The Rise in Retails Social Responsibility
A miracle has happened in the fashion industry and it’s not Louis Vuitton releasing a hot new line of purses… It’s the effort many brands are putting in towards a more eco-friendly world of fashion.
Maybe you know or maybe you don’t, but fashion is the second biggest polluter in the world. It seems to have happened below our noses…maybe we were too busy rocking the latest fads to care. From garments being produced from polluting materials such as polyester or cotton to poorly constructed garments, the fashion industry has started making a visible impact on our environment. But now? A miracle has happened; social responsivity has started to become a thing. This means brands are stepping up and taking responsibility for how their brand impacts the environment and taking action to prevent a slew of problems.
Let’s talk about the brand Everlane.
Everlane is a favorite of mine for various reasons, but the biggest is due to their transparency in their impact on the environment. Not only are a majority of their garments produced using regenerated fibers, but they also put a huge focus on producing their garments in sweatshop-free environments.
They proudly partner with many small family-owned factories to prevent poor working conditions and child labor, and tell you exactly which factory your garment was produced in. This transparency is not very common and is incredibly helpful for the person who is concerned with knowing where their clothes are produced and if the working conditions are good.
Everlane’s fabric is another environmental factor that they focus on. They have recently launched a swimwear plan to continue to use recycled and regenerated materials in more of their products. They also produce all of their denim in a factory that recycles 98% of their water and uses a yarn that is chemical free, making what they call to be the “cleanest denim” ever.
To me Everlane seems very sustainable and like they have a good grasp on their social responsibility, but there are some articles that say otherwise. After reading a few of these articles it seems like prior to 2021, Everlane wasn’t doing their best towards making the company as sustainable as possible. This is because they were not using organic cotton nor regenerated materials. Since, they have started doing both of these and also pushing for all their items to be made with eco-fabrics by the year 2023.
Overall, I feel like Everlane is green for the planet and profit. The reason I feel this way is because is they were green just for the planet, they would have never used materials that were not eco-friendly. For a long time there has been many fabrics which are made from regenerated materials and yet Everlane did not start using these until now. This doesn’t make me dislike them at all, but it does make me feel like their reasons for going green are not just for the planet, which is totally fine! I think they are allowed to want to make a profit without compromising their desire to make the planet greener.
