Are Apparel Brands Achieving Sustainability?

I share below what brands say about their sustainability efforts and their ratings from Good On You.
LVMH, also based in Paris, is a luxury goods company with brands in six sectors: wines and spirits, fashion and leather, watches and jewelry, and perfume and cosmetics — including Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Bulgari, Tiffany, Moet Hennessy, and Tag Heuer.
Kering’s Environmental Profit & Loss account guides its sustainable business model. It assigns a monetary value to its environmental footprint across its supply chain. The company aims to reduce negative environmental impacts in sourcing raw materials, manufacturing, and transportation by 40% between 2015 and 2025.

Screenshot of Good On You web page reading "Thousands of rated brands."
Screenshot of Good On You web page reading "Thousands of rated brands." Stella McCartney. This clothing, shoe, and accessory brand based in London has been a pioneer in ethical and sustainable design and manufacturing. It promotes cruelty-free processes and manufacturing and aims to achieve full circularity with renewable or recyclable raw materials.

The company also plans a 50% reduction in its carbon emissions by 2025. It maintains a carbon offset program through REDD+, an effort to fight deforestation. In 2019, Kering committed to carbon neutrality across its brands by offsetting annual greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2017, audits show a yearly reduction of several thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Good On You rates Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Givenchy as “Not Good Enough” as they use few eco-friendly materials.
Good On You rates Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and Saint Laurent as “It’s a Start” and Balenciaga as “Good.”

Evaluating Brands’ Sustainability

Kering, a Paris-based luxury fashion conglomerate, has made strides in sustainability. Its brands include Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen.

Over the last five years most sizeable apparel companies have issued sustainability goals and how they intend to attain them. Some publish annual reports on their progress. But it isn’t easy to know whether a company is sustainable as there’s no clear definition or standardized data.
Good On You is a sustainability grading platform for fashion companies. It rates brands on the following scale: “Great,” “Good,” “It’s a Start,” “Not Good Enough,” and “We Avoid.”
It is committed to preventing deforestation in its supply chain and continuously monitors its suppliers for adherence to its policies. It measures and reports both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
Good On You is a sustainability grading platform for fashion brands.
Good On You is a sustainability grading platform for fashion brands.
Good On You is a sustainability grading platform for fashion brands.
Good On You is a sustainability grading platform for fashion brands.
In 2013, Kering established a Materials Innovation Lab, a library of sustainable fabric and textile samples that its creative teams could access to choose materials. In 2021, Kering announced that none of its brands would use animal fur, starting with the fall 2022 collections.
Good on You rates Levi’s an “It’s a Start.”