beintelligent

Category: PAPERS

  • Is Fast Fashion Expanding Greenwashing as Conscious Consumerism is Increasing?

    Fast Fashion VS. Conscious Consumerism

    14 April 2020

    Fast fashion has captivated consumers for over 20 years. The affordable on-trend pieces are produced in limited quantities creating a sense of urgency to purchase.

    Eco-friendly watch groups and informed consumers continue to shed light on the fast fashion industry; an industry known for their pollution and waste and for a low control of their supply chain

    As a result, many in the fast fashion industry are advertising new sustainability practices and green efforts. But is it true or simply greenwashing?

    What is Fast Fashion and Why is it a Problem?

    Merriam-Webster  states that the term “fast fashion” has been in existence since 1977, yet most sources credit the term to a New York Times article from the 1990s. As Spanish apparel retail Zara entered the US market, the New York Times coined the term to acknowledge how quickly the company designed, produced, and sold catwalk-inspired trendy clothing.

    There are many signs to spot a fast fashion brand. If the clothing is quickly released after being seen on the catwalk or influencer, if clothing is produced within large factories in countries with poor work regulations (eg. Bangladesh and Vietnam), if customers are pressured to purchase clothing available for a limited time in limited quantities, and if inferior quality and high polluting materials are utilized, you are probably buying from a fast fashion brand.

    Fast Fashion Environmental Impact

    In a 2014 report by the World Bank, in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) & the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), it is stated that 20% of water pollution globally is caused by textile processing. The water may contain toxic substances such as lead, mercury, and arsenic.

    Greenpeace launched its Detox campaign in 2011 challenging the fashion industry to reduce the discharge of hazardous chemicals to zero by 2020. As a result, the global community of ZDHC was formed to create a “roadmap to zero” and allow collaboration between global brands, chemical suppliers, and manufacturers.  ZDHC currently consists of over 150 contributors, including Adidas Group, C&A, Target, H&M, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co., NIKE, Inc., and PUMA.

    ZDHC released its first Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (ZDHC MRSL) in 2014.  The list is comprised of chemical substances that are banned in textile factories. A more comprehensive list, ZDHC MRSL 2.0, is currently being phased in. ZDHC Executive Director Frank Michel states “We haven’t yet accomplished everything we set out to achieve back in 2011, but we are going to continue with an increasing number of brands, a rapidly growing community, and a firm commitment to advance towards zero discharge.”

    Fast Fashion Social Issues

    Garment manufacturing in Bangladesh has increased over the past few years as prices increased in China, the largest textile producer and exporter with 37.6% market share.  MM Akash, a Professor of Economics of Dhaka University estimates that Bangladesh employees truly need at least 28,620 takas ($341) per month as a reasonable living wage. The actual minimum wages for entry-level jobs in the textile industry is 5 times less.

    In addition to unrealistic wages, the fast fashion industry exploits child labor and forced labor in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam.

    Nonprofit organization Remake is trying to shed light on the employees of the garment industry. The organization tells stories of young women between 18 and 24 years-old that make 80% of all apparel. “I work 12 hours a day. My entire life is the factory. I live in the dorms with three roommates, work all day only stopping to eat at the cafeteria.”

    Retailers Response to Climate Change and Exploitation of Workers

    In 2018, the UN convened stakeholders in the fashion industry to establish the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. to the charter include, among others, H&M, Target, and Inditex (parent company of Zara). The vision of the charter is to “achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”.

    WRAP https://www.wrap.org.uk  (Waste and Resources Action Programme) supports the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP 2020 Commitment). SCAP partners are working to reduce carbon, water, and waste. Over 90 supporters, representing more than 48% of UK retail sales, have made the commitment. Analysis of the SCAP 2020 actions completed by the Ethical Consumer ascertains that the initiative falls short of meeting the necessary reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to control global heating as identified by the UN in 2018.

    The exploitation of people making clothes for major global brands and retailers has led to the emergence of various supply chain initiatives, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). Research participants in a study conducted by the Non-Judicial Human Rights Redress Mechanisms Project confirmed that ETI addresses violations of rights better than industry-controlled initiatives. However, the study identified a significant accountability gap, specifically human rights violations, that the ETI is unable to rectify. ETI members felt that pursuing human rights grievances were deemed as “time-consuming” and “commonly resulted in “agreement to disagree”.

    Read also: Fast Fashion Greenwashing

    What Can Consumers Do?

    Every consumer has a role to play in making a change in the fashion industry. As the customer, we must demand company accountability and full transparency. What is advertised must match what is behind the scenes.

    Change can also occur by altering our shopping habits and mindset

    • Shop in thrift stores or charity shops. This could be a lot of fun!
    • Share and swap clothes with friends. Ethical Influencers hosted a clothing swap to celebrate Fashion Revolution Week.
    • Rent or Re-use clothes for special occasions. Sustainable Fashion was on the Red Carpet at the 2020 Academy Awards. Celebrities wore reclaimed fabric, vintage dresses, and some even wore their previous Oscar attire.
    A group of people posing for the camera Description automatically generated
    Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic/Jon Kopaloff/WireImage courtesy of Insider.com

    However, if you must purchase a new garment, shop sustainable clothing brands. Purchase higher quality pieces with longer life. Shop for sustainable fabrics with the least negative environmental impact such as recycled or organic material. When shopping for viscose fabrics, a wood-based fiber, look for those labeled as lyocell, Tencel or Monocel. Rayon and bamboo-derived viscose currently involve a high pollution manufacturing process.

    Below is a shortlist of good, sustainable clothing companies. View more brands on EthicalConsumer and GoodOnYou.

    Know The Origin

    Launched in 2016 by Charlotte Instone, Know the Origin has avoided advertising spending and focused on organic growth. Products are hand manufactured to reduce carbon footprint. KTO uses only 100% Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) organic cotton.

    MUD Jeans

    PETA-approved 100% vegan products and  GOTS certified organic makes MUD Jeans  a stand-out eco-friendly company. MUD Jeans audits all parts of the supply chain to ensure fair labor.

    GRAMMAR

    GRAMMAR is a GOTS certified organic cotton manufacturer. The final stage of production takes place in the United States to reduce its carbon footprint and ensure labor rights. Living wages are provided across the entire supply chain.

    Since the days of Adam and Eve, clothing has been deemed a necessity. That will never change. Consumers though have the power to drive the actions of fast fashion brands.

    Demand environmentally and socially responsible behaviors. Request transparency in the entire supply chain. Make educated conscious purchases.

    Photo Credits: Jose A. Bernat Bacete, Getty Images, Copyright:© 2014 Jose A. Bernat

    Since you’re here…
    Our mission is to monitor Advertising to make certain that companies obey ethical standards of trustworthiness and transparency while communicating their commitment to addressing the great challenges of the New Millennium. From climate emergency to social inequality through all the issues included in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda, we monitor the consistency of their statements, if they are ‘walking the talk’. With rising misinformation and commercial ownership, independent information is more and more rare. We think citizens deserve access to accurate analyses with integrity at their heart, so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and enviroment – based on fact, not fiction.
    Our editorial independence means our content agenda is set only to voice our opinions, supported by in-depth research, free from any political and commercial bias, never influenced by interested owners or shareholders (which we don’t have). It means we can stand up to mainstream and give a voice to those less heard. We hope this will motivate you to make a contribution in support of our open, independent journalism. Every reader contribution, however big or small, is so valuable. Support BeIntelligent from as little as €5 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

    Support BeIntellgent

    Author: elena grinta

    I’m a journalist with keen a vision of markets and new trends and 20+ years of experience in Communication. Founding a ‘for benefit’ start-up changed my professional (and personal) life forever. I used to work in marketing depts and realized the better I did at work, the worst I impacted on people and planet. I then considered Marketing a ‘weapon’ that could be used for the benefit of all humans (Cialdini was extremely useful at that time ;-)). I quit my well-paid job as director and started an innovative start-up willing to let people know better if brands walk the talk. Everybody could search and investigate on the web but nobody does! as it’s boring and time spending. What if WE could do it for you?! This is how BeIntelligent was born!

    PAPERS / Trends

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  • from a trade mark to a change mark  

    From a Trademark to a Change Mark

    The Cannes Lions Festival, the most important advertising festival in the world, Cannes Lions announces on March 18, 2020 that the annual Festival of Creativity will not take place in June as previous planned, due to coronavirus emergency. They are for sure preparing for the great challenges of 2020, including a critical analysis of the “purposing” that has become one of the many marketing activities for many brands to respond to the relentless demand from consumers of taking responsibility for major environmental and social problems. Thus the Ascential press office announced that in the 2010 edition, “The world’s largest brands and agencies will discuss how they deal with global critical issues, from climate change to inequality” and called the topic “post-purpose” (inspired by the terms post-modern, post-human, and post-truth) rather than use the outdate word purpose. Results count.

    If it is not yet clear, there is in fact a difference between purpose campaigns and business with purpose: “Purpose brands do not campaign, they create movement,”  said Valerie Hernando Press (Chief Marketing Officier at Danone) at the 2019 Cannes Lions Festival as she was presenting the projects carried out by Danone within the “One planet. One Health” program.

    The concept is quite simple. “Brand activism” can be defined as participatory activation of corporations in social action. But its realization is not obvious. An epochal change should be foreseen which, if fully realized, would describe a new role of “legal persons,” subjects who, in addition to having the same rights, would also potentially have the same conscience as “natural persons” and therefore the same possibility of being the engine of action.

    Activism, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means “the use of  direct  and  noticeable action  to  achieve  a  result , usually a  political  or  social  one.”

    Read also: How to Become a Brand Activist. Follow the Example of Tony’s Chocolonely.

    In short, we return to the results. Or rather we start from the results. And it is a great revolution that could be carried out before our eyes. Raj Patel in his book The Value of Nothing called for juridical (or “artificial”) people––public and private––to be rethought to allow sustainable policies to take off. “But the losses caused by the abandonment of old habits,” Patel explains, “will be more than offset by the new ones”

    The value of Nothing Coverbook

    To explain his point of view, he proposed an episode [1] in the history of US law in which being a legal person for companies actually meant being able to trample on the rights of natural persons. In 1994, Vermont voters asked to know whether the milk they consumed contained the growth hormone rBST,  which had been banned in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and partly in Europe but was (and still is) used in the US. To answer this request, the Vermont legislators passed a law in April 1994 that required the specification of rBST on the label. Six non-profit companies, all created, financed, and directed by corporations, sued the State of Vermont claiming the rights to the First Amendment, thus obtaining the annulment of the labeling law. It was in the final decision, “the State of Vermont can’t compel the dairy manufacturers to speak against their will.” . In this case, the company (the legal persons) was given the same level of rights as the customers (the natural persons), and the constitutional guarantees of the first amendment for legal persons actually ended up annulling the same right to natural persons.

    But what we are witnessing today is a great opportunity, in which the individual responsibility of the legal person could mean making it part of an ecosystem, making the same commitments, and conducting the same battles alongside the natural people.

    Read also: Welcome to the H2H Era! Danone as a B Corp.

    This is perhaps the point of view of David Droga, president of the SDGs category jury at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival in 2019, when he said: “Brands are citizens as well.” 

    If brands are citizens themselves, then in the words of Valerie Hernando Press,  “Brands can act as true activists.”

    [1] https://celdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Model-Brief.pdf

    Photo credits: “Sin título (ciencia ficción)”, 2007, 4 óleos sobre piel sintética de Marina Núñez

    Since you’re here…
    Our mission is to monitor Advertising to make certain that companies obey ethical standards of trustworthiness and transparency while communicating their commitment to addressing the great challenges of the New Millennium. From climate emergency to social inequality through all the issues included in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda, we monitor the consistency of their statements, if they are ‘walking the talk’. With rising misinformation and commercial ownership, independent information is more and more rare. We think citizens deserve access to accurate analyses with integrity at their heart, so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and enviroment – based on fact, not fiction.
    Our editorial independence means our content agenda is set only to voice our opinions, supported by in-depth research, free from any political and commercial bias, never influenced by interested owners or shareholders (which we don’t have). It means we can stand up to mainstream and give a voice to those less heard. We hope this will motivate you to make a contribution in support of our open, independent journalism. Every reader contribution, however big or small, is so valuable. Support BeIntelligent from as little as €5 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.

    Support BeIntellgent

    Author: elena grinta

    I have been dealing with communication for 20 years, I have worked in marketing for large international and Italian companies and I know the mechanisms of advertising persuasion. I decided to invest my know-how and my skills to use the available resources of companies (budgets but also human capital) in positive transformation. Because to students from all over the world I teach at Purpose Brands in Catholic University I wish to give more and more examples of virtuous companies that have invested for the future, of everyone (and there are already many!). Because if we watch, without acting, without taking responsibility, we have no excuse.

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