The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
This article is part of BoF’s special edition, Can Fashion Clean Up Its Act?
Is “radical transparency” in fashion even possible?
McKinsey & Company has called out "a rising trust deficit" among consumers, putting pressure on brands to show there's depth to their claims about transparency and sustainability.
But there are some brands doing the work to show consumers they are serious about corporate responsibility.
Veja, Reformation, Eileen Fisher and others that have already taken steps to lift the curtain on their business practices, but perhaps no brand has been more vocal than San Francisco-based direct-to-consumer apparel company Everlane, which positioned itself as a leader in this wave, embedding the buzzy company slogan of "radical transparency" into its business model.
But radical transparency isn’t easy. Critics say that the most radical thing about Everlane is its marketing — a charge the company vigorously denies.
And while the pressure is mounting on brands to provide consumers with more information to back up claims of ethical, sustainable or price-competitive practices, embedding transparency into a business presents key pain points:
BoF's latest case study explores what it takes to be a transparent and commercially successful brand — big or small — without being accused of “clearwashing.”
Editor’s Note: This case study was corrected on February 12, 2020. A previous version misstated Kathleen Talbot’s title, her description of the fallout from uncovering issues that can’t be remediated at major manufacturing partners as “destructive,” and that Good On You last reviewed Everlane in February, 2018. This is incorrect. Kathleen Talbot is chief sustainability officer and vice president of operations at Reformation, she said the impact of issues at manufacturers was “disruptive,” and Good on You last reviewed Everlane in December, 2019.
The UN’s annual COP climate summit ended Wednesday with an agreement to transition away from fossil fuels. The fraught, days-long negotiations to get there point to the challenges facing fashion companies seeking to deliver on these ambitions.
The State of Fashion 2024 explores how the frequency and intensity of extreme weather-related events are leaving the industry’s value chain increasingly vulnerable.
Bestseller and H&M Group have pledged $100 million to help develop a renewable-energy project in Bangladesh, a possible template for more meaningful investment in decarbonising the industry.
Big brands like H&M Group, Inditex and Nike are turning to biomass like wood pellets and agricultural waste in a bid to get the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel out of energy-intensive manufacturing processes. Climate groups say it’s not any better.