Is Your Favourite Brand Lying?

OOOH, did you see the sale going on in your favourite brands? Well, stop right there! Before you go on yet another shopping haul, it's high time that curtains are dropped, revealing the true faces of these luxury brands.

Have you ever heard of Fast Fashion? These specifically refer to those brands that have now cut down the cost of their merchandise to a third, making it extremely easy for consumers to renew their wardrobes quickly and affordably. It seems tempting, right? Wrong! Fast fashion brands produce excessive clothes yearly, along with increased textile waste and pollution. 

Fashion sustainability can be measured through three factors: People, Planet and Profit. Brands should ensure that their work buildings and working conditions are safe and match their employees' liveable wages. Regarding the planet, decisions like deforestation and harmful chemicals should be at the bare minimum to make the brand ecological. And lastly, each company's greed to make more profit, forgetting that this kind of intense production comes at the cost of the climate.

What are your "go-to" brands when you need retail therapy? H&M? Zara? Well, here's the truth about them.

H&M claims to be a sustainable brand and has made plenty of promises about its steps to make it a green brand. However, all these claims seem to be namesake, with the brand having no intention of living up to them. From not paying living wages to workers to participating in deforestation, the all-time favourite brand still has a long way to go before being termed "eco-friendly."

Zara, on the other hand, did not make the effort of making such false promises that they couldn't keep up. However, they started using recycled packaging and banned animal testing and their products. By 2025, the brand aims to switch solely to sustainable materials and textiles. Despite these measures, Zara is one of the leading Fast Fashion Brands, which means its toll on the environment is immense.

With 85% of our clothes getting burned in landfills, it's time to shift to environmentally friendly labels like Ninety Percent and TOMS. These companies do not produce excess garments, which helps prevent extra waste and, therefore, global warming. Moreover, brands like TOMS focus more on giving back to the community and helping the needy.

The next time you decide to go splurge, take a second and think, "is my favourite brand lying?" Why not check out Greenmarket’s very own Brand Partners who only produce the best sustainable clothing apparel?