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Romwe may consider itself “cool”, but how cool is it for people, the planet, and animals in production as a fast fashion retailer? How ethical is Romwe? This article is based on the Romwe rating published in March 2022.
Let’s talk about Romwe
We hear a lot about ‘fast fashion’ brands and their unsustainable practices. But in recent years, another model of fashion retailers has emerged, churning out clothes of dubious quality at lightning speed, in who knows what conditions: ultra-fast fashion brands. And Romwe is one of these brands.
Launched in 2010, this fashion retailer describes itself as the “one-stop shop for all things cool”. Romwe calls its range of clothes, accessories, and gadgets “endless” and encourages shoppers to “discover new things [they] didn’t know [they] needed”, and therein lies the problem.
In addition to promoting overconsumption, Romwe has been criticised by shoppers and organisations for selling real fur as faux fur in the UK, producing poorly made garments, using deceptive advertising, taking weeks to ship clothes, manipulating reviews and even shipping clothes with fleas! Sorry, what?
As you might begin to understand, Romwe is a brand you should be wary of. But how is Romwe really impacting the planet, people, and animals? How sustainable and ethical is Romwe? Let’s take a look, shall we?
How ethical is Romwe?
The truth is, there’s not much to say about Romwe. Usually, in these types of articles, we have a closer look at the brand’s rating and break it down so that you know more about how a brand is performing across the three key areas of Environmental Impact, Labour Conditions, and Animal Welfare.
But for Romwe, we found, well, nothing—the brand provides insufficient relevant information about how it reduces its impact on those three areas. As a result, Romwe is rated ‘We Avoid’, our lowest possible score. As a shopper, you have the right to know how Romwe production practices impact the planet, people, and animals.
Romwe sits up there in our top ten fast fashion brands we avoid at all costs! It is the prime example of an ultra-fast fashion brand—even though the brand prides itself on “only produc[ing] 50-100 pieces per new product to ensure that no raw materials are wasted”, it still launches new collections at lightning speed, implementing high-scale production as soon as a product is on demand. Yikes!
Romwe needs to start disclosing more information about how, where, and by whom its items are produced, as well as the materials used. Transparency is crucial to ethical and sustainable fashion and is the first step towards reducing a businesses’ impact.
Note that Good On You ratings consider 100s 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.
Luckily, the Good On You team found a few ‘Good’ and ‘Great’ brands to choose from if you want to break your fast fashion addiction and support the planet!
Good swaps
Sustainable alternatives to Romwe
