PLT, reselling & what the hell is greenwashing?!!
The fashion and eco girlies are PISSED.
Hi friends,
I write about fashion quite a bit, namely detailing all the things I like, want to buy, have bought, want to wear and a few opinions on designers and trends. As I’ve grown in my fashion interests, I’ve also started paying attention to the sustainability movement and figuring out how it relates to me. Goes without saying, I’m not perfect and I’m no sustainable queen but, I use discernment and above all else, try and foster better shopping habits.
Sustainability in fashion is a hot topic with most major highstreet and designer brands making moves to be a little more eco-friendly. The brand that seems to always stay firmly in this conversation is Pretty Little Thing, for obvious reasons. Most recently, PLT announced its plans to launch a reselling platform in a bid to shed it’s reputation for disposable fashion. I immediately rolled my eyes when I read about this because, really? It is evidently obvious that PLT have no interest in being sustainable or even ethical in any way. So this announcement and launch to follow, is clearly a tactic to shift the bad PR they’ve continuously gotten since it's been revealed they pay UK based factory workers roughly £3 per hour. This is green-washing in its most obvious form.
Greenwashing; is a form of marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organisation's products, aims and policies are environmentally friendly.
They are not the only fast fashion brand or offender out there, but there’s something insidious about trying to rival platforms like Depop and Vinted, when you know nothing else about your business, from supply chain to operations, is the least bit sustainable. The fashion and eco girlies are pissed, and rightly so. PLT recently had a show at London Fashion Week (even this is being side eyed) and a group of people gathered outside in protest. Many had signs detailing how much their workers were being paid vs how much the CEO earned last year (in the millions), but what caught my eye were the signs that blamed Molly Mae for the brand’s unethical woes.
There is something to be said about how easy it is for women to bare the brunt and blame for issues and decisions that existed way before them. Molly Mae is leading the new reselling platform, so any critique directed her way must fly, but to put her in the same bracket as the owners of the business? Come on, some sense needs to be applied here. The family that own PLT also own Boohoo, Nasty Gal, Karen Millen, Dorothy Perkins and Warehouse to name a few. They have their family flag planted firmly in the fast fashion world and do not look like they’re ready to give it up, with or without Molly Mae. She is not to blame for their crimes against the environment, their workers or for the fact that their clothes last for 10 working days, I’m afraid. If she really cared about being sustainable would she have agreed to work with them, probably not, should she bare the brunt of all our frustrations with multi million pound conglomerate mashing up the planet, absolutely not.
The entire conversation on sustainability and fast fashion is a big one overall, and though I chose to stop shopping with PLT years ago, I can never simply expect people to stop shopping there. I still shop with Zara - the queen of being fast fashion but making everyone think you’re not; so who am I to say anything? This conversation needs nuance, realism and care, not everyone has the luxury or privilege to simply stop buying from fast fashion brands altogether and you can’t bully people into it either. But what we can all do is see greenwashing tactics for exactly what they are; utter bullshit.
That’s all for this week, folks!
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Until next time,
Nabilla x