John Lewis has been named the most trusted fashion brand for sustainability, with Boohoo singled out as being the brand whose green claims the British public trust the least.
A Unfolded Sustainability Survey found the sustainability claims made by John Lewis and M&S were the most likely to be trusted (by 50% and 37% respectively) while more than half (56%) expressly said they don’t trust similar claims made by fast fashion label Boohoo.
While fashion’s sustainability credentials were almost unanimously agreed to be important, 72% said they simply don’t believe the sustainable claims of any of the major fashion brands.
Primark, Asos and Amazon also scored low on consumer trust regarding their ‘green’ claims, with scores of 12%, 11% and 10% respectively.
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Some 80% of those surveyed said they have been making more sustainable purchasing choices in 2023 compared to the previous year, although the cost-of-living crisis is having an impact with more than half (57%) claiming finances are preventing them from shopping as sustainably as they would like.
Nearly 97% of people believe that the UK government should be doing more and creating laws to reduce the impact of fast fashion but 78% don’t believe that the government will actually take this action.
Unfolded CEO and co-founder Cally Russell commented: “It’s clear that sustainability is becoming a bigger drive for purchasing decisions but that most consumers don’t trust big brands and the claims they make.
“Sadly the fashion industry has been built around a business model that relies on cheaply producing thousands of items in the knowledge that some will sell well and some won’t.”
