The Rise of Greenwashing in Fashion

Greenwashing is a marketing strategy used across several industries to give the illusion that a product or brand is earth conscious and sustainable even if it isn't. The term was coined in 1986 by environmentalist Jay Westerveld and has gained traction in recent years as the campaign for sustainability became more urgent. 

Greenwashing, as a marketing scheme, has been successful for many brands. When surveyed, most Americans claim they care for the environment, and many will even spend more money on a product that they believe is sustainable. Marketers began profiting from  public interest in environmental consciousness by falsely labeling products as sustainable. 

One of the challenges of evaluating a brand's sustainability is supply chain management. Many brands, large and small, manufacture their garments in different countries, thus abiding by different environmental restrictions. What may be eco-friendly in the USA may not be the same in other countries. Environmentalists advise consumers to instead hold brands to the guidelines of nations with stricter regulations.

 A study  by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) found that 40% of digital environmental claims mislead  customers. Not only is Greenwashing harming the planet, it also has adverse effects on the brand itself, as they often lose their credibility. 

For instance, several fast fashion brands have begun offering garments made from recycled polyester. While this may sound great for the environment, it contributes to the landfill system.. Polyester is made using plastic water bottles that are broken down and spun into yarn that is later woven into fabric. As sustainable as this method sounds, it is actually disrupting the recycling process of water bottles. Recycled water bottles are in a closed cycle of constantly being turned into new bottles; however, when brands take the plastic out of the cycle and turn it into fabric, they prevent the plastics in the garment from ever being recycled again and subsequently worsening the crisis of fashion waste in landfills.

At Custom Collaborative, we have been committed to sustainability and anti-fast fashion from the start. We use 100% donated and deadstock materials to slowly manufacture our products. We also rely on recycled fabrics to teach the students in our training institute how to implement sustainability into their own brands, and they use these fabrics to create their final garments.

How to spot and avoid Greenwashing:

Packaging: Brands will often add small texts to the shipping packaging saying it is made from recycled materials while the package itself is filled with plastics that aren't recyclable 

Colors: A simple yet evocative tactic is incorporating the color green in the branding  to push the idea of their "sustainability explicitly."  to explicitly push the idea of their “sustainability” 

Fabrics: While a brand may use deadstock fabric to avoid waste, many still manufacture in large scale factories which emit high levels of pollutants 

Branding: Many brands have created “sustainable” sub-divisions of their main line, which usually operate under meaningless claims.