Every month, the Good On You team scours the internet to find you the ethical and sustainable fashion news that matters. Here’s everything you need to know in June 2024.
Castoffs to Catwalk: Fashion Show Shines Light on Vast Chile Clothes Dump Visible From Space (The Guardian)
To highlight the use of Chile’s Atacama desert for dumping thousands of tonnes of discarded fast fashion, Fashion Revolution Brazil has partnered with Artplan and Desierto Vestido for a fashion show using clothes salvaged from the waste. Maya Ramos, who styled the show, told The Guardian: “The problem is more than fashion and the supply chain. It’s a societal problem. People, through a lack of connection with nature, are consuming more than they need at an unbridled pace.”
Interviews With Factory Employees Refute Shein’s Promises to Make Improvements (Public Eye)
In a follow-up to its 2021 investigation on SHEIN’s sustainability and supplier practices, Public Eye found that illegal working hours (as much as 75-hour working weeks) and low wages remain the norm. SHEIN has responded, saying that: “While we do not recognise many of the allegations in this report, the discussion on working hours and wages raised by Public Eye is important to us, and we have made significant progress on enhancing conditions across our ecosystem.”
Temu Targeted in EU Consumer Group’s Complaint to EU Tech Regulator (Reuters)
Reuters reports that the European consumer organisation BEUC has made a complaint about the practices of ultra fast fashion company Temu. It claims Temu breaches the EU’s Digital Services Act, as it has “often failed to provide consumers with crucial information about the sellers on its platform and whether their products met EU product safety requirements” and that it “uses manipulative practices such as dark patterns to get consumers to spend more than they may want”.
Renewcell Sells Kristinehamm Plant to Biosorbe (Fashion United)
Renewcell, the maker of promising next-generation material CIRCULOSE, has been looking for buyers since filing for bankruptcy earlier this year. Fashion United reports that it has sold one factory to the biomaterial company Biosorbe, though it’s not yet clear what will be produced there.
Combatting Our Evolutionary Addiction to Shopping (Vogue Business)
Reflecting on a recent study that argued climate change is “a behavioural crisis as much as a scientific one”, Rachel Cernansky explores fashion’s relationship with overconsumption. “Fashion wields enormous cultural influence and has the potential to transform people’s values—not only to shift away from overconsumption but actually to value and care for the planet and each other,” Cernansky writes.
The Met Gala was a Missed Opportunity for Sustainability (Elle)
This year’s Met Gala was themed around nature, and it could’ve been a great moment for some of the biggest stars in the world to spotlight a more sustainable approach to red carpet dressing. Unfortunately, Hannah Rochell writes, most of them missed the mark.
Mara Hoffman to Shutter Brand (Business of Fashion)
After 24 years, “Good” brand Mara Hoffman is closing its doors. According to Business of Fashion, the eponymous founder cited the challenges in running a more sustainable fashion brand as one of the key reasons: “We have been fighting for what feels like a long time to make this vision and model work… For anyone in this industry, specifically within the sustainability movement, you are aware that it has been far from easy on so many levels.”
‘Good’ and ‘Great’ news
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The O My Bag team visiting a partner factory in Kolkata. Photo: Shivam Photofarm
‘Good’ Brand O My Bag Celebrates 2023 Sustainability Highlights in Annual Report
O My Bag has released its 2023 sustainability report which celebrates some of its proudest moments, such as an update to its life cycle assessment tool; 63% of its products being shipped by sea to reduce its shipping carbon footprint; and partnering with Kolkata-based NGO Future Hope to provide education to children living on the street. This comes alongside updates on O My Bag’s previous targets and information on goals for the upcoming year.
