Shopping for Sustainable Retailers
- the_thrift_gift
- Apr 6, 2020
- 4 min read
Clothing brands are flooding our newsfeed with enticing sales, tempting us to treat ourselves. This is okay, it’s good to perk ourselves up at the moment with treats that make us feel happier, prettier and just more normal in this strange time we find ourselves in.
But how can you still be environmentally conscious when purchasing from retailers online?
How sustainable is the brand?
This is a website I use, and that I recommend.
It rates how ethical a company is out of 100, on factors such as environmental impact, treatment and rights of workers, animal cruelty etc. It has sections on health and beauty, food and drink, technology and fashion. So you can check clothes brands, make-up lines and more!
As seen in the above link this site has a page that rates the top retail stores, puts them in order and colour codes them with green, orange and red depending on how ethical they are. H&M, New Look and ASOS all got green ratings and marks of 75/100. But not only that but if you click on each brand listing you can get more specific info of which areas they excel in. For example, here is New Looks’ breakdown.
Theses sight are good to just make consumers more conscious about who they buy from without overloading them with information. However, different ethical/environmental rating sites can sometimes conflict in their reviews of companies, making it confusing so it is important to research deeper. Especially if there is a brand you are particularly loyal to as it reflects your style perfectly, but it doesnt rank great on these sites. You don’t need to break up with the brand just yet. You can still support ethical buying.
Some of you may know I love Topshop's style and always pick up second hand Topshop stuff in charity shops, so I was sad to see they only scored 50/100. So I wanted to know if I could still buy environmentally from Topshop and here is what I found:
Topshop's Considered range.
Of Topshop's Considered range of 93 women’s products, the website says the following:
‘Our CONSIDERED products have been designed to be more environmentally sustainable. We use lower-impact materials, innovative production methods and partner with certified suppliers across all of our key ranges.
CONSIDERED products contain at least 50% organic cotton, 50% sustainable viscose (lyocell) or 20% recycled material (polyester or cotton). To ensure products are of the highest quality, we can’t always include more than 20% recycled material. We continue to put quality at the forefront of our designs, we are working closely with our suppliers to increase the number of more sustainable fibres in our products.
Our CONSIDERED vegan footwear is completely free from animal products.’
- Topshop
Once I found this environmental range, I was curious to see how many brands had one similar to it, and I found out that most of them do.
RETAILER’S ECO RANGES
Asos’ Responsible Edit
This range boasts a very impressive 3,705 items (859 recycled and 2861 sustainable materials) for Women and for Men as it has 6,128 item (653 recycled and 5478 sustainable materials). It even includes pre-lovedsterling silver items, melted down and refined to create a brand-new jewellery piece.
‘Giving you the confidence to shop with both sustainability and style in mind, our responsible edit is your one-stop home for all the environmentally conscious clothing, accessories and living items at ASOS. Look out for recycled goods, where waste, plastic and textiles have been recreated as new products. You’ll also find sustainable fibres and fabrics, which use less water and exert less waste along the way, making these buys better for the environment. It’s our call for sustainability, without compromising your unique style. All the feel-good vibes.’
- Asos
H&M’s Conscious
This collection also showcases a very impressive 563 item for ladies, 106 for men, 182 for home and 1170 for kids!
Additionally they have great recycle service.. ‘The H&M Garment Collecting programme is a global initiative that works to prevent customers unwanted clothes from going to landfill. We accept unwanted clothes by any brand, in any condition, at any of our stores, every single day of the year. Simply hand in your bag of old clothes at the cash desk and receive a £5/€5 voucher to use towards your next purchase of £25/€25 (or more) in store or online. All clothes collected by H&M are either reused, reworn or recycled with 0% going to landfill.’
- H&M
Pretty Little Thing’s Recycled by Pretty Little Thing
This is a much smaller range of 32 pieces focusing on wardrobe staples. Additionally, on their website they have environmental tips to help your clothes last longer such as washing demin inside out. As well as an app called reGAIN which provides a similar system to H&M where you trade in clothes for discounts on purchases.
ZARA’s Join Life
This collection has a variety of products for women, men and kids. It even list it's commitment in one section and by 2025 they want to be 100% organic cotton, 100% organic linen, 100% recycled polyester and 80% renewable energy consumption
So whatever your favourite brands are, find out how they are being sustainable in their business and see if they have a eco range. Because as we become more environmentally conscious with what we buy, brands are becoming more environmentally conscious with what they make. Meaning we can use our consumer power to create the change we want to see.
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