Greenwashing: For Money or Mother Earth?

Do fashion brands want a greener bank account or a greener planet?

In the 1980s, American environmentalist Jay Westerveld coined the term as a marketing tactic upon discovering that various businesses who claim to be going to great lengths to be environmentally friendly and sustainable actually do not implement the actions they say they do, rather businesses act this way in order to attract more customers. Westerveld’s initial interaction with greenwashing was related to a hotel’s practices, however the term has become more prominent in the fashion industry.

“Greenwashing (n.): expressions of environmentalist concerns especially as a cover for products, policies, or activities.” - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

While some businesses may actually be making internal strides to being more sustainable and conscious of their environmental footprint and advertise it, other businesses are not taking action yet promote themselves as if they do in order to gain attention. Producer to consumer transparency is key in this situation and can be the ice-breaker as to which companies are actually trying to help the Earth, and which companies are in it just for the money.

In 2010, the scholarly journal Environmental Health Perspectives published an article where they dissected TerraChoice’s “Seven Sins of Greenwashing”. These sins are ways to tell that a company is falsely promoting their activism for sustainability. Be on the lookout for hidden trade-offs, companies withholding accessible information or being vague on how they are making a difference, irrelevant, false, and fake claims, as well as incomparable comparisons.

The goal of companies who use Greenwashing marketing is the attempt to appeal to the new generation of consumers who are eager to be eco-friendly. To be a conscious and sustainable shopper, look for brands that have complete transparency with their facts and data on how they are operating and what their goals are to get better. Be on the lookout for brands who use words such as “pure, natural, earth-friendly, eco-friendly, organic, green, reduced emissions, sustainable development, carbon-neutral, plant-based, etc” in their marketing and look into what these words actually mean. Fashion brands who are more clear with explaining where they get their materials and how ethically sourced they are are more likely to actually be a sustainable brand with the goal of bettering the planet. If brands are using these buzzwords and not backing it up with clear evidence of how their products fit into these categories, they are probably in it just for the money.

An easy way to check how your favorite brands are doing their part in helping save and preserve our environment is by using Good On You. Good On You is an organized website that does research and investigation on fashion brands in order to help share the transparency consumers need. Their goal is to highlight and put an end to the animal cruelty, human rights, and natural resources by publishing articles explaining the faults of the companies, and what other companies are similar but doing better. They also have a curated directory where you can look up thousands of fashion brands and learn about their downfalls and achievements that can allow you to determine if you want to support that company or not.

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Works Cited:

“About Good On You.” Good On You, 18 Nov. 2021, https://goodonyou.eco/about/.

Assoune, Alex. “Fast Fashion Brands Accused of Greenwashing.” Panaprium, Panaprium, 6 Apr. 2020, https://www.panaprium.com/blogs/i/fast-fashion-brands-accused-of-greenwashing.

Dahl, Richard. “Green Washing.” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 118, no. 6, 1 June 2010, pp. A246–A252., https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.118-a246.

“Good On You Directory.” Good On You Directory - Search Thousands of Fashion Brand Ratings, https://directory.goodonyou.eco/.

“Greenwashing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/greenwashing. Accessed 10 Jan. 2022