Greenwashing: The Real Fashion Faux-Pas

The Truth About Sustainable Shopping

With the recent surge in concern for climate change, sustainability and human rights worldwide, fast fashion companies have met a wave of criticisms concerning the way they operate their stores. For those who are unaware, fast fashion is essentially low-quality clothing that’s mass produced and sold at low prices in order to appeal to customers and keep production costs (and the salaries of workers) low. In case there was some confusion about how unsustainable this entire industry is - it pollutes more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined and accounts for 10% of all carbon emissions. According to a 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, that could jump to 26% by 2050 if the industry continues on its current trajectory.

The thing is, rather than truly investing funds into making their practices easier on the environment and better for their workers, they’ve actually just spent money on greenwashing campaigns : providing misleading information in order to market their companies as “green” and “earth-friendly.” I believe that in order to maintain business as usual, these companies are simply using sustainability campaigns and flashy new lines to distract their customers.

I used to work for Ardene - the brand famous for its toxic-smelling stores and mile-high stockpiles of super cheap merchandise. What I remember most from my time working there is the bags and bags of plastic that I went through. At Ardene, each earring comes individually wrapped in a plastic bag, which is then wrapped in another plastic bag with a couple of other pairs, which is then wrapped and rewrapped and rewrapped again. And that will fill maybe half of a row on one display case in one location.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I went to check out their website and found this:

@Ardene:

Their sustainability page went on and on and I couldn’t help thinking that this was the biggest load of bullsh*t I’d ever read! They boasted about how since 2009, they’d reduced single-use plastic garment bags by 25 million. Honestly… in the two years I worked there, I think I unboxed more than that. They went on to talk about their hanger reuse programs in stores (that saves 462 tons of plastic - the same weight as 4 blue whales! *eye roll*) when I remember clear as day asking a store manager what to do with the extra hangers and she shrugged and said “just throw them out.”

And they’re not the only ones! Have you noticed that all of the fast fashion stores now have sustainability sections on their websites? They never used to. But now, it’s a necessity. Let’s talk about H&M’s recycling program. Sounds great, right? You bring in a bag of clothes, get a 5$ off coupon and you get to feel good about not contributing to the global problem of clothing waste. Well, did you know that only about 1% of clothing can actually be recycled? Because clothing materials are so often blended, they cannot be separated in order to be reused.

Sharlene Gandhi of Sense and Sustainibility has spilled the tea. Did you know that H&M’s conscious line that is made from discarded fruit peelings is actually combined with plastic petroleum-based agents, which renders the clothing non-biodegradable and offsets any eco-friendly impact made in the first place? Zara vowed to eliminate landfill waste entirely by 2025 - but said nothing about their supply chain in developing countries. Notice how none of these companies have made any efforts to rectify the detrimental and unfair working conditions they put workers through in order to maintain their low prices?

What’s that about? I’ll tell you what : money.

Instead, they vamp up their website, make bold claims about their future plans and further distract their consumers. Ardene Canada has even made use of celebrity branding. Their new KENDALL & KYLIE line has been a big part of how much they’ve rebranded themselves. Previously known for its cheap quality, customers now associate Ardene with the upper-class, quality-only attitudes of the Kardashians. But in reality, it’s just another way to attract and distract consumers away from the realities of pollution, water usage, waste and unfair working conditions. And clearly all of this is working. The Kardashian line was a huge success and Ardene is set to internationally expand in early 2020.

I know that it can be difficult to make sustainable choices when the capitalist world we live in is designed to be wasteful and emphasizes abundance and low costs over everything else. But why not try shopping in second hand stores? Thrifting has become trendy for a reason. You won’t just find unique and vintage clothing, you’ll also reduce your carbon footprint!

As consumers, we are (rightfully) filled with guilt when we think about what fashion does to the environment. But now, because of these companies’ nicely-designed and prominently-placed vows to become more sustainable, that worry is alleviated and we continue to shop as blissfully unaware as before. While it may seem that these companies care about the planet, I think that it’s pretty clear what they really care about: the green in their wallets. The world is screaming at us to be more sustainable, and I believe we have the tools and responsibility to do so, regardless of the appeals of fast fashion. Some things are more important.

While the fact that fast fashion companies are at least making an effort to think about sustainability may seem like a step in the right direction, I feel like it’s actually allowing the industry to stand still. When it comes down to it, can a company that is trying to convince you to buy things that you don’t need ever really be sustainable?

So what do you think, CULTURVERSERS?

Can we all make some changes?