Greenwashing In The Fashion Industry Is At Its Worst: Here's How To Spot It
By: Lauren Plug
Today’s generations would sum up the 1980’s in a few words: MTV, spandex, hair volume, and shopping malls. While it’s easy to tease the trends and file them away as never to repeat, the 80’s launched the fast fashion industry, beginning what would eventually become the beast we know it as today.
We can also thank the 1980’s for the term “greenwashing”, coined by environmentalist Jay Westervel as he noticed brands making false or misleading claims about their positive environmental impact.
Greenwashing still exists today and I’d argue — very gently because I don’t like confrontation — that greenwashing is worse now than ever before. Especially in the fashion industry.
Photo by Charles Etoroma on Unsplash
Greenwashing In The Fashion Industry
Let’s back up for a second. Greenwashing is a marketing tactic used by brands to either lie or embellish the positive effects their company has on the environment.
These brands know we care about making more sustainable choices, so they use marketing to make it look as if they’re doing good things without actually doing the good things.
They also know you don’t have time for it! Between families, kids, work, and trying to not have an existential crisis on a daily basis, most people can’t research the sustainability claims of every brand.
So the brands either make them up, lie about them, or embellish them and hope you and I won’t notice.
Brands Hide Behind Sustainability Claims
When brands make sustainability claims, 3 things happen:
- People believe them (obviously).
- The brand doesn’t follow through with any of those claims or try to do better. They’ve done a sufficient job of distracting us.
- It keeps the real issues from coming forward.
We get all warm and fuzzy when we make choices we think are sustainable and we forget about the environmental harm that is happening because of these brands.
We also forget about the real solution to the problem. I know you don’t want to hear it, me either, but it needs to be said.
Consumption. We all need to buy. less. stuff.
Today, people buy 60% more stuff and keep it half as long compared to 15 years ago (2001, not the 90’s BTW)!
And all that stuff — and greenwashing — leads to environmental harm.
The Fashion Industry Takes The #2 Spot For Biggest Polluter In The World

You’ve heard fast fashion is bad for the environment, but how bad?
The fashion industry emits 1.2 billion tons of CO2 per year — exceeding the emissions of both the shipping industry and international flights combined!
Additionally, mass production and profits often come before the basic human rights of the people making the clothes.
Did you know?
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions.
- One fifth of the 300 million tons of plastic produced each year goes towards synthetic material for the fashion industry.
- 92 Million tons of used and unsold clothing is sent to a landfill each year.
- 85% of ALL textiles end up in landfills!
- 22,000 liters of toxic waste is dumped into rivers in Bangladesh every day just by tanneries.
Feeling overwhelmed? Me too! But hang in there; what gets me through it is knowing there are good people and brands out there, like Basic Revolution!
Plus, I’m going to show you examples of greenwashing and how you can learn to identify it.
How To Spot Greenwashing In The Fashion Industry
We were being manipulated by greenwashing so much that in 2007, TerraChoice (now UL) came out with “the 7 sins” to help us navigate our way through it.
The Sins of Greenwashing
I’ll touch briefly on each one but you can read a more in-depth piece here.
Hidden Trade-Offs
Proof (or lack thereof)
Vague Claims
Irrelevant Claims
Lesser of Two Evils
Outright Lying
False Labels
Whew! Let’s look at some examples of greenwashing to help you visualize how these “sins” are used IRL.
Examples Of Greenwashing In Fashion
My favorite example of Greenwashing actually comes from Andrea!
Andrea and I were recently talking about our own experiences being greenwashed. She told me about a time she saw a garment with a tag labeled as 100% recycled. That was not on brand for this store; so she looked it up later and found out the brand meant the paper tag was 100% recycled — not the actual garment! Classic!
A lot of greenwashing claims are hiding in plain sight.
If I asked you right now to name 3 brands you thought were fast fashion brands, would H&M and Shein be in your list? They should be!
Greenwashing In Fast Fashion
H&M
Shein
It seems that fast fashion brands fit the description of greenwashing to a ‘T’, but luxury brands are just as guilty.
Across all price points, brands burn and discard unsold (and returned) clothes. This is especially the case in the luxury industry to help keep exclusivity.
Coach
A bit ironic, don’t you think?
The Problem With Greenwashing in Fashion Industry
We’re hopefully on the same page that greenwashing sucks and it’s uncool. But it has many more repercussions than you might initially think.
Greenwashing is everywhere
A study on 12 brands done by the Changing Markets Foundation found that 39% of these 12 brands had sustainability claims and 59% of those claims were false.
It’s normalized
Greenwashing is so… normal. We almost expect it at this point, right? Somehow it’s become normalized for brands to spend just as much money saying they’re sustainable as they would implementing more sustainable solutions.
It’s Capitalism
It’s promoted as a necessary part of capitalism. We’re led to believe society would crash if we stopped buying things. H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson was quoted in Lifegate saying ‘encouraging people to buy less would have “terrible social consequences”’.
It’s Misleading
Brands know what they’re doing. Greenwashing is designed to make just enough sense that you won’t do your research.
It’s Illegal!
Yep, you read that right! While it would take a lot (of time and money) for someone to take legal action, it can be done when brands make false or misleading marketing claims.
It Affects Small Businesses
Brands are taking up space with greenwashing claims that are making visibility harder for companies like Basic Revolution and others actually following environmentally friendly practices.
It Makes Us Feel Good
We feel good when we make sustainable choices. It hurts to know we were tricked and our decision wasn’t as sustainable as we thought.
In a world where we see 6,000-10,000 ads per day it’s overwhelming and hard to know what the right decision is!
The right decision is always what fits best into your life, but here are some tips to help you rinse through the greenwash.
Tips for Rinsing Through The Greenwash
Use outside resources to evaluate a brand’s claims
Look At The Website
Look for 3rd party certifications
Disposal Plan
Action > Perfection
Wouldn’t you agree learning about sustainability can be a wild ride? Sign up for the Basic Revolution newsletter and give them a follow on Instagram to engage with a community that shares the same values as you.
I’ll catch you there!
About the Author
Lauren Plug is a freelance sustainability copywriter and owner of Copy by LP! Most of her energy is spent on trying to live more sustainably in Chicago, but she enjoys eating gluten-free, vegan ice cream from Vaca (year-round), being ignored by her 2 cats, and helping sustainable companies create quality content so they can focus on what they do best.