Good day All! I am coming here today with what I've found to be a slightly sensitive topic that I am hoping we can discuss deeply and respectfully amongst one another.
--I see many fashion brands both large and small marketing their products as eco-conscious when they are anything but...I choose to believe (at least with small brands) this is not purposeful manipulation of customers, but has to do with people being uninformed about what they are choosing to sell... --
That said, I believe that if you are going to use resources to create more objects in the name of eco friendly business and try to sell them based on their eco friendliness, you have a responsibility of reviewing your own business practices to ensure that they truly are Eco Conscious. Your Impact starts at the base level and grows from there. If you start your business with unsustainable foundations, then what is the point? If your business cannot survive while also being sustainable, then it is not a viable "sustainable" business.
So how do I know if my business (or the business I'm thinking of supporting) is truly eco-conscious/ethical/sustainable? (I am using these terms slightly interchangeably, because they are inextricably related)
A few things to consider:::::
Is your 'eco conscious' 'sustainable' business contributing to environmental harm? Human rights violations? How deeply have you looked into where your products come from and how they are made? Do you know your supply chain from raw materials to finished product?
I know..it hurts to hear it! You may be feeling some resistance...but if you're willing to please hear me out...and understand that I am sharing information, you can do what you will with it. I am not personally attacking anyone or their brand, just fleshing out the idea and starting the conversation of what a truly Eco conscious brand looks like so that we can all be informed about the true impact of these businesses before supporting or creating them. I feel that if we were all more informed about what ethical/sustainable clothing *truly* looks like, we could use our purchase power and our brand decisions to create a more sustainable clothing market! To the future of truly ethical clothing! !
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Are you thinking of creating an eco friendly clothing brand? Most of the sustainable and ethical clothing brands I see advertised here are not truly sustainable. Before creating a business that is "eco-conscious" here are some questions to ask to determine if your brand is truly eco friendly. I am going to say only a little here, but I'd like you to use these questions as a jumping off point for the deep, deep research you (hopefully) do before creating your brand or supporting a brand. Note that it takes time, hours of research into fabrics, producers, methods, dyeing processes, etc in order to create a truly sustainable clothing business. If you are billing your business as ethical/sustainable/eco conscious, it is 100% your responsibility to do that research.
**--**Is my brand contributing to the already egregious environmental and human harm that is a part of the fashion industry?
**--**Am I using tree pulp, Bamboo or eucalyptus (rayon) fabric? Cotton? Are the fabrics I choose to sell actively harming the environment and the communities where the raw materials are grown? What does it take to make the raw material into usable fabric? Is it more important to sell products at a high profit or make my logo accessible to people with less money than it is to actually be an ethical business? (hint, if so, go about your creative business but don't bill yourself as ethical or sustainable, problem solved!)
--How are my garments being Dyed? How are the dyes disposed of? How water intensive is the process? Are the colors I choose to sell poisoning the bodies of the community making my clothing? Are they damaging ecosystems around where my clothing is created? What is the process and environmental impact of making a fabric bright white? Dark black?
--Am I shipping out garments that are made in other countries? Are they sourcing the raw materials for the fabric from far away, creating the fabric, shipping to the place creating my clothing, shipping it to me, and then I ship it to customers (That's a big footprint!)
--How much do I know about the people creating the clothing, their working conditions, their wages?
\Am I accidentally greenwashing?\**
Does my company claim to donate profits back to the environment while also actively selling products that are not truly sustainable or eco conscious? Am I actively harming the communities that are creating clothing for my brand while also claiming to "give back" to them or pay them fair wages? Is there anything problematic about paying someone a fair wage to damage their own community and poison their own water supply? What are some other options?
**--**Will consumers see my branding, website, and product, and then be convinced to make purchases that contribute to environmental degradation or human water rights violations... What are the ethics of this? Where is the line here? Am I selling non-eco conscious non-sustainable products in order to make a profit for myself and to donate to causes that champion eco consciousness? Is this ethical?
If your brand is truly about sustainability, then the products and methods you choose will be sustainable!
It seems so simple but I see this conflict all the time. Your brand must embody sustainability to be sustainable. It must embody ethical behavior to be ethical. If you can't source an eco friendly fabric t-shirt with your logo made ethically, and so you choose to sell shirts made of harmful fabrics then that is a problem with the efficacy of your business model and a signal that perhaps it's not actually eco friendly to sell t-shirts to people...and your business is based on "feeling good" that you or your customers made a difference instead of truly championing eco conscious and ethical behavior.
At the end of the day, if you are selling items made with non eco friendly fabrics, dyed with polluting poisonous dyes, your business is not ethical or eco friendly. Don't brand it as such, as this is misleading to your consumers (greenwashing) and can cause them to make purchases that do the exact opposite of what you are trying to do.
An eco ink logo and a donation to an eco charity does not make an eco friendly business. Your actual footprint and overall impact are what make you ethical and eco friendly or not. Thank you for listening <3
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Submitted September 24, 2020 at 08:03PM by aspiringethical https://ift.tt/3mRKMN1
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