Abstract
There is a misconception that the fashion industry is flirty and fun, but in reality it is a business that severely harms both its employees and the environment. Consumers are unaware of where and how products are made, what fast fashion is, and what the terms “ecofriendly” and “sustainable” mean. In the last decade, consumers have become increasingly aware of the need for sustainability in the fashion industry. Because of this, fashion brands have begun to use green branding as a way to market themselves. For many of these companies, however, their sustainable marketing strategies do not align with their actual means of production. This disconnect creates confusion among consumers. Because green advertising can be extremely persuasive, it is difficult for consumers to know the truth. To aid in such understanding, it is necessary to assess the degree of greenwashing, or the process of conveying false impressions of environmental soundness, among various companies. After scoring various companies on their sustainable marketing and actual sustainability practices, I used a linear model to formulate a predicted sustainability score for each company based on their branding score. Then, I calculated each company’s degree of greenwashing or under-branding in sustainability. The majority of companies in the study engaged in greenwashing to some degree. The company with the largest degree of greenwashing was Gap. Additionally, the companies with the highest sustainability scores in the study tend to under-brand themselves when it comes to their sustainability practices. The company with the largest degree of under-branding was Mayamiko. These results demonstrate that green branding on a company’s website does not necessarily reflect its sustainability practices. Further, companies which were built upon a mission of sustainability incorporate their values into every part of the company, so it is difficult for them to close the gap between their sustainability and branding scores. Until there are further restrictions on green branding, it will be challenging for consumers to decipher the reality of brands’ sustainability efforts. Future research on this topic should encompass a larger sample size. It is important for consumers to know the reality of where they are shopping. To do so, more brands need to be exposed for their degree of greenwashing.
