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Green washing in marketing refers to companies presenting product or service information in a way that makes consumers believe it is environmentally friendly. Using false claims to sell something is morally wrong and companies that do this should be held accountable. Here are our top 5 fast fashion brands for greenwashing.
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5 Fast Fashion Brands Called Out for Greenwashing
1. H&M
The world’s second largest fashion retailer, H&M, contributes monumental amounts of textile waste and produces millions of clothing items and designs each year. With more than 5,000 stores worldwide, H&M is one of the many fast fashion companies known for copying high fashion, fast turnover of clothing, unsustainable practices including the use of harmful chemicals in its products , and inhuman working conditions.
The fast fashion company has since made efforts to adopt more sustainable practices, from implementing a clothing collection and recycling program within its stores to launching its Conscious collection in 2011, where items are made with at least “50% sustainable materials”. . H&M also publicly set the goal of using only recycled and sustainably sourced materials by 2030. These initiatives enable the company to create a ‘greener’ fashion image. According to her Sustainability Report 2021the brand has tripled the proportion of recycled materials used in its clothing and has reduced its plastic packaging by nearly 28%.
Despite these promising results, it is in the nature of fast fashion – and therefore the Swedish company – to trick consumers into buying more clothes than they actually need. Furthermore, promoting recycling and encouraging consumers to do the same cannot compensate for the 3 billion garments the company produces on an annual basis. Many also criticize its sustainability claims for being vague and green, highlighting a lack of transparency about reducing its environmental impact and carbon emissions throughout its supply chain.
2. Dice
Zara may be the world’s first fast fashion retailer. Founded in 1975, Zara famously touted its ability to turn a garment from the design stage to store-only sales. 15 days. The Spanish clothing company has now grown into one of the biggest and most popular fashion brands out there, churning out almost 12,000 new designs and production more than 450 million clothing items every day.
Similar to H&M, the Spanish giant has made a big effort to boost its sustainability image with the launch of ‘Join Life’ almost two decades ago. In addition to planning to “move towards a circular economy model […] to extend its life cycle [their] products,” Zara is planning to switch to 100% renewable energy to power its internal operations by 2030. The clothing company has also announced plans to use only cotton and polyester materials that are sustainable and recyclable, and reducing and offsetting all emissions by 2040.
However, Zara is nowhere near enough to combat its current fast-fashion business model and the high carbon footprint of its supply chains, which the company has not cited as slowing down. Many criticize the brand for not providing a detailed list of the factory and refraining from publishing the results of their audits – causing sparks transparency concerns. This, in turn, makes it difficult to assess how much impact their sustainability targets are having.
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3. Uniqlo
As one of the most popular fast fashion companies in the world, it’s no surprise that Japanese retailer Uniqlo appears on the list of greenwashing fashion companies. Like other fast fashion companies, Uniqlo has had numerous labor rights violations and complaints.
With over 3,000 stores worldwide and items made with a significant amount of cheap synthetic materials – including rayon, polyester, nylon and elastane – and sold at very low costs, the brand’s reputation for durability is not not even the greatest.
In recent years, however, Uniqlo has taken over more sustainable approachsuch as focusing on technologies to create new clothing from recycled materials to developing energy-efficient infrastructure and supporting the Setouchi Olive Foundation, which aims to protect and restore the coastal areas and islands of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. “For more than 20 years, Uniqlo has been on the path to sustainability. As a global company that creates responsible clothing, we are committed to a healthy planet, society and people.” – is written on the company’s website.
However, the lack of transparency has sparked accusations of greenwashing. First of all, Uniqlo does not present any certification for their textiles. But the real issue is that, despite setting a climate change target to reduce emissions in its supply chain, to date the Japanese brand fails to report on its progress or disclose implementation parameters. Its environmental targets are also not scientifically validated, making it extremely difficult to determine whether they are consistent with national and international climate policies.
4. Nike
As the world’s largest supplier of athletic footwear and apparel and a leading manufacturer of sports equipment, Nike has long been under the scrutiny of environmentalists and activists. The company is built on business model of finding the lowest possible labor cost, leading to several scandals related to sweatshops in indonesia. Decades of campaigning for workers’ rights led to drastic changes in company culture, which is now regarded by many as a endurance champion.
Despite significant progress in recent years, the brand is still at the center of greenwashing claims, most recently for “Move to Zero” campaign., which was specifically linked to Climate Week and revolved around the idea that “no plans, no sports”. The campaign claims to be the framework for Nike’s journey towards zero carbon and zero waste. However, Fashionista reporter Whitney Bauck describes it simply as a “marketing campaign that repackages old commitments without offering new ones”. In an interview for a fashion magazine, Nike’s own chief sustainability officer, Noel Kinder, admitted that some of the targets the company has set for itself – such as diverting 99% of all shoe production waste from landfills and reducing water consumption throughout Nike’s supply chain by 20% per unit by 2020 – they were not completely. realistic and may actually be more difficult to achieve than first thought. While the company’s progress is certainly good news, advertising environmentally friendly practices without fully committing to them is a form of greenwashing.
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5. All birds
B Corporation certified for its social and environmental performance, Allbirds is a New Zealand-American footwear and apparel company known as the maker of popular “sustainable” wool sneakers.
Despite its claims to keep its products as environmentally friendly as possible, Allbirds has been accused of underestimating the environmental impact of using wool in its sneakers by misleadingly marketing it as coming from its own supplier. “Live a good life”. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) – the world’s largest animal rights organization – workers beat, stomped, skinned and slit the throats of conscious and suffering sheep. Furthermore, while the company’s life cycle assessment (LCA) measures the carbon footprint of each product based on materials, production, product use, it fails to assess the environmental impact of wool production on water use, eutrophication or invasion of Earth.
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year alleging Allbirds misled consumers about its carbon footprint and animal welfare claims was discharged in June by Judge Cathy Seibel of the Southern District of New York, because the plaintiff did not allege anything about the wool used by the company in particular.
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