Are you being greenwashed?

Whilst scrolling through social media, a brand you love posts their new environmentally friendly and sustainable clothing item, seems appealing right?

As a matter of fact, brands are capitalising on the growing demand to for sustainable and eco-friendly by misleading consumers to perceive their products as environmentally friendly. This process is called greenwashing.

Greenwashing is the process of distributing disinformation to present an environmentally responsible public image. Greenwashing deceives consumers to believe their products are eco-friendly when in reality they do more environmental harm then good.

Brands are essentially selling moral values in the means of ‘recycled materials’, ‘recyclable’, ‘free of chemicals’ or ‘less waste of natural resources. Greenwashing makes it difficult for consumers to make an informed purchase decision as the main issues is the lack of information provided about the products, manufacturing processes and brand. Additionally, greenwashing distracts consumers from actual environmentally friendly garments.

Not to mention, greenwashing significantly contributes to environmental damage as it promotes purchasing harmful clothes, and thus unsafe and destructive manufacturing processes and resources.

Social media is a tool for brands promotes greenwashing content. However, social media invites a response from consumers in which it has become an important platform for climate and humanitarian activists to outwardly stand up to greenwashing brands and campaigns. Hence, social media increases the likelihood brands will experience back-lash to greenwashing and misleading content. As a result, brands are strongly urged by ethical consumers to be transparent to avoid a bad reputation.

Example of Greenwashing

A prime example of greenwashing is the brand H&M’s Conscious Collection they claim is made from more sustainable materials including organic cotton and recycled polyester. However, the clothes were found to contain a higher proportion (72%) of damaging synthetic materials than H&M’s main clothing line (61%).

How to Identify Green Washing

• Lack of proof – a brand will make claims of being ‘sustainable’, ‘ethical’, ‘environmentally friendly’ without providing evidence

• Selective disposure – brands emphasising positive environmentally friendly details about their products whilst intentionally excluding negative aspects

• Hidden trade-offs – advertising a new change as environmentally friendly whilst avoiding its negative effects (e.g., the H&M example)

• Vague – broad statements with buzzwords that do not actually hold meaning

• Irrelevance – making true statements but are irrelevant to the environment

• Overinflated phrases – overemphasis technically true phrases giving a skewed perception

• Suggestive imagery – using visually pleasing imagery of nature to skew consumers perception

Not all brands greenwash, some clothes are truly environmentally friendly. These brands will detail the specific details and aspects of their products and processes.

Let me know your thoughts on greenwashing and sustainable fashion.

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