Good On You: Sustainable Fashion at your Hands
Have you ever wondered when you’re buying new clothes, how sustainable this brand actually is? Good On You is here to make it easier for everyone! You would think that the more expensive a brand is, the more ethical and sustainable they are, but that is rarely ever the case.
It is very difficult to figure out how good a brand actually is since they always want to show themselves in a good light to attract more customers. Some brands market themselves as being good for the environment, even when that is not the case. This marketing strategy is called ‘greenwashing’, and it happens more often than you might think. These brands market themselves as being good for the environment to attract customers that care about the planet, even though they aren’t actually being that sustainable. To figure out how sustainable a clothing brand is by yourself is almost impossible. You can try to recognize the signs by learning what greenwashing is and how to recognize it, but this is no guarantee that you will never fall for this deceitful marketing tactic ever again.
Luckily enough there are already tools existing on the internet that did some research for you. One of those websites is Good On You, which has rated brands on how ethical they are based on three categories: planet, people, and animals. Let me elaborate further on these categories…
Planet
With the planet category, they rate how sustainable the brand is. They look at what actions the brand is taking to care for the planet, and if they are actually enforcing those plans. It considers the brand’s reported resource use and waste management. Such as the types of materials they use, the sustainability of their business model, their product durability and their textile waste practices. They also take a look at the brand’s policies to address energy use and carbon emissions, impacts on water, biodiversity, microfibre pollution, deforestation, and chemical use and disposal.
People
This category covers how well the company is treating their workers. How ethical are the working conditions and how are the workers treated? This also includes their policies on issues such as child labour, forced labour, worker safety, gender equality, diversity, payment of a living wage, and much more.
Animals
The rating with this category is dependent on how the relationship between animals and the brand is. Which materials do they use and what policies do they have in place? Taking a look at brand’s animal welfare policies and how well they trace their animal products. They also specify with the ratings if brands use materials such as fur, angora, and “exotic” animal skin. They also look if and how the brands are using wool, leather, and other animal materials.
The ratings
Based on these three categories they decide the overall rating for the brand. The final rating has can go from 1 to 5:
- ‘Great’ is the best rating. Where brands are very transparent about what they do and also score high in all three categories.
- ‘Good’ is the second best rating. Where the brand is still good but not perfect in all three of the categories.
- ‘It’s a start’ is the rating given to brands that are transparent about their policies to manage some issues and making progress to improve their ratings in the categories.
- ‘Not good enough’ is given when brands disclose some information in one or two categories. But they don’t take action to address the impacts across their supply chain.
- ‘We avoid’ is the worst rating. Given to brands that disclose little to no information or make ambiguous claims unlikely to have an actual impact. This category cannot be given to a small brand to reflect their inherent lower level of impact on the environment, labor and animals.
And there is more!
If you want to know more local brands from the Netherlands that are sustainable, then don’t worry any longer! Because Good On You already compiled a list of Dutch brands that are the most ethical and sustainable.
On the Good On You website and mobile app, you can type in any brand you would like to check out and see what type of rating they have been given. Based on the information and rating the website gives you, you can make more of an educated decision. If you would still want to buy items from that clothing brand or not. Even if you’re not buying new clothes at the moment, it’s still fun to check out different brands you know to see how good they actually are.
With websites like these, consumers can become more educated on how sustainable brands are. And can avoid falling victim to their greenwashing marketing. The more accountable we hold these brands for their claims, the less they are able to mislead you. Sustainable and conscious fashion has never been easier to find!