Comments on: Greenwashing http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/ Indigo Clothing Blog - News from inside Indigo, the t-shirt printing industry and cool t-shirt sites reviewed. Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:19:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ranj Khara http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/comment-page-1/#comment-13872 Ranj Khara Thu, 22 May 2008 11:13:35 +0000 http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/#comment-13872 although this blog is a year old, i would like to point out as our dearest competitor continental clothing has a personal problem with our company , his views do not give you a proper realization of what he stands for, for someone who use to buy from us, what does this mean, was he selling unethical merchandice? B & B is the only company to be audited by both the Soil Assocition and the Fairtrade Foundation we have a completely transparent supply change, to give the consumer a choice of Fairtrade and normal shirt is a good thing, the whole production is ethical, at least we have not come up with a random idea of pretending to save the earth and using it as a marketing tool when in effect the cotton is not even 100% organic but it is conversion cotton, it seems that continental are afraid of someone being more committed to the environment than they are. Ranj Khara B & B Leisurewear although this blog is a year old, i would like to point out as our dearest competitor continental clothing has a personal problem with our company , his views do not give you a proper realization of what he stands for, for someone who use to buy from us, what does this mean, was he selling unethical merchandice? B & B is the only company to be audited by both the Soil Assocition and the Fairtrade Foundation we have a completely transparent supply change, to give the consumer a choice of Fairtrade and normal shirt is a good thing, the whole production is ethical, at least we have not come up with a random idea of pretending to save the earth and using it as a marketing tool when in effect the cotton is not even 100% organic but it is conversion cotton, it seems that continental are afraid of someone being more committed to the environment than they are. Ranj Khara B & B Leisurewear

]]> By: Luxury Redefined | Indigo Clothing Blog | T-Shirt Printing http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/comment-page-1/#comment-13779 Luxury Redefined | Indigo Clothing Blog | T-Shirt Printing Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:00:45 +0000 http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/#comment-13779 [...] but two) in the retail sphere. Nonetheless, I have also have been critical of the concept of ‘greenwashing‘, and am cynical about the mass adoption of green values for marketing purposes. I am sure [...] [...] but two) in the retail sphere. Nonetheless, I have also have been critical of the concept of ‘greenwashing‘, and am cynical about the mass adoption of green values for marketing purposes. I am sure [...]

]]> By: Green Supermarket | Indigo Clothing Blog | T-Shirt Printing http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/comment-page-1/#comment-11046 Green Supermarket | Indigo Clothing Blog | T-Shirt Printing Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:23:25 +0000 http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/#comment-11046 [...] Nice to see businesses taking action rather than ‘greenwashing’. [...] [...] Nice to see businesses taking action rather than ‘greenwashing’. [...]

]]> By: Philip Charles, CCC http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/comment-page-1/#comment-10768 Philip Charles, CCC Sat, 09 Jun 2007 15:22:20 +0000 http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/#comment-10768 Funny to stumble acros my own words on your site. I actually started today online reading about green issues, notably searching for sustainable energy for my factory in Turkey. I agree with what Alex wrote above about my quote; in a wider context he is correct and I am incorrect, but it pleases me that he did understand what I really meant, which is that I do not like companies who blatently and massively inflate their actually almost non-existent green credentials, for example, B&B Leisurewear, who say on their website "B&B are fast becoming known as a major UK supplier of fairly traded, organic cotton clothing. As such, we are leading the way to address the issues of pollution and exploitation in the clothing industry." Utter drivel. "That is why our Organic Cotton is 100% free from synthetic fertilisers, soil additives, defoliants and genetic modifications. Our refusal to use these will go some way to help restore the environmentís natural balance." What about the other 95.5%? of their T-shirt sales which are not organic? They are not refusing to use synthetic fertilizers & pesticides on these, are they? Any T-shirt manufacturer that says how wonderful they are for selling a handfull of organic T-shirts while producing 100's of thousands of conventional T-shirts is..., well you decide. Then there is the marketing tool "Sweatshop Free" which implies that everyone else makes their T-shirts in a sweatshop. It was this that I was particularly refering to with my quote. Companies who say they "pay above the minimum wage" or "above the national average". Gosh, how kind. And don't AA actually fly their T-shirts into Europe? More Co2 anybody? Sol's now have organic t-shirts, and Fairtrade marked T-shirts, but not Organic Fairtrade T-shirts, which they should ideally be says PAN UK (Fairtrade, but still poisoning the farmers?); I did point this out to Alain this week at Fespa, and he agreed with me. I could continue writing for days, but I will not, just to say that there are infact many companies who conduct their business in a responsible way, and who have always done so, who do not make unrealistic and misleading claims. Perhaps it is those that shout the loudest about how good they are, without being transparent, that we should be asking the most questions about. Funny to stumble acros my own words on your site.
I actually started today online reading about green issues, notably searching for sustainable energy for my factory in Turkey.
I agree with what Alex wrote above about my quote; in a wider context he is correct and I am incorrect, but it pleases me that he did understand what I really meant, which is that I do not like companies who blatently and massively inflate their actually almost non-existent green credentials, for example, B&B Leisurewear, who say on their website “B&B are fast becoming known as a major UK supplier of fairly traded, organic cotton clothing. As such, we are leading the way to address the issues of pollution and exploitation in the clothing industry.” Utter drivel.
“That is why our Organic Cotton is 100% free from synthetic fertilisers, soil additives, defoliants and genetic modifications. Our refusal to use these will go some way to help restore the environmentís natural balance.”
What about the other 95.5%? of their T-shirt sales which are not organic? They are not refusing to use synthetic fertilizers & pesticides on these, are they? Any T-shirt manufacturer that says how wonderful they are for selling a handfull of organic T-shirts while producing 100′s of thousands of conventional T-shirts is…, well you decide. Then there is the marketing tool “Sweatshop Free” which implies that everyone else makes their T-shirts in a sweatshop. It was this that I was particularly refering to with my quote. Companies who say they “pay above the minimum wage” or “above the national average”. Gosh, how kind.
And don’t AA actually fly their T-shirts into Europe? More Co2 anybody?
Sol’s now have organic t-shirts, and Fairtrade marked T-shirts, but not Organic Fairtrade T-shirts, which they should ideally be says PAN UK (Fairtrade, but still poisoning the farmers?); I did point this out to Alain this week at Fespa, and he agreed with me.
I could continue writing for days, but I will not, just to say that there are infact many companies who conduct their business in a responsible way, and who have always done so, who do not make unrealistic and misleading claims. Perhaps it is those that shout the loudest about how good they are, without being transparent, that we should be asking the most questions about.

]]> By: joe http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/comment-page-1/#comment-10319 joe Fri, 11 May 2007 14:55:23 +0000 http://www.indigoclothing.com/blog/greenwashing/#comment-10319 I think the problem we have got to is as follows: if you spend 50p extra on a jar of fairtrade coffee, you actually expect there to be some measurable difference in the person that grows the coffee. After all, that is the whole point of the concept. So when you read something like <a href="http://environment.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/story/0,,2076163,00.html" rel="nofollow"> this</a> it is tempting to go and shout at a wall. You start to wonder if it would be more efficient to go and give the farmer 50p yourself. As has been pointed out on this blog before, the challenge for ethical clothing brands is to provide a promotional product that is high quality, sensibly priced and easily available. As well as being more ethical. Which is a tough cookie to crack. But I think it can be done - a certified and marked organic cotton product, with full transparency. This means that the consumer can go and find out exactly where the product she/he has in hand came from, when and where it was made, the conditions - maybe even how much people were paid. And at a price considerably more competitive than at present. This isn't greenwashing or marketing, but a deliberate action to attempt to tell people about where their products came from. And I think they have a right to know that information in order to make an informed choice. I think the problem we have got to is as follows: if you spend 50p extra on a jar of fairtrade coffee, you actually expect there to be some measurable difference in the person that grows the coffee. After all, that is the whole point of the concept. So when you read something like this it is tempting to go and shout at a wall.

You start to wonder if it would be more efficient to go and give the farmer 50p yourself.

As has been pointed out on this blog before, the challenge for ethical clothing brands is to provide a promotional product that is high quality, sensibly priced and easily available. As well as being more ethical. Which is a tough cookie to crack.

But I think it can be done – a certified and marked organic cotton product, with full transparency. This means that the consumer can go and find out exactly where the product she/he has in hand came from, when and where it was made, the conditions – maybe even how much people were paid. And at a price considerably more competitive than at present. This isn’t greenwashing or marketing, but a deliberate action to attempt to tell people about where their products came from. And I think they have a right to know that information in order to make an informed choice.

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