Last Friday, I started listening to The Skinny Confidential Him and Her Podcast episode with Vani Hari. Lauryn, Michael, and Vani discussed everything, including the controversies and lies in the food industry. This discussion got me thinking about controversies in sustainable fashion.
Vani was such a breath of fresh air to listen to (though every single one of the guests on the TSC podcast is amazing). I felt, in the deepest part of my soul, that I connected with what she was talking about. Vani mentioned the lies and misguidance in the food industry, including by brands calling themselves organic. After listening to Vani speak, I knew I had to write something similar about sustainability in the fashion industry.
One of the reasons why I firmly believe in promoting sustainability and sustainable fashion the way that I do is because I don’t believe in giving all of the power to the brands. Rather than trusting companies to be ethical and socially responsible, I’d rather take the matter into my own hands. I’d rather practice sustainability in my shopping habits myself than give that power to someone else.
I want to use this post to discuss two key topics: why brands need to stop using sustainability as a buzzword to boost profit and why brands need to stop certain unethical practices that lead to poverty and pollution.
A lot of what I am breaking down can be found in the 2015 Documentary, The True Cost. This documentary is filled with facts, interviews, and proof to back up the claims that I, along with the documentary’s director Andrew Morgan, are stating.
I am not a “fashion expert” (aka someone who has had 10+ years of experience working in the a big corporation in the fashion industry). However, Andrew Morgan and the individuals this documentary interviews are.
Even though this documentary is wonderful and covers a lot of the topics I want to discuss (in a wonderful way that I admire so much), I wanted to write my own post on here to help with awareness.
This is something I have observed as a consumer, as a blogger, and as an activist in this community.
I hope that by opening this conversation, we can begin discussing and bringing awareness to the issue of unethical behaviors employed by the fashion industry.
Lastly, I want to mention that I know the photos I am using for this post isn’t quite appropriate for the topic we are discussing. I still wanted to include them because Morgan, my usual photographer, did such an amazing job with them. We had originally shot these for a collaboration, and I wanted to use them for the original direction that I wanted to go with this post.
Brands need to stop using sustainability as a buzz word to boost profit.
Dr. Steven Gundry, another guest on the TSC podcast, is the author of the book The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers of “Healthy” Foods that Cause Disease and Weight Gain.
This is the idea that not all “healthy” foods are good, just like how everything organic is always better. Often times, brands use these buzz words such as “organic” or “gluten-free” to mark up the price and improve their bottom line.
There is a similar concept in fashion when it comes to sustainability. Jay Westerveld coined the phrase “greenwashing” back in 1986 to describe brands pretending to be eco-friendly to boost their sales. I first learned of this concept when Bryanboy, one of the top bloggers in this industry, tweeted in October of 2018:
“There’s nothing sustainable about creating something new en masse. You wanna know what’s sustainable? Wearing your old… clothes, that’s what.”
I really couldn’t have said it better than myself, and I knew I had to address this topic on my blog after hearing the TSC podcast about how brands use buzz words to pretend like they actually care about their consumers.
I have so much respect for the entrepreneurs, especially the females in this industry, working their butts off to make their dream come true. However, I cannot even stress the importance of what Westerveld and Bryanboy had said.
Because there are so many lies surrounding what is sustainable, let’s talk about the two main ways that I see brands posturing as sustainable but not actually giving a darn about the environment:
Pretending Like Offering a Discount for Customers Bringing in Old Clothes to “Recycle” is Sustainable
Yes, I am talking about one particular brand here, and I won’t apologize for calling them out (cough cough H&M).
I’m genuinely confused why anyone would ever think that brands offering a small discount for their customers for “recycling” their old clothes is sustainable. If the clothes that you are buying with the discount isn’t sustainable, then you are essentially taking 1 step forward and 3 steps back.
It irritates me to no end when companies in the fashion industry use sustainability the way that other industries use diversity when recruiting: as a PR move to pretend like they actually care about corporate social responsibility.
If there is a brand out there that talks the big talks about how they are starting a new campaign to be more sustainable but then start mass producing polyester clothing, then chances are that they couldn’t care less that they are polluting the environment.
Using Plastic to Wrap Their Clothes for Shipping
Oh my gosh, we need to just stop right here. If you’re a “sustainable brand” but you’re still using plastic to wrap your clothes, then you’re not sustainable.
Again, I applaud the companies such as Everlane that have pledged to remove all plastic by 2021. However, why are they alone in this pledge, and why are so many “industry experts” doubting the feasibility of their timeline?
What is even worse is when I see sustainable brands with a plastic price tag attached to their clothes. I love brands like Vitamin A swim that completely eliminate the usage of plastics by not having a plastic wrapper and by not using a plastic price tag.
Brands need to stop unethical practices that continue to promote poverty and cover up the truth about the waste and pollution they create.
I’m going to start with the most obvious but least discussed unethical practice in the fashion industry: CHEAP LABOR AND CHILD LABOR.
The Fashion Industry is famous for its labor exploitation practices, yet somehow, no one talks about this. Is this because the children suffering from the horrible factory conditions are thousands of miles away from us? Is it because we can’t see the injustice?
My boyfriend’s family on his mom side are from the Philippines, and he has an aunt who worked in the garment industry. Though the Philippines wasn’t identified the Center for Research on Multinational Companies (SOMO) as being the worst perpetrator of child labor, the Philippines still has 5.5 million child laborers. The stories that we have heard on the poverty and living conditions are horrifying.
Aside from just child labor, the fashion industry love sto say that their workers are paid the “minimum legal wage” and that “having a job is better than nothing”. To a certain extent, this is all true. However, for those of us who are not easily fooled, we know that these companies are simply taking advantage of the poverty and dire social situation of their workers.
When your minimum wage only makes up a fifth of the living wage, that’s not ethical.
Because I find this issue to be so important, I am listing down some of the sources that I have found to be super helpful when breaking down the figures and the facts behind this story:
- https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/
- https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/working-conditions/
- https://www.somo.nl/topic/garments-and-textiles/
Brands also need to stop pretending as though the fabrics they are using for things such as faux fur and vegan leather are sustainable
We’re going to go back to Bryanboy for a second here. Back in December of 2018 in response to a tweet by InStyle about fake leather, Bryanboy so eloquently stated that bags made of fake leather is really just plastic bags that are bad for the environment.
When I saw Bryanboy, a mega influencer with a huge platform, take a firm stance on sustainability and the environment, I almost cried. In the end, fake leather, pleather, polyurethane… they are all just plastic. The same goes for faux fur.
ETHICAL IS NOT ALWAYS SUSTAINABLE!
Let’s repeat this again: ETHICAL IS NOT ALWAYS SUSTAINABLE. It’s so maddening to hear all this talk about faux leather and faux fur as though you are killing two birds with one stone (excuse the horrible and ironic metaphor). The goal of organizations such as PETA is to promote animal rights, which may not always be in line with sustainability, even though these causes are usually allies to one another.
Brands need to start differentiating between promoting animal rights through the usage of faux fur and faux leather versus sustainability. I found a great guide that breaks down why a ton of the materials thatis used for faux leather isn’t sustainable or environmentally friendly: https://www.stylewise-blog.com/2017/10/is-faux-leather-really-better-eco-leather-substitutes.html
Lastly, let’s talk a quick moment about Polyurethanes and why they are not sustainable
I want to address the topic of polyurethane, otherwise known as “PETA approved vegan leather”. Someone had reached out to me and let me know that what they wanted more clarity on what I meant by “ethical isn’t always sustainable”.
Polyurethane is a perfect example of this. Despite the claims of PETA and other organizations such as the American Chemistry Council, polyurethane is not sustainable. Why? BECAUSE IT IS A PLASTIC.
The images I have included here are taken directly from the American Chemistry Council and from EUROPUR (European Association of Flexible Polyurethane Foam Blocks Manufacturers).
Compared to the other form of “vegan leather” material (aka PVC/vinyl), yes, polyurethane does not have as much of the toxicity that PVC has. However, please do not kid yourself into thinking that any kind of plastic is environmentally friendly.
Though I will personally seek out polyurethane instead of leather if I have a choice, it is not as simple of a replacement for me.
Sources:
- https://polyurethane.americanchemistry.com/polyurethanes/Sustainability
- https://www.europur.org/sustainabilty
- https://www.europur.org/applications/what-is-polyurethane-foam
It’s hard to understand where we go from here. Sustainability isn’t a buzz word, many companies are being super hypocritical and unethical in their labor practices, and ethical fashion isn’t always sustainable!
It’s really tough to look at the sustainable fashion industry from this lens, but I hope by doing so, I have shed some light on many of the key issues that this industry is facing. As someone who is both a consumer and a blogger/influencer in this space, this is exactly why I want to put the power back in our hands, as a consumer.
We have the power to change to hold companies accountable for their poor behavior, let them know we’re not interested in sustainability being a token of fake corporate social responsibility, and to change how this industry is operating. As consumers, we can do anything, if only we have the courage to stand up and spea out.
This is a very different post on sustainable fashion than I normally do, but I hope that by talking about these issues, I have helped shed light on the dark sides of the fashion industry. As a final parting note, I highly recommend everyone watch the documentary The True Cost. You will not regret it!
