Fast fashion brands ‘greenwash’ shoppers with guilt-easing claims, study warns

Researchers say big chains use influencers and slick social-media posts to make constant buying look responsible

Fast fashion giants are pumping out “green” messages to make shoppers feel better about buying clothes they don’t need, new research claims.

A team from Finland’s University of Vaasa says major brands use social media to paint themselves as ethical, even though the industry is still churning out cheap clothes linked to environmental damage and poor working conditions.

The study says Black Friday-style deals and constant promotions are pushing people into buying clothes they don’t need — and fast fashion brands then use slick posts to ease the guilt that follows.

Associate Professors Henna Syrjälä and Hanna Leipämaa-Leskinen, with doctoral student Tiia Alkkiomäki, analysed 401 social-media posts from two High Street brands in 2020. 

They found that the brands repeatedly used “sustainable” language and soft-focus imagery to make their production look greener than it is.

The team also found that influencers play a key role, telling followers that discounted purchases are “sensible” and even “ethical” thanks to charity tie-ins or so-called green initiatives. These posts often present fast-fashion hauls as responsible choices.

“The reality of the fast fashion industry is grim. Clothes and accessories are being produced at an accelerating rate, under questionable working conditions, with little regard for the environment and with human rights being trampled on,” Syrjälä said.

The researchers say shoppers are told to choose sustainably, but real change has to come from the industry itself. They are now calling for tighter rules and tougher marketing standards to stop brands from creating a false image of responsibility.

READ MORE: ‘Courage in an uncertain world: how fashion builds resilience now‘. Global Fashion Agenda, the non-profit advancing sustainability in the fashion sector, warns that the cost of failing to address climate and supply-chain risks will soon outweigh the capital needed to decarbonise, secure supply chains and embed sustainable practices. Its Fashion CEO Agenda 2025 outlines a five-point framework — spanning fair work, wages, resource stewardship, material choices and circular systems — and calls for the leadership courage to turn strategy into delivery.

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