Boohoo is well known in the fast fashion industry, making millions of pounds and lining the wardrobes of millions of girls every year. Successful, eh? Well, what is less successful is being named one of the worlds least sustainable fashion brands.
In a nutshell, boohoo is terrible for the planet. Their clothing is largely made of plastic, is very poor quality and consists of thousands of micro-trending pieces (that won’t be cool in a years time). That’s not even the worst of it. The production of their clothing is horrendously unethical with workers being forced to work and barely being paid - how else can a top cost 4p and still make profit?
We could go on for days about how non-sustainable and unethical boohoo is as a brand, but there are plenty more blogs delving into that. Instead, we are going to look at how such a environmentally devastating company can discard the facts and greenwash people into thinking they’re becoming sustainable.
The idea of sustainable fashion has exploded in popularity and attention in recent years; a good thing, for sure! However, while consumers are becoming more aware of the impact fashion has on the environment, big fashion brands are catching on and doing everything they can to make people think they are changing. In other words, they are greenwashing to the max!
Businesses giving a false impression that they are sustainable in their practises when in fact they are not.
Boohoo is not the first fast fashion brand to jump on the green washing band wagon. However, their most recent ‘sustainability’ campaign is quite laughable.
For boohoo’s new ‘sustainability ambassador’, they have chosen Kourtney Kardashian. It’s like they didn’t even try! The Kardashians are known for their frequent lavish private jet trips (the carbon emissions are insane), one-time outfits and extreme houses (ultimately costing the Earth). Kourtney has never expressed interest in becoming sustainable in her fashion choices, and definitely not portrayed anything along those lines to her millions of social media followers.
So maybe Kourtney wasn’t the best fit for the role, but what about the actual clothing line?
On boohoo's website, it outlines that this collection is all about discovering sustainable fashion, consisting of capsule items that won’t go out of fashion made from materials better for the environment. When we take a closer look, the greenwashing becomes clearer and clearer.
Let’s start with the idea that these are time capsule pieces. Admittedly, there are a few basics, such as plain shirts and tops. However, the majority of pieces are very much on-trend items such as an obscenely cropped shirt (trust us when we say you wouldn’t be able to lift your arms up) which is clearly impractical. If you want to invest in capsule pieces, boohoo is not the place for these styles and level of quality.
Moving on to the collab’s pledge of using more environmental friendly materials, this one simply gets a zero from us. The vast majority of the pieces in the collection are made from plastic (polyester and PVC). Plastic is so damaging for the environment and clothing made from plastic is no exception. These plastic pieces will not stand the test of time and once discarded will sit in landfill for hundreds of years before even starting to decompose. Boohoo have used some recycled fabrics, which is a plus, but for the most part they only make up a small percentage of the whole garment. They could have used organic cotton, or even released some linen pieces but to make a bodysuit cost £5 they have to use cheap plastic. Remember, just because they tell you they’ve used ‘environmentally better fabrics’ that does not mean they have.
Moving on to the ethical side of this Kourtney collab, this line of garments has clearly been produced in the exact same way everything on their site has - not good news! Most of the garments say ‘I am made in China’ underneath them, but that is all the information we get. What conditions? What quality of living do these workers have? Are they paid enough to feed their family? These are important questions that are never addressed by Boohoo. Considering Boohoo managed to exploit garment workers in the UK by paying they nearly 3x less than they should have, it becomes clear to see how exploitation would be far easier on the other side of the world. It’s a sad reality, but the only way boohoo can afford to sell clothing for so cheap is because they pay their workers next to nothing.
After going into not much detail at all, it’s clear to see the extent of the green washing from this ‘sustainability’ collab and how Kourney kardashian is clearly not a serious sustainability ambassador. But every image of the collection features a leaf in the corner, so it must be sustainable, right?
It’s important to never believe everything fast fashion brands tell you. We hope reading this has made you question the fast fashion industry a little more! Thank you for reading.
