Good On You, Great on the environment

On April 24th, 2013 a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed and 1,134 people died in this tragic event that shocked the world. It was a wake up call for the entire fashion community, as well as consumers. That was when important organisations, such as Fashion Revolution were born to advocate for the rights of garment workers and demand transparency within the supply chains of fashion retailers. 

Companies have been operating for a long time without fully disclosing details about their supply chains. Where have the raw materials come from? In what conditions was the garment I’m wearing made in? Is the brand environmentally friendly? These big questions are necessary to be asked. We need to know what we are buying into when shopping for our clothes, in the same way we need to know what we are eating. 

A key player pushing for transparency has been Good On You. The organisation was founded in 2015 in Australia with a mission to be a bridge between conscious consumers and brands. Good On You has created a brand directory with thousands of brands rating them based on 3 criteria; Planet, People and Animals. 

The information for the ratings is collected through publicly available company reports, as well as certified schemes and other rating projects. Regarding Planet, the brand’s resources use and disposal is considered to realise their environmental impact. For the People rating, the supply chain of retailers is investigated to understand the working conditions of suppliers, employees, even policies regarding child labour and wages. Finally, for Animals, the use of exotic skins, furs and bad methods of obtainment cause the decrease of the brand’s rating.

The platform provides consumers with the necessary information to help them make more informed purchasing decisions by rating the brand on a scale of “We avoid” to “Great” (1-5) while also providing a thorough explanation of the score based on its exploitation of the planet, people and animals in the manufacturing process. 

As we move towards more mindful and sustainable consumption, it’s easy to fall trap to greenwashing and misleading campaigns aimed at driving more sales and profits rather than a sustainable future. Most of us won’t have the time nor the energy to research a brand’s ethics before making a purchase and even if we do commit, there is no guarantee that we don’t fall victim to a false “green” image portrayed by the brand. The Good On You platform audits thousands of brands offering easy access to its collection of brand data. The app is quickly becoming a go-to platform for guiding you through your shopping decisions. 

Download the Good On You app available on the App Store and the Google Play Store and enhance your shopping journey as an informed and ethical consumer.