Fashion’s Plastic Paralysis: How Brands Resist Change and Fuel Microplastic Pollution Report International fashion brands are doubling down on their use of synthetic fibres – a key driver of microplastic pollution – while employing distraction and delay tactics to protect their fast fashion business model. This report uncovers the industry’s lacklustre support for meaningful legislation and underscores the urgent need for strong action from regulators.
Plastic Waste Trade: The Hidden Numbers (2023) Report A recent analysis found that the overall plastic trade is more than 40% higher than previous estimates, and even this number fails to reflect the trade of plastics and wastes in textiles, rubber, plastic contamination of paper bales, and other sources. The real amount of plastics and plastic wastes, and of toxic chemicals contained in plastics and wastes that move globally via trade is likely to be even higher.
Greenwash Danger Zone: 10 years after Rana Plaza fashion labels conceal a broken system (2023) Report Greenpeace reveals what lies beneath the green sheen and investigates self-assessed marketing labels. What is the basis of the claims that are made, how reliable are they and what do they actually cover? Can consumers take these labels at face value, and are they independently verified?
Taking the Shine off SHEIN: A business model based on hazardous chemicals and environmental destruction (2023) Report The Chinese online fashion brand SHEIN has promoted fast fashion to ultra fast fashion. It’s built on the exploitation of the environment and people, relying on the lack of enforcement of protection regulations for the environment as well as workers and consumers.
Crude Couture: Fashion Brands’ Continued Links to Russian Oil (2023) Report This investigation underscores the pivotal role the fashion industry plays in perpetuating fossil fuel dependency and signals a concerning lack of action to break ties with Russian oil – through which the fashion brands are indirectly funding petrochemical expansion and the war in Ukraine.
Poisoned Gifts - From donations to the dumpsite: textiles waste disguised as second-hand clothes exported to East Africa (2022) Report Global fashion brands are promoting circularity, but in reality that's still a myth. Nowhere is the failure of fast fashion more visible than in the countries where many of these cheap clothes end up: on huge dump sites, burnt on open fires, along riverbeds and washed out into the sea, with severe consequences for people and the planet.
Realising Reuse: The potential for scaling up reusable packaging and policy recommendations (2021) Briefing The study shows that under the right conditions including a supporting policy framework, reuse can thrive in the EU, and more importantly, it can reduce the environmental impacts of packaging and save companies as well as consumers money.
Synthetics Anonymous: Fashion brands' addiction to fossil fuels (2021) Report The fashion industry and its prevailing fast-fashion business model rely heavily on the use of cheap synthetic fibres, which are produced from fossil fuels, such as oil and gas. This report investigates the behaviour of some of the biggest fashion brands and retailers regarding their use of synthetic fibres and transparency about doing so.
Dressed to Kill: Fashion brands' hidden links to Russian oil in a time of war (2022) Report This report exposes the hidden supply chain links between major global fashion brands and retailers and Russian oil used to make synthetic clothing.
Sustainable Fashion Website The website informs how the sustainable textile and fashion industry is working to minimise its impact on the environment at every level.