In my previous blog post I mentioned Stella McCartney. The brand is rated ‘’Good’’ on Goodonyou.eco’s directory, and despite the brand being known to use some eco friendly materials like organic cotton and regenerated cashmere, they still use polyester and nylon which is a major letdown for me and Goodonyou shares the sentiment. I noticed there was no ’’recycled polyester’’ on farfetch.com, when I searched for the brand’s clothing and accessories and they’re still marked as Positively Conscious. I have to say I don’t really understand how that works.
But fashion just got lighter, because a well known fashion brand – CHLOE – the first luxury maison to become B-Corp certified last month, as reported by EcoWatch. There wasn’t much of press fuss about it, there was no noise on social media about it. They came a long way from being rated ’’Not good enough’’, after ’’18 months of collective work by our teams worldwide’’(Chloe 2021). Prada wants to follow on this path as well, and recently began using recycled nylon.
What is a B-corp certification? On their website, Chloe describes it as being ’’one of the most demanding certifications that evaluates brands’ social and environmental impact, with over 300 questions about governance, workers, communities and impact on the environment’’ and committed to updating their Sustainability section.
There are several B corp directories online which are very useful for every eco-happy wardrobe:
B corporation:
UK:
Latin America and Caribbean
Canada:
B corp directory Australia:
As many climate activists have shared on social media, if all these companies wanted to make changes they would today, but instead get lazy. Not Chloe’s creative director Gabriela Hearst, whose own brand was rated ’’Not good enough’’ yet she’s done her research, inspired by her life living on family inherited farm, where ’’Everything gets used, so that’s where I learned utilitarian skills for sustainability’’.
I don’t want perfect activists but I do want to see that my favorite activists and public figures respect their given word and seeing their commitment reflect in their own closets, outside red carpet events. Most fashion houses rated ’’Not good enough’’ or worse, ’’We avoid’’. Now, of course Goodonyou would need to grow a bigger team to be able to update all ratings, as some of them are a year or two old. Even so, I don’t want public figures to do nice speeches in public and in interviews, posting on social media about what happened with Rana Plaza, asking their followers if they know ’’who made your clothes?’’ then wearing H&M and Topshop, when you know that they are promoting sustainability, fair wages and decent working conditions for garment workers.
REFERENCES:
Anon, 2021. Stella McCartney. Goodonyou.eco. Viewed [11/21/2021]. Available from: https://directory.goodonyou.eco/brand/stella-mccartney
Anon, n.d. Chloé just achieved B Corp Certification. Chloe. Viewed [11/23/2021]. Available from: https://www.chloe.com/experience/en/news/chloe-just-achieved-b-corp-certification/
Fiona Sinclair Scott, 2021. ‘We’re not perfect but we’re freaking trying’: Chloé’s Gabriela Hearst on making fashion sustainable. CNN. Viewed [11/21/2021]. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/gabriela-hearst-sustainable-fashion/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0p9qTyJ29AmVIt29pUovciZEWmCTpfEgX18xzQxJYekXcUiAXudfnKkqI
Isabella Wolfe, 2018. How Ethical Is Stella McCartney? Goodonyou. Viewed [11/21/2021]. Available from: https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-stella-mccartney/?fbclid=IwAR2v9frxpe5JQHB6V8i6OgR_CrGHIsO6btJ_t5ywMA_mJfQmhICZGnTn7DA
Paige Bennett, 2021. Chloé Is First Luxury Company to Become a B-Corp. EcoWatch. Viewed [11/21/2021]. Available from: https://www.ecowatch.com/b-corporations-clothes-chloe-2655324118.html?fbclid=IwAR0p9qTyJ29AmVIt29pUovciZEWmCTpfEgX18xzQxJYekXcUiAXudfnKkqI
ELENA BLOGS, YOU READ 