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Someone wearing wide leg jeans with the words American Eagle overlaid in white text above a highlighted sad emoji face.
15 Nov
Someone wearing wide leg jeans with the words American Eagle overlaid in white text above a highlighted sad emoji face.

How Ethical Is American Eagle?

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Go-to affordable and trendy brand American Eagle may be popular, but its lack of action for people, the planet, and animals has resulted in a score of “Not Good Enough”. This article is based on the American Eagle rating published in September 2023 and may not reflect claims the brand has made since then. Our ratings analysts are constantly rerating the thousands of brands you can check on our directory.

Not quite soaring on sustainability

American Eagle is a go-to destination for affordable and on-trend jeans and casual wear for young people with over 1000 stores worldwide. We take a look at how the brand rates in terms of environmental impact, labour conditions, and animal welfare. We ask—how ethical is American Eagle?

Environmental impact

On the surface, American Eagle seems to be dedicated to sustainability. In practice, however, it appears to be doing very little to reduce its environmental impact. While it has set a science-based target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated from its own operations and supply chain, there is no evidence it is on track to meet its target.

The brand has taken no meaningful action to reduce water use, and there’s no evidence it’s taking actions to protect biodiversity in its supply chain. This is problematic, not just for the environment, but for workers and animals as well. American Eagle does use some lower-impact materials including recycled materials, but could certainly improve in that area too.

American Eagle outlines a number of sustainability strategies including the recycling of paper in its corporate offices, and the establishment of permanent I:CO recycling centres in over 823 stores across North America. As positive as these initiatives are, there is still a long way for American Eagle to go before it can consider itself more sustainable. For these reasons we have given the brand a score of “Not Good Enough” for the planet.

Labour conditions

American Eagle is really lagging behind for people, too, with a score of “Not Good Enough”. There is no evidence that it provides its workers with a crucial living wage. It also sources from countries with high or extreme risk of labour abuse, however it has attempted to address these risks by signing the Bangladesh Building and Fire Safety Accord, and participating in the Business for Social Responsibility network.

The brand received a score of 21-30% in the 2023 Fashion Transparency Index, which, while an improvement on the prior year, is still lower than we would like. None of its supply chain is certified by labour standards which ensure worker health and safety, living wages, or other labour rights. And during the height of the pandemic, it didn’t disclose any policies or safeguards to protect workers in its supply chain from the impacts of COVID-19. It also doesn’t appear to support diversity or inclusion in its supply chain.

To make matters worse, in the past American Eagle has been linked to a number of scandals, including an incident in 2015 involving the dangerous use of sandblasting in a Chinese factory, as well as a leaked video in 2011 of a Chinese factory used by a number of American retailers including American Eagle that showed workers being subjected to poor conditions. In response to the sandblasting incident, American Eagle banned the presence of sandblasting equipment in any facility producing its clothing.

Animal welfare

American Eagle is “Not Good Enough” for the animals, either. It has a general statement about minimising animal suffering but not a formal animal welfare policy. It states that it sources wool from non-mulesed sheep, which is good, but it doesn’t provide any evidence to verify its claims. Responsible Down Standard certifies the down it uses, but it uses leather and exotic animal hair without stating its sources. And while it doesn’t use angora, fur, or exotic animal skin, and it traces some animal-derived materials to the first production stage, there’s still work to be done for the wellbeing of our animal friends here.

Overall rating: ‘Not Good Enough’

While its greenhouse gas reduction target and recycling programs are a good first step, ultimately American Eagle appears more interested in talking the talk rather than walking the walk. Being more transparent about its environmental policies and labour conditions, paying a living wage to its workers, and using more lower-impact materials in its products would be great places to start. At the end of the day, American Eagle follows a fast fashion model, promoting quantity over quality, which is inherently unsustainable, meaning it rates “Not Good Enough” overall.

Note that Good On You ratings consider hundreds of issues and it is not possible to list every relevant issue in a summary of the brand’s performance. For more information see our How We Rate page and our FAQs.

See the rating.

Luckily there are more ethical and sustainable brands out there with higher quality clothes for you to rock.

Good swaps

“Good” and “Great” alternatives to American Eagle

Neem

Rated: Good

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These overshirts are versatile pieces that effortlessly blend style and sustainability. Get 15% off overshirts. (Ends: 17 MAR)

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Neem is a menswear brand that looks to make clothing waste good again. From the UK, Neem exists to produce men's clothing that has been made with care, a result of a transparent supply chain with the safeguarding of our environment as the focus.

Find most items in sizes S-2XL.

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REER3

Rated: Good
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Founded by a Brazilian-born fashion designer and artist based in Germany, REER3 stands for slow fashion streetwear in a reduced design, produced more sustainably. It uses lower-impact dyes and materials such as organically grown, GOTS certified cotton and recycled polyester, and it's 100% vegan.

Find the range in XS-2XL.

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Pantee

Rated: Good

Pantee is a women's underwear brand based in the UK with a focus on comfort. The brand incorporates a high proportion of lower-impact materials including recycled materials, and its limited production run minimises textile waste.

Find bras and undies in sizes XS-3XL.

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Kings of Indigo

Rated: Good

Kings of Indigo makes quality denims, tops, and accessories inspired by American classics with a Japanese eye for detail. The brand uses GOTS organic cotton as well as recycled cotton and wool, and avoids all chemicals from the REACH chemical list.

Offered in sizes XS-L.

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Shop Kings of Indigo.

Dawn Denim

Rated: Great

Dawn Denim is a German denim brand that features jeans that fit our times. The brand strives to empower women to change the way clothes are made, sold and worn. Making your butt look good in jeans is a welcomed side-effect.

Find the jeans in XS-3XL.

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Afends

Rated: Good
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Born in Byron Bay, Australia, Afends is a responsible brand leading the way in hemp fashion. Drawing inspiration from the environment, streetwear, and surf culture, Afends’ mission is to create more sustainable clothing through innovation, action, and positive change. As true hemp advocates, they purchased 100 acres of farmland called Sleepy Hollow to grow their own hemp crops and ignite the hemp revolution.

Find most of the range in sizes XS-XL.

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Seek Collective

Rated: Good

Seek Collective is a US brand of thoughtfully made items with a dedication to transparency, authenticity, craft, and sustainability. Seek is focused on establishing connections between art, product, consumers, process, and makers. Its items are made in India through partnerships with like-minded communities and people.

Find most products in XS-L, with an extended sizing range up to 4XL.

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Ecoalf

Rated: Good
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Thanks to recycled materials like rescued ocean plastic, Ecoalf creates more sustainable fashion with the same quality, design, and technical properties as the best non-recycled ones.

Find the range in sizes XS-2XL.

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Shop Ecoalf @ Farfetch.

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Editor's note

Feature image via Canva, all other images via the brands mentioned. Good On You publishes the world's most comprehensive ratings of fashion brands’ impact on people, the planet, and animals. Use the directory to search thousands of rated brands.

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