They say that the one who makes the law cheats and that’s what certain fashion brands must have thought when echo began to be the norm. However, the First Vice-President of the European Commission, the Dutchman Fran Timmermans, has not been caught off guard by large corporations, and by force of law he is putting an end to the false green conscience that they used as a marketing tool.
It’s been just over a year since Brussels declared war on the firms of fast fashion, although as we will see later, they are not the only ones that sin with eco-laundering. In March 2022, a package of measures was presented to promote the circular economy to separate from the idiosyncrasies of the community a voracious consumerismand viral, which is moved by impulses instead of needs and which, in addition to our pockets, affects the environment and society, therefore in economic and human rights aspects due to the production methods of certain brands.
Now, the time has come for false green labeling. The most tangible representation of what is known as greenwashing or ecolaundering, an ace up the sleeve for many companies to cling to the fact that they comply with the company’s social responsibility and current trends and needs. The European Commission thus intends that the consumer really knows what he is buying and that he bases his decision from the ethical and economic point of view, since also when a garment is complemented with the eco adjective it is also usually more expensive as standard.
what is the greenwashing or ecolaundering
In case you are not familiar with this concept, the greenwashingor eco-whitening in Spanish, is a marketing practice which alludes to sustainability in a misleading way to more successfully market a series of products without them necessarily meeting all the criteria that must be met for this.
Depending on each case, we find from more subtle details such as the one we deal with labeling or much more impressive campaigns that we can see today on social networks.
He greenwashing and our favorite fashion stores
This sales-oriented trend has been put into practice by many companies, including our favorite fashion brands. We are going to focus at this point on Zara, H&M and Mango. Disappointment, disappointment and disappointment.
Zara does not stop renewing itself in every way. His chameleon ability has made it adapt to each moment since Amancio Ortega founded it in the 70s. Every week there are new items in the physical store and on-line that closely follow catwalk trends and street style at a much lower price and justifiable due to a matter of quality of materials or gaps, so to speak, in the production chain.
His editorials and campaigns each time show a more elevated, aspirational fashion, which makes us dream that we are also capable of living up to our influencers favorite in terms of style and in our retina still remains the wonderful rebranding of its logo that Zara made on time during the pandemic reminding us that despite social distancing we were closer than ever.
What other car seemed good to get on the brand to fit the needs of current realities? To that of sustainability, of course, with your line Join Life. She did it hand in hand start up, a hackneyed word that sometimes instills terror in us, Lanzatech, specialized in converting carbon dioxide emissions into textiles. Yo, how beautiful.
However, they did not manage to convince many, since good things do not exempt you from having screwed up in certain aspects and such a collection did not avoid the reality of the firm’s overproduction. What did this translate into? Well, in what? Join Life Today it has disappeared from the clothing and accessories catalog and only represents its responsible campaign with the environment at other levels as a name. According to the company, it did not make sense to continue promoting this line when more than 50% of its products already met the criteria established by it. 61% according to their statements and reports.
At H&M we had all our hopes pinned. Studies and news have spent years idealizing the Nordic paradise in every way: logical and fair salaries according to working hours, scandalous data in the PISA education report and a rhythm of life that favors it without having to be up to date. edge of the heart attack every week.
But not. Once again our joy in a well. I’m sure you recognize H&M Conscious, the most eco collection of the Swedish brand. The bad thing is that in the end it has turned out not to be so. According to this study by Changing Markets, a foundation set up with the idea of offering solutions to sustainable challenges by harnessing the power of markets, 96% of the claims made under the line were not supported and in fact their articles contained more textiles. synthetic than the rest of the collections.
When entering the word conscious in the H&M search engine, we do not obtain results.
For its part, Mango has opted for remove its Committed tagging and their clothes and accessories will carry a QR that identifies where they come from and their composition.
Of the brands studied by Changing Markets, Zara, after all, and Gucci were the least bad, to put it in some way, and the worst, due to transparency criteria in terms of the use of synthetic materials both in studies and on their websites, are Primark, Patagonia, Boohoo, Burberry and Nike.
Burberry FW 2023 Ready To Wear
Use of synthetic materials
Currently 2/3 parts of textile materials are synthetic and it is estimated that in 2030 this proportion will increase until it reaches 3/4 parts.
When we talk about synthetics in this context we are referring to 85% polyester, which is obtained from fossil fuelssomething that continues to perpetuate our dependence on them with ecological repercussions in the medium and long term.
It is also necessary to take into account those that happen unexpectedly due to problems of spills and leaks Besides risk jobs which in many cases is carried out by professionals who are dedicated to the processes that revolve around the extraction of oil, coal, natural gas or liquefied gas.
Alternatives to fast consumption and conclusions
The first thing we can do is ask ourselves consume responsibly. It is true that with a certain level of income we can buy in these stores that we mentioned, but we do not have the need to do it impulsively or constantly due to trends.
For many recommendations that we make from Trendencias and although we talk about fashion with current events and news in our postthat does not mean that we ourselves consume to such an extent and that of course you have to.
Shop consistently Garments and accessories that you know are truly going to be worn for several seasons, whether basic or trendy, if their quality allows it, which is another matter. Repeating has long ceased to be frowned upon looks even on special occasions. Generations follow one another and shape reality.
As with almost everything in life, quality is preferable to quantity. Today the concept of accessible luxury It’s all the rage, so instead of buying all these runway-inspired Parfois seasonal bags, you might want to consider investing in a nice one you’ll wear for life from brands like Polène, Mietis, or Mlouye.
Likewise, the second hand and the vintagewith its corresponding romanticization, since it seems to be partly due to a matter of loss of purchasing power, They are more alive than ever thanks to platforms like Vinted, Wallapop or Vestiare Collective, for which we already gave you all the tricks to take advantage of them. You can also find treasures in shops at street level, of course.
Also, it is very important to know what referents we expose ourselves to in social networks. If the only thing we consume through screens are videos of haulsafter haulsafter haulsafter haulsWhat our brain ends up processing is that we need what they are showing us, even more so when we see the same products over and over again in a loop. Items whose expiration date also seems weekly. Betting on content creators in line with our values and aware of different realities is a safe investment in every way.
Last but not least, the phenomenon of inflation, triggered, which only raises the prices of everything and when we realize it we end up paying more for a Zara suit made of synthetics than, in comparison or without it, for one that we can make to measure with the dressmaker or dressmaker of a lifetime, with good fabrics and that surely fits us like a glove. Sorry, we decline.
Photos | J2R via iStock, Pixabay, H&M and Launchmetrics Spotlight
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