Boohoo’s problematic approach to sustainability

Boohoo’s problematic approach to sustainability 

Words Jenny Bär

It’s a precarious time for Boohoo. While the global powerhouse is proudly striding towards  what it thinks might be a more sustainable future, it’s faced with an open — I would say  rhetorical — question about whether super fast fashion and sustainability can ever be  commensurable. 

ASOS has allegedly had a Sustainability Clothing Action Plan since 2012. SHEIN shared its  Sustainability and Social Impact Report in 2021 and launched a ‘purpose-driven’ collection  named evoluSHEIN earlier this year. And Boohoo unveiled its Sustainability Plan dubbed  UpFront in spring 2021; launched the reGAIN app for customers to donate used Boohoo  pieces; and just dropped what’s being marketed as an eco-friendly capsule, debuted as part  of New York Fashion Week this week and championed by newly appointed sustainability  ambassador Kourtney Kardashian Barker. 

This comes on the back of recently voiced suspicions of greenwashing — the practice of  marketing pieces as eco-friendlier as they actually are — by brands including Boohoo. Just  over a month ago, the ecom heavy-hitter, alongside ASOS and Asda, has come under  critical investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority, the competition regulator in  the U.K., which is looking into the brands’ eco claims.  

Whatever its findings, the recent allegations against fast fashion player H&M have shown  that greenwashing ‘is the biggest trend on the high street right now,’ as London-based  sustainable fashion consultant Lara Tutton writes to me. Imagine that trend being applied to  the super fast fashion online empire, and you’ll get a taste of what’s at stake here.  

Being upfront at Boohoo 

Boohoo’s UpFront initiative has some interesting things to reveal about super fast fashion’s  attempt to tackle sustainability. On its website, it states that ‘all the materials will be more  sustainably sourced’ by 2030 and that ‘leather, wool, feather and down will be sourced in line  with industry best practice’ by 2025, whatever these practices might be. These goals are part  of the brand’s READY FOR THE FUTURE pledge, which is also used as a tag to promote  seemingly eco-friendlier products. Yet they might be just that — seemingly eco-friendlier, as  the brand also points out that a piece needs to be made with at least 20% of the ‘better  materials’ to earn the said tag.  

The first problem is purely linguistic, and it’s to do with comparatives. ‘Better’, ‘less  damaging’, ‘more sustainably sourced’: these words don’t describe a definitive goal, practice 

or fabrication ambitions but immeasurable comparatives. They’re vague rather than  referencing tangible facts, figures or goals.  

To be sure, the lack of sustainable legislation — both nation- and worldwide — is an easy  trap for businesses and customers alike, leading them to believe that any seemingly logically  constructed eco claim about a piece might actually be true. But it’s also very suggestive of  greenwashing practices; of what Lara describes as ‘giving shoppers easy answers to  complex problems.’ There is no one clear-and-cut path to solving sustainability issues and  focusing exclusively on one aspect, such as lower-impact materials, is at the core of  greenwashing, as Lara further explains.  

The second problem is to do with immature conclusions about sustainable options. Boohoo’s  Recycled Collection, which launched as part of the brand’s UpFront initiative, is said to be  made up of 95% recycled polyester and 5% elastane. Indeed, recycled polyester is one of  those fabrics that many brands have capitalised on as part of their sustainability frameworks.  

Questions about the skin friendliness and recyclability of recycled polyester aside, though,  Lara expounds that there is new evidence that indicates the carbon created through the  recycling of polyester does have a worse impact on the environment than previously  thought. It’s just one of the many instances where brands flock to what Lara dubs ‘the “next big-thing” in sustainability’ when the positive footprint of this innovation hasn’t been proven  yet.  

What’s next for super fast fashion? 

It’s difficult to believe that a brand with that kind of scale and market positioning — releasing  over 100 products daily that have a very short lifespan from both a quality and desirability  point of view — will achieve meaningful sustainable action by focusing on easy changes  such as swapping polyester for recycled polyester. These changes are nowhere close to  where we need to get to in terms of long-term change. And, after all, Boohoo’s mainly  synthetic-fibre pieces will still end up being land filled or incinerated, releasing carbon  emissions and harmful toxins respectively.  

It will be interesting to see how the reactions around Boohoo’s partnership with Kourtney will  play out in the long term, yet there is a growing consensus that the brand’s sustainability  venture is questionable, with critical press being directed at Kourtney, too. To put it in Lara’s  words, ‘saying [that] fast fashion brands can be sustainable is equivalent to saying smoking  can be healthy.’ It’s that deep of a conundrum.