Hi there! Welcome back to the Fast Fashion Run(a)way. I discussed some sustainable and ethical fashion brands we can find here in Singapore and in this week’s post, I talk about greenwashing. With the wave of green consciousness and increasing awareness on the fast fashion industry, sustainability has become a marketing tool for retail companies. Sustainable companies should at least present the following (Yang, 2020):
- Sourcing for environmentally friendly raw materials that are biodegradable or are derived from recycled materials
- Using resources in an efficient manner
- Avoid the use of hazardous, toxic chemicals and ensure proper disposal and discharge
- Ethical labour laws and practices, working conditions
- Encouraging consumers to buy only what they need. This means that EVEN IF the clothes sold by the company are sustainable and ethical, it does not justify impulsive buying and marketing campaigns by the company should address this. This is a common misconception in sustainable fashion – buying from sustainable brands does not absolve us of responsibility and our complicity in the socio-environmental issues arising from fast fashion.
Essentially, sustainability is a way of life and a mindset – it does not only boil down to which brand you purchase from but rather, how you use that piece of clothing.
What is greenwashing?
So then… what is greenwashing? Companies may claim to be sustainable but fail to meet either one of the conditions above, and don’t live up to the claims they make on sustainability. Greenwashing is thus defined as “misleading advertising of green credentials” (Henninger et al., 2016). By marketing themselves as “green” or “sustainable”, companies can easily mislead consumers, especially with the growing awareness and preference for “greener” brands.
Case study: H&M
Let us look at H&M, one of the most popular fast fashion brands worldwide. Taking a look at H&M’s Group Sustainability Report, several claims are also made:
The company recently launched the Bottle2fashion campaign and as the name suggests, plastic bottle waste is used to make recycled polyester in its kidswear collection. Last year, 7.5 million PET bottles were collected and recycled.
H&M also has its infamous “Conscious Collection”. Clothes from this collection are differentiated with a green hangtag, compared to the usual white ones. When the collection was first launched in 2019, it received public censure for claiming that every piece in the collection is sustainably sourced and made of 100% organic cotton, Tencel or recycled polyester. Looking up the Conscious Collection website, products are now said to contain at least 50% of sustainable materials. Among other initiatives, H&M also has recycling boxes at their stores worldwide as part of their Garment Collection programme since 2013. However, drawing data from H&M’s sorter, I:Collect, only about 35% of the collected clothes are recycled (Ramaniah, 2019). Based on an analysis by Good On You, a directory of top clothing brands rated based on the categories of People, Planet and Animals, H&M has been evaluated as “It’s a Start”. The brand has made some steps in the right direction and is transparent about its policies and supply chain practices, but it remains the world’s second-largest producer of fast fashion.
That’s all for now, until then, let’s keep running away from fast fashion!
Cheers,
Chermaine
References
Henninger, C. E., Alevizou, P. J., & Oates, C. J. (2016). What is sustainable fashion? Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 20(4), 400–416. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-07-2015-0052
H&M. (n.d.). Bottle2Fashion: From plastic waste to fashion. H&M. Retrieved 12 April 2022, from https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/sustainability-at-hm/our-work/the-latest/4005a-meet-bottle2fashion.html
Ramaniah, Z. (2019). H&M’s Greenwashing: Short-Sighted and Unethical. Brandingmag. https://www.brandingmag.com/2019/12/12/hms-greenwashing-short-sighted-and-unethical/
Yang, L. (2020). Sustainable or Greenwashing? How to Evaluate Fashion Brands. https://imperfectidealist.com/sustainable-or-greenwashing-fashion-brands/