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Boasting more than a million followers on Instagram, Aritzia is arguably one of Canada’s most popular brands. But how ethical is Aritzia, really? Sadly, Aritzia isn’t doing enough to protect workers and the environment. Keep reading to learn more about Aritzia’s “Not Good Enough” rating. This article is based on the Aritzia rating published in July 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.
Dabbling in sustainability but not doing enough
Launched in 1984, Canadian brand Aritzia’s mission is simple: offer beautiful clothes in aspirational spaces with exceptional service. Since then, the brand has grown to be one of Canada’s most popular brands.
Aritzia has been dabbling in sustainability and ethics for a while, creating more sustainable denim and using lower-impact materials. Back in 2020, the brand announced it would be donating 1,000 of its popular Super Puff jackets to Canadian women and girls during the holidays as part of the company’s Community Giving Program, which aims to empower and positively impact members of the local community.
All of these initiatives are commendable, but what are the actual impacts of Aritzia on people, the planet, and animals? How ethical is Aritzia?
Environmental impact
In our last review, we gave Aritzia’s environmental initiatives a “Not Good Enough” rating. The brand does use some lower-impact materials, including organic cotton, but it doesn’t appear to have taken meaningful action to reduce or eliminate hazardous chemicals. We also found no evidence the brand takes actions to protect biodiversity in its supply chain. In addition, simply offsetting carbon emissions is not enough, and we found no evidence Aritzia is actively reducing carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions in its supply chain.
Labour conditions
When it comes to labour, little of Aritzia’s supply chain is certified by labour standards which ensure worker health and safety or other labour rights. The Canadian brand received a 21-30% score in the 2023 Fashion Transparency Index, the same result as the prior year’s report, indicating a continued lack of progress. What’s more, we found no evidence that Aritzia supports diversity and inclusion in its supply chain or that it ensures workers are paid living wages in its supply chain. For all these reasons, we rated Aritzia’s labour standards as “Not Good Enough”.
Animal welfare
Sadly, Aritzia’s animal rating is also “Not Good Enough”. The brand has a formal policy aligned with the Five Freedoms of animal welfare (an improvement compared to past ratings) and clear implementation mechanisms in place. It also traces some animal-derived materials to the first production stage, which is heading in the right direction. But Aritzia still uses wool (some of it certified by the Responsible Wool Standard), leather, silk, exotic animal hair, and down accredited by the Responsible Down Standard. It does not, however, use fur, angora, or exotic animal skin.
Overall rating: ‘Not Good Enough’
We rated Aritzia “Not Good Enough” overall, based on information from the research done by our team at Good On You. The brand has slightly improved over the years, certifying parts of its supply chain and implementing stronger animal welfare policies. But overall, Aritzia’s rating hasn’t changed much and it’s not enough for us to give a higher rating to the Canadian brand this time round.
For its clothes to be truly beautiful, inside and out, Aritzia needs to improve its impact on the planet while also making sure its workers are treated fairly and paid a living wage. In reality, the brand isn’t communicating much more about its sustainability impacts than fast fashion brands and cannot move beyond “Not Good Enough” until it makes some significant changes.
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.
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