Every month the Good On You team scours the internet to bring you the sustainable fashion and beauty news that matters. Here’s what you need to know in February 2025.
British Fashion Council Adopts Copenhagen Fashion Week’s Sustainability Criteria (The Industry)
In a new partnership, the British Fashion Council (BFC) will align its minimum sustainability standards with Copenhagen Fashion Week’s framework, beginning with the BFC’s NEWGEN programme in 2025. Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week, told The Industry: “We are delighted to join forces with the British Fashion Council to further expand the reach of our Sustainability Requirements. This partnership not only fosters much-needed industry alignment but also underscores the unique potential of fashion weeks and councils to drive positive change within the industry.”
In Bangladesh, French Brands Criticized for Failing to Protect Workers’ Rights (Le Monde)
Le Monde reports on Clean Clothes Campaign’s (CCC) ongoing efforts to call out 45 suppliers that are prosecuting workers who went on strike in 2023 to demand an increase to the minimum wage. The factories supply to the likes of Zara, H&M, and French labels Decathlon and Carrefour. Around 40,000 employees are still threatened with action, and CCC believes most of the charges are unfounded and solely for intimidation.
SHEIN Declines to Comment on Supply Chain After a Bruising Hearing in UK Parliament (WWD)
Ahead of its hotly debated initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, SHEIN was quizzed in a hearing with the UK’s Business and Trade Committee. The retailer’s representative, Yinan Zhu, repeatedly failed to answer questions about its alleged use of Xinjiang cotton and labour violations. One committee member branded Zhu “very unhelpful” and accused her of “willful ignorance”.
SHEIN Tells UK Lawmakers it Does Not Allow Chinese Cotton in Products Sold in US (Reuters)
After the hearing we mentioned above, SHEIN wrote to the UK’s parliamentary committee to (somewhat) clarify its stance on cotton, saying that its contract manufacturers are required to only source cotton from approved regions—which do not include China—for products sold in the US in order to comply with the country’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Notably, though, there’s no such claim for products sold in the UK, where the retailer hopes to have its IPO approved.
‘Ethical’ Cotton Is Being Picked by Child Labourers in India, Watchdog Finds (Business of Fashion)
After an investigation by Transparentem—an organisation that exposes and reforms labour violations in supply chains—suppliers to the likes of Inditex and Gap have been found to have sourced cotton from farms where children as young as six are employed to work in fields cultivating the crop. In some cases, they were put to work spraying toxic synthetic pesticides on farms claiming to be organic. Business of Fashion contacted the three suppliers named in the investigation. It was told that “there was no evidence to connect them to the findings and that they were committed to operating responsibly.”
Faced With Extreme Weather, Should Fashion Rethink its Store Network? (Vogue Business)
In light of Los Angeles’ wildfires and flooding across Europe, Vogue Business’s Bella Webb considers the impact on retail businesses, such as risks to employees and building or inventory damage. Webb writes: “Ultimately, experts point out that the fashion industry is a major contributor to the climate crisis, so while considering the risk to store networks and insurance policies, retailers should also be looking at how to dramatically reduce their environmental impacts upstream and down.”
The Truth Behind Your $12 Dress: Inside the Chinese Factories Fuelling SHEIN’s Success (BBC)
The BBC visited Panyu—or “SHEIN village”—in Guangzhou, China, where many of the ultra fast fashion giant’s clothes are produced, to detail the conditions of its factories. The report found garment workers still sewing in factories late into the night, and employees whose working week stretched over 75 hours, violating the country’s labour laws.
Sustainable Beauty Coalition to Tackle Industry Waste With New Initiative (The Industry)
The Industry reports that the British Beauty Council’s Sustainable Beauty Coalition is launching an initiative to reduce waste from the beauty industry. The Great British Beauty Clean Up, launching in March, will bring together brands and retailers to help increase awareness and adoption of reuse and refill systems, and packaging recycling and take-back schemes.
‘Good’ and ‘Great’ news
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Spell Furthers Circularity Initiative With New Resale Platform
“Good” brand Spell has launched ReSPELL, a resale platform in partnership with Treet. The platform will enable customers in Australia and the US to list their pre-loved Spell items or find second-hand ones at lower prices than the original retail price. Angie Menghini,
Spell’s sustainability manager, says: “By providing this platform, we’re encouraging the purchase of Spell that doesn’t require the linear process of using extractive resources to produce new products. Business strategies like this are essential if we hope for a more circular economy in the future.”
E-Commerce Platform Otrium Achieves B Corp Certification
Otrium, a longtime partner of Good On You, has received B Corp certification. It’s another example of the retailer’s commitment to working more sustainably and helping consumers make more informed choices. This new achievement builds on the sustainability progress Otrium has made during its three-year partnership with Good On You, in which we’ve helped it signpost better brands by harnessing our ratings data.
