Greenwashing in fashion and the need for mandatory measures & regulation

In episode 264, Kestrel welcomes George Harding-Rolls (the Campaigns Advisor at Changing Markets Foundation) and Amy Nguyen (a strategist, researcher and writer focused on the nexus between sustainable business, fashion, innovation and technology) to the show. George and Amy are part of the team behind the recently launched website – Greenwash.com.

"We need to completely rethink about how we’re gonna shift this system — it’s gotta be about changing the rules of the game, like rip up the rules of the current way that we buy fashion and the current way that we produce fashion, and think about — what does this look like in a fashion system that works within planetary boundaries?” -George

I imagine you may have noticed it — but, fashion has a greenwashing problem.

This week’s guests, George and Amy, are behind a new platform called GREENWASH.com that is powered by Changing Markets Foundation. They are dedicated to exposing the greenwashers across fashion.

For a little context on how this new platform is framing the conversation – when you land on GREENWASH.com (or a virtual laundrette as they call it) – this is what you’ll read:

“59% of green claims are misleading or unsubstantiated. For some of the worst offenders, this is as much as 90%. Greenwashing is a smokescreen that makes people believe change is really happening … when it’s not. In reality, fashion’s toll on the planet is getting worse.”

Quotes & links from the conversation:

• Greenwash.com Website >

• Changing Markets Synthetics Anonymous Report >

• UK Green Claims Code (utilized largely as framework for Greenwash.com brand analyzation)

• “We’re giving customers all of this information so that they can make that choice, but is customer choice really what this is all about? Is the solution to sustainable fashion about more sustainable choices or is it actually that this whole activity is the wrong tool, and that we should be looking instead to mandatory measures and regulation, which in the short answer is yes.” (25:25) -George

• CIRCULARITY WASHING — “We’ve seen such a big drive in circular fashion and most of the time, it is B.S. The limitations of take-back schemes, we see circular jeans that have actually got polyester thread and elastane, so it means that they can’t be repurposed.” (42:14) -Amy

• “I think we need to be a bit aggressive in our approach — we have to remember that we’re really limited in amount the time we have left. You know, we are hurdling through the climate decade, and I think sometimes it’s about not taking no for an answer, and just using your influence.” (51:56) -Amy

• Changing Markets Campaign Resources Page >

• Follow Changing Markets on Instagram >

• Sustainable & Social Website >

• Follow Sustainable and Social on Instagram >

• Amy’s Forbes Page >

• Find Amy on LinkedIn >

• Find George on LinkedIn >

This week's episode is brought to you by Defunkify, a household cleaning products company that is on a mission to get t