Cate Hashemi is a summer intern for OneGreenThing. She is a rising junior at Connecticut College and plans for a career in law & international human rights.
As climate change has worsened in recent years, the push for individuals to increase sustainability efforts in their personal lives has grown enormously. Practices of ‘responsible consumerism’ and ‘ethical consumption’ have taken hold across all generations of consumers.
According to a Forbes article from 2022, the preference of Gen X consumers “to shop sustainable brands increased by nearly 25% and their willingness to pay more for sustainable products increased by 42%” since 2020. Furthermore, research from the United States Census Bureau indicates that “sixty-two percent of Gen Z and millennial consumers say they look for items second-hand before buying new.” It’s clear that eco-conscious shopping habits have become nearly as popular as they are necessary.
However, this newly widespread enthusiasm for sustainability has not gone unnoticed by brands and corporations, which has led to mixed consequences on the retail front. Some brands have taken this culture shift to heart, switching to more ethical and sustainable methods of production and transportation. Others, unfortunately, have only learned to disguise their damaging environmental practices better, luring well-meaning consumers into purchasing unsustainable goods (often at a higher price).
Greenwashing Defined
The term ‘greenwashing’ was first coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westerveld and is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is.” Though the term wasn’t coined until the late 80s, greenwashing has been happening since the 1960s and continues to occur across many different industries, such as food, oil, hospitality, and more.
Greenwashing is present everywhere, but it arguably runs most rampant throughout the fashion industry. Clothes are now more readily available than ever before, largely thanks to the phenomenon of ‘fast fashion’. Fast fashion companies produce clothes faster than they can sell them–and certainly faster than we can wear them.
The fashion industry produces “up to 100 billion garments” annually, and “each year, as much as 92 million tons of clothing end up in landfills.” This horrifically destructive sensation has led eco-conscious consumers to seek out more sustainably made clothing, which has been reactively deemed ‘slow fashion.’ However, sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate between a genuinely sustainable brand and a fast fashion brand engaging in greenwashing.
So, what should you look for?
A common greenwashing strategy among fashion brands is releasing or highlighting a small, individual “eco-friendly” line. Zara and H&M are fast fashion brands that have each released “earth-conscious” clothing lines. However, these collections only make up “23% of [H&M’s] whole clothing line and 6% of Zara’s.” These collections are not made with the genuine intention of increasing sustainability, but rather to be used to give Zara and H&M “greener” reputations. Furthermore, the sustainability claims made of the clothing in these lines are often vague and unfounded.
For example, in their “conscious” lines, both H&M and Zara claim to use “sustainable materials,” such as organic cotton, which, according to Good On You, “requires a lot of land, water, processing, and dyeing, which are also very chemically intensive. Unless the garment is GOTS-certified, it can be hard to tell if the dyes used in production are organic or not.” Additionally, marketing the use of “sustainable materials” doesn’t even acknowledge labor rights and conditions, wastewater/water usage, and other sustainability factors, which, if not mentioned, can likely be assumed to be unethical.
The presence of an eco-conscious line does not indicate the sustainable practices of a fashion brand; in fact, it typically indicates the opposite.
When a large brand shoves its one small sustainability initiative down your throat, it’s important to ask why. True sustainability does not come from one minimal-effort “sustainable” clothing line. According to the Head of Ratings at Good On You, the key to becoming a truly sustainable and ethical brand lies in “the hard work of rethinking their whole business model, slowing down their production, and stopping putting massive pressure on people and the environment.”
Check generic claims
Another red flag to look out for is a “carbon neutral” claim. This means a company has “offset its emissions by investing in projects that reduce environmental harm in other ways,” explains Douglas MacMillan of The Washington Post. However, this label can be misleading due to the benefits of these carbon offsets being quite difficult to measure. Furthermore, many off these carbon offsets are found to be “phantom credits.” According to The Guardian’s investigation into Verra, the “world’s leading carbon standard” for the voluntary offset market, over “90% of rainforest carbon offsets,” used by Gucci and other, similar companies, “are worthless… and may worsen global heating.”
“Carbon neutral” is just one of many buzzwords and phrases that brands use to greenwash. Others include “vegan,” “natural,” and “organic” because these words often lack a standardized definition or are intentionally misleading. For example, just because a piece of clothing is “vegan” and doesn’t include any animal products doesn’t mean that its production doesn’t harm the environment. Vegan leather is often just rebranded pleather, or “plastic leather,” which is made from fossil-fuel-based materials.
Not all companies that use labels such as “carbon neutral” or “vegan” are greenwashing, however, an overwhelmingly large percentage are, which is why it’s important to do your own research. According to Allyson Chiu of the Washington Post, the best ways to determine if a brand is greenwashing or not are to “examine a brand’s website,” “look for evidence of action,” “check certifications,” and, if all else fails, “trust your gut.”
Shopping sustainably is mostly about asking questions and being willing to look beyond the image you’re presented with. Certifications to look out for that mean the company has had a third party review their sustainable fashion claims include: MadeSafe, Cradle toCradle, BlueSign, Fair Trade Certified, Fair Wear Foundation, and Sustainable Apparel Coalition.
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