Greenwashing
Greenwashing occurs when an organization uses a false or hollow claim of environmental responsibility to gain an advantage in the market. The phrase is derived from whitewash, meaning to conceal a mistake or fault.
According to AI Overview, environmentalist Jay Westerveld coined the term “in 1986 after he noticed that a hotel in Fiji asked guests to reuse towels as a cost-saving measure, but promoted it as an environmental strategy.”
Specific examples of greenwashing include false, vague or misleading statements, improper labeling, and misusing the words “green”, “sustainable”, and “eco-friendly”.
The easiest way a company can avoid greenwashing is to be truthful with their customers. By using evidence, facts, certifications and evaluations by independent organizations like bluesign®, B Lab, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Change Climate, the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, and the list goes on, a company is able to provide reliable evidence for their environmental claims.
Supply chain transparency is also essential. Like Vinnie Barbarino would say in Welcome Back, Kotter, the “who, what, where, when” is very helpful to know when determining the environmental merits of a product or service.
At Doo Dah Apparel, one of our favorite companies to work with is Eric Henry’s TS Designs located in North Carolina because they’re all about transparency. We ordered our GOTS Certified Organic Cloud T-shirts from them. The T-shirt is knitted right here in Los Angeles at Antex Knitting/Finishing, cut and sewn in the USA at US Blanks, and then printed, dyed and shipped by TS Designs in North Carolina. At the end of the T-shirt’s lifecycle, TS Designs has partnered with Circ to recycle and reuse whatever’s leftover to make sure nothing goes to waste.
Our TS Designs T-shirt has made its way around America, but it’s not shipped from overseas, helping us to cut back on our carbon footprint. Ideally, we would consolidate all of our production here in Los Angeles, but we’re not there yet. TS Designs is a Certified B Corp., one of the first textile B Corps. in America, and we value their contribution to a circular, domestic apparel industry. It’s our goal to support like-minded businesses making an effort to communicate as clearly, honestly and responsibly as possible with their customers.
We also believe it’s important to support American labor because it’s harder to evaluate the social impact of businesses overseas. What’s good for the worker is also good for the community where they work, and if the community is healthy then there’s a higher likelihood the environment will be, too.
Transparent supply chains, utilizing honest and factual information to communicate with your customers, obtaining certifications and evaluations to verify your product claims, and partnering with businesses doing the right thing are all good ways to avoid greenwashing.
Brett Bridgman
Doo Dah Apparel LLC
