a business model where a company’s products, services, or overall operations are presented as environmentally friendly, while behind the scenes, harmful practices are still pursued. Rather than using their funds to make meaningful changes to reduce their environmental impact, companies spend money to paint a picture of themselves as being eco-conscious, using marketing language, labels, and imagery that suggest it even in the absence of proper proof (British Vogue).
Focusing on fashion specifically, greenwashing often comes in the form of environmentally friendly fashion lines or ‘recycled’ packaging (Ethical Sustainable Clothing) despite the mass production many fashion brands participate in.
This practice ultimately deceives and confuses customers who are trying to practice sustainability, weakens trust, and disrupts genuine sustainability efforts. Torrens University Australia notes:
[…] 63% of consumers think fashion brands are making misleading claims about how environmentally-friendly their business is at least some of the time, and 29% think this happens regularly.
Examples of Greenwashing in Fashion
Greenwashing is subtle and difficult to find, which is what fashion brands are aiming to achieve. That is why recognizing clear signs of greenwashing is important. Some common tactics and real-life examples of this method include:
Use of Buzzwords
The use of ambiguous, vague terms without any verifiable data to back these titles up is a major red flag for greenwashing. Terms like “eco-friendly”, “sustainable”, “natural”, and “conscious” often fall into this category. They sound good, but they lack a standardized definition, making it easy for brands to exaggerate the truth.
Example
The brand H&M heavily advertised its “Conscious Collection”, implying a shift towards sustainability. The marketing claimed that garments were made with at least 50% recycled content. However, according to The Sustainable Fashion Forum, a lawsuit filed against the brand revealed startling contradictions. The “conscious” line actually contained materials like 100% virgin polyester with zero recycled content, directly undermining the core sustainability claim and deceiving environmentally conscious shoppers. While the lawsuit was eventually dropped, this represents a common scenario where positive buzzwords are used to mask the reality of what our clothes are truly made out of.
‘Environmentally Respectful’ Brands
Fast fashion thrives on high volume and rapid turnover. One way brands boost sales is by launching small “sustainable” lines to appear environmentally viable, all while secretly maintaining their usual practice of overproducing cheap and low-quality clothes. These sustainable collections are red herrings for the massive environmental and ethical impact of the other collections these brands put out.
Example
Zara’s “Join Life” collection is marketed as using recycled or sustainably sourced materials, such as organic cotton, which is a step up from their usual materials. But the collection’s actual environmental impact is dwarfed by the brand’s business model, fast fashion. In fact, this relentless cycle of introducing new collections weekly fuels overconsumption, as Zara is notorious for its ultra-fast business model, releasing an estimated 20,000 or more new designs per year. The “Join Life” label is a token effort that attempts to justify an unsustainable business model (Marley’s Monsters).
Limited or Selective Transparency
In this form of greenwashing, brands selectively disclose positive environmental practices while remaining silent on the less flattering aspects of their operation. They will boast about minor water-saving initiatives for their singular small capsule collection, but conveniently keep quiet on critical information regarding their massive carbon footprint, widespread production waste, or unethical labor conditions in their supply chain.
Example
The ultra-fast fashion giant SHEIN has been under fire for putting out sweeping sustainability statements. The brand put out statements about their usage of recycled materials, but investigative sources suggested that the fabrics of their textile products were found to have 64% polyester instead (The Wellness Feed). Furthermore, while making these vague eco-claims, brands like SHEIN have faced severe allegations of exploitative labor conditions and wage theft. Using a ‘green’ collection to distract from underlying human rights abuses is one of the most egregious forms of selective transparency.
Greenwashing Hurts Real Sustainability
The problem with greenwashing isn’t only misleading advertisements; it is also a key contributor to the lack of progress on recovery from climate change.
Every time a company labels itself as being ‘green’ while practicing non-eco-friendly standards, customers get misled. If shoppers believe they’re truly making sustainable choices when they are in fact not, then the potential positive impacts of their consumption decisions are reduced or negated. Even from a brand’s viewpoint, once they are caught lying to their consumers, the trust between the two begins to crumble.
Furthermore, greenwashing allows brands to channel resources and focus on appearing more green in advertising, rather than on creating real change. Investment is diverted away from meaningful efforts, such as implementing waste reduction programs and ensuring labor practices are up to standard, and onto having a respectable public reputation.
This means that this mode of advertisement allows companies to maintain their usual method of production. The destructive business model that is fast fashion is allowed to persist with this green filter on. Systemic issues of overproduction, short product life cycles, the use of poor-quality materials, and low-cost labor are thus left untouched.
For real, impactful sustainability to improve in fashion, the entire industry needs genuine transparency, accountability, and systemic change that is not just clever PR. Greenwashing is the most prominent obstacle standing in the way of that.
How to Not Fall Victim to Greenwashing
Thinking critically about where you spend your money is something everyone should do, and it is an effective way to prevent yourself from making meaningless purchases. Next time you find a brand that claims to be eco-friendly, ask yourself some questions about the legitimacy of that claim.
- Where is the proof? Do some research and look for outside sources or detailed reports. Don’t solely rely on pretty marketing slogans or what the brand’s page tells you!
- Do they have third-party certifications? Brands with certifications from organizations like GOTS (organic cotton), OEKO-TEX (chemical safety), and Fair Trade are usually good signs.
- Some companies, like H&M, have certifications such as these. However, they are still not safe brands to shop from due to their handling of unethical labor standards and promotion of overconsumption (Good On You).
- Do they disclose necessary information about their supply chain? Eco-friendly fabrics are the main part of practicing sustainability, but fair wages, safe working conditions, and emission reduction are all crucial aspects, too.
How to Shop More Sustainably
If you are looking for ways to shop more sustainably, without worries about being misled, here are some ways to avoid greenwashing and shop with impact:
- Buy less, choose well, make it last. The words of fashion mogul Vivienne Westwood are the ones everyone should keep in mind. Make your purchases have a purpose by choosing items that are designed to last and making the most out of them.
- Shop secondhand. Thrifting, vintage shops, and resale apps like Depop or Poshmark give clothes a second life and reduce demand for new production. Not to mention, many of these alternatives are more cost-friendly than these larger corporations.
- Support truly transparent brands. While you shouldn’t rely solely on brand-given information, you should look for brands that aren’t afraid to tell the truth. Companies that consistently publish sustainability reports, share factory information, and have clear goals towards protecting the planet are examples of these.
Learn more about safe and sustainable clothing brands here…
Final Thoughts
Increasing pressure from consumers has rightfully led the fashion industry to become more sustainable, and that is a positive trend. But as we’ve seen, not all green claims are equal to one another. Greenwashing poses serious challenges, preventing real change and misleading consumers, but once you know what to look for, it becomes easier to see through.
The future of not only our planet, but the means of fashion, depends on us as consumers staying informed, asking questions, and prioritizing brands that are truly committed to healing and protecting our world.
That being said, we shouldn’t completely villainize companies that are attempting to make eco-friendly choices. H&M making efforts to become more sustainable shouldn’t be brushed aside, but neither should actively and purposefully misleading your customers. Accountability is what will make change happen, and holding brands accountable is up to us as consumers.
Because at the end of the day, we shouldn’t just want trendy clothes.
We should want a fashion industry that respects us and the planet.
Top image is credited to Pinterest!
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