Fashion Fraud: The Greenwashing of NYFW

New York Fashion Week might be in the past, but the issues that arose are still very prominent. One of the biggest problems we saw was the issues surrounding greenwashing and fake sustainability. To clarify if you don’t know, greenwashing is “a false, misleading or untrue action or set of claims made by an organization about the positive impact the company, product or service has on the environment.” Kourtney Kardashian collaborated as a “sustainability ambassador” with Boohoo on a clothing line with 45 new pieces. The line appeared in the Boohoo fashion show in early September during NYFW. The line includes clothes like faux leather jackets, Blink-182 merch and sheer dresses. Okay, enough of the information overload; let’s get to the tea. 

As we all know, fast-fashion brands like Shein and Boohoo have been dominating the fashion industry for the past couple of years. The sustainability movement became trendy recently, and these fast fashion brands are trying to make their brands seem sustainable to save face. Suspicious, we know, and when we heard about Kourtney’s new collab with Boohoo, we were very skeptical. So, here’s our opinion. 

While we are still critical of this whole ordeal, we did want to take a second to applaud Boohoo for their size inclusivity. Every piece from this line is available in sizes 0-28, making it possible for many body types to rock the styles. 

Back to the issue. After doing some ~research~, it seems like Boohoo is misleading us. First off, saying a new line is sustainable and then going to mass produce 45 new pieces for the line is already not environmentally conscious. There is barely a description about how the clothing itself was sustainably made. The packaging contains recyclable plastics and the tags use corn waste, but when it comes to the clothing itself? Nothing. Boohoo says the pieces are sustainable because they can be worn in many ways, as a lot of them are sold with multiple parts or are reversible, but that’s simply not the same. To make matters worse, if you look on the website, each thumbnail has a leaf on it saying “ready for the future.” Um, hi. What does that mean? 

Kourtney and Boohoo have both received some backlash since the launch of the line, but not as much as we expected. We obviously don’t know the intention behind this and whether they were meaning to deceive the public or not, but this is greenwashing at its finest. It will be interesting to see how Boohoo reacts with future sustainable lines and if other fast fashion brands follow suit. It’s a step in the right direction, but we definitely have a long way to go until fast fashion and sustainability can exist together. 

Let us know your opinions @theedgemag!