Fashion Brands Accused of Greenwashing Skywire London

[Liz Seyi]

How well do you feel your own brand’s claims of eco-friendliness stack up against industry competition, or indeed customer expectation? More and more fashion firms will soon be asking themselves intently as the UK’s competition regulator gears up to take a strong grip on high-street clothing companies.
As reported by The Guardian, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has expressed concern over sellers perhaps convincing buyers to pay a premium for environmentally-friendly fashion goods that may not indeed live up to this billing.
How Sustainable and Eco-friendly is British Fashion?
The CMA has suggested that entire clothing ranges have such adjectives applied to them, without the brand necessarily being able to show proof that the whole process – encompassing manufacture, delivery, packaging, and sale – actually is gentle on the environment.
The Guardian informs that the regulator was looking into claims that the British fashion sector has made and will name and shame those most guilty of misleading language about their environmental credentials.
How the fashion industry treats the planet has been placed under the microscope in recent years, and rightly so.
With UK shoppers thought to spend about £54 billion per year on clothing and footwear, and fashion estimated to be responsible for about 2 - 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, there is always huge scope for the industry to do better in its environmental practices.
Indeed, not only can the sector do better in how it looks after the only earth we have, but it must do better. As the watchdog further pointed out, the proliferation of deceptive claims about certain fashion products environmental worth risks leading to a loss of trust in such claims in general, even when fashion brands are doing the right thing. That, in turn, could make people less motivated to buy fashion products because they are claimed to be environmentally friendly, thereby potentially compromising the UK’s efforts to reach its climate commitments.
In short, while the occasional fib by a fashion brand about their sustainability practices might not seem that intolerable, the longer-term consequences can be pretty severe – for everyone.
The Future of Luxury Brand Communication
How clean are your clothes? Have you considered the greenwashing effect of your brand’s ecommerce, creative and growth strategies? Skywire continues to inform as a London leading digital marketing agency for fashion. For a non-obligatory chat, reach out to us via phone or email to discover what marketing solutions we would suggest for you to best secure your business in the future.

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