Increasingly, the global fashion industry is claiming environmental and social sustainability across their production activities. However, our research reveals that these claims are far from being scientifically robust to be made consumer-facing. Further work is necessary to develop a science-based protocol for sustainability claims in fashion.
Sustainable Fashion
The global fashion industry is allegedly one of the most environmentally polluting industries in the world and news reports about sweatshop conditions in supplier factories are common. Yet, consumer-facing sustainability claims in the fashion industry are everywhere!
Consumers’ awareness of sustainability issues is growing and they are increasingly suspicious: How do such divergent reports fit together? How robust are the sustainability claims of fashion brands?
Our research highlights the lack of scientific evidence for many of the fashion industry’s current sustainability claims. We look into the supply chains of different fibers, sustainability initiatives, and sustainability assessment methodologies and conclude that currently, none of these provide a robust basis for making sustainability claims. This is especially important to investigate as today’s fast fashion brands’ sustainability claims are wrongfully guiding consumption patterns, investment decisions, and regulation.
Our objective
We strive to support the industry and regulators to develop a science-based protocol for sustainability claims in fashion. We are partnering with Eco-Age, a sustainable business agency in pursuing this objective.
Our Activities
Publications
- Sourcing sustainable rubber: Veja’s business model to help save the Amazon (September 2023)
- Amplifying Misinformation - The Case of Sustainability Indices in Fashion (January 2023)
- The Rise of Life Cycle Analysis and the Fall of Sustainability - Illustrations from the Apparel and Leather Sector (July 2022)
- The Great Greenwashing Machine Part 2 – The Use and Misuse of Sustainability Metrics in Fashion (March 2022)
- The Great Greenwashing Machine Part 1 – Back to the Roots of Sustainability (September 2021)
Events
- The Shifting Tide Roundtable Series: The Great Greenwashing Machine (8 September 2022)
- BOF Sustainability Masterclass Series: How can Fashion Communicate with Credibility? (6 July 2022)
- Launch of the Great Greenwashing Machine - Part 2 (15 March 2022)
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
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This case study analyzes a transformational business model for sourcing natural rubber, developed by the French sneaker company Veja.
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This fourth report from Veronica Bates-Kassatly and Dorothée Baumann-Pauly examines what the fashion sector itself defines as sustainable, and how it measures this.
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Drawing on their two earlier reports on greenwashing, Dorothée Baumann-Pauly with co-author Veronica Bates-Kassatly published a white paper, which highlights the data challenges of making sustainability claims in fashion.
FEATURED EVENTS
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As part of the Shifting Tide Roundtable Series hosted by Eco-Age and Equiception, this roundtable explores greenwashing today.
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Prof. Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, Livia Firth and Veronica Kassatly launch the second part of the report “The Great Greenwashing Machine”.
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This research conference aims to bring together state of the art empirical research to further shed light on the subject of sustainability in global value chains.