Weekend Edition #25: Why going green isn't so black and white

Talking about sustainability in fashion: what does it mean and why should we care?

Hello!

A newsletter reader and friend (hi Anne!) reached out a few weeks ago about revamping her wardrobe thanks to starting a new job (congratulations!). She asked my thoughts about Faherty and Boden, and whether they were good to support. She’d received an email about Boden’s sustainability efforts but wasn’t sure if she could trust them.¹ And to be honest, I wasn’t sure either. I figured if it were confusing for me, someone who works in the industry and had a “sustainable” baby clothing brand for over five years, it was a worthy topic for us to discuss!

The United Nations Brundtland Commission defined sustainability in 1987 as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Sustainability is often considered to have three dimensions: environmental, economic, and social.

When my best friend and I created Olen Organic in 2015, “sustainable fashion” was not mainstream. It felt like fashion was still stuck in the 1970s, whe…