I’m always curious whether a brand has ethical production standards. Now that I’m making more steps to have a conscious closet, I’m very particular about the brands to support.
It’s just so hard to Google each brand as I’m shopping, skim through their sustainability practices and know whether to believe them! Of course, when you go to a brand’s site they will package their practices in the most appealing way. How can we trust they practice what they present?
One way is to do the deep digging before you go shopping. For example, Superdry says they want to be “the most sustainable listed global fashion brand by 2030” but what actions are they committing to?
Other companies make similar promises about cutting micro plastics or reducing their carbon footprint; how and where? When references to these practices aren’t listed from third-party sites, how are we to trust these brands’ in-house messaging?
Finally, I found the solution.
Good On You Fact-Checks for You
I recently discovered Good On You thanks to the Ethical Fashion Podcast. During the episode, Paola Deda of the UN Economic Commission references the site as a resource to check the ethical/sustainable status of many brands. I was curious of course, so I checked out the site myself.
And I was thoroughly impressed.
The site (and app) have extensive criteria for determining the ethical-ness of a brand. Each brand is rated generally on a ”smiley face” scale; ratings are further examined by measuring the brand’s effectiveness in categories like sustainability, environmental impact, labor conditions and animal welfare. If a brand falls short in any of these categories, their smiley (or lack thereof) is affected and alternative more ethical brands in the same category are suggested.
Their direct rating system and extensive reference list for each brand’s rating makes them a reliable source on ethical fashion. It’s so time-consuming to corroborate a brand’s claims of ethical practices to concrete evidence. With Good On You, they do the hard work for us! They fact-check that a brand is true to their word and display it in an easy-to-read format to make quick shopping easier!
Good on You is just what I needed to further pursue my mission of supporting only sustainable/ethically sourced and produced fashion!
Case Study: Puma
Say I’m in the market for new athletic clothes. I have a few brands that I trust implicitly for style and quality for a reasonable price, like Puma. Now that I’m a more conscious consumer, I need to investigate further into the brand. The intent is to only support multi-million-dollar brands when they are ethically produced. So let’s see what Puma’s Good on You rating is, shall we?
The brand gets a straight face – one step below a smiley, one step above a sad face – which is an ominous sign. Now, let’s dig a little deeper in their rating:
To paraphrase the aforementioned categories Good On You uses to rate a brand, Puma does okay. It uses some eco-friendly materials, but they’ve provided no evidence to proof they’ve minimized use of hazardous chemicals. They also don’t have any transparency about how much their garment workers in other countries make per hour.
On their scale between ”Avoid” (1 – aghast) and “Great” (5 – beaming) Puma earns an ”It’s a Start” (3 – straight)
While Good On You’s site provides valuable, in-depth insights on brands, their directory does so on a condensed scale. I think of it this way: Visit Good On You’s site when you have some free time as you would read a magazine or the news. Visit Good On You’s directory when you’re actively shopping and need to know more about a brand’s practices quickly.
Good On You’s directory is my ultimate guide for quick finds in eco-conscious and ethical fashion.
The summarized format allows you to see the brand’s rating and reasoning quickly; this makes for a fast scroll as you’re shopping instead of spending a lot of time reading long-form articles. The graphic below shows the average view from Good On You’s directory. Ethical practices and ratings are divided between ”Planet”, ”People”, and ”Animals”; brands can score anywhere between 0 to 5 in these 3 categories.
In the example below, Reformation ranks relatively well with 4 out of 5 in the ”Planet” category, 4 out of 5 for ”People” and 3 out of 3 for ”Animals”.
Whether you decide to use Good On You’s website or app, blog posts or directory posts, their database is unmatched. They offer valuable insights and research into hundreds of popular brands. Their hard work makes our job of supporting ethical companies that much easier. Thank you Good on You!
