Leelanau clothing - an example of how to analyse a brands sustainability profile

Sustainable, organic and ethical are words that has become more common among fashion brands. They are used in campaigns and on the introduction of their website making consumers believe they are actually doing a good job. However, how can we know which brands are good? A Sustainable Closet encourage it readers to use the Good on You plattform where ratings are being done based on criteria’s. However, to the busy reader who wants to have a easy tool to use for themselves here comes a few practical tips.

We are using Leelanau, a Californian based ethical fashion brand, for this exercise:

Here are some things that A Sustainable Closet really likes about this brand:

• You know what materials they’re using and the materials of the clothes you can buy.

• They state the country of production and design.

• You know who's the founder and that person’s values.

• It’s small scale.

• Materials that are certified, such as GOTS, or has a low climate impact (such as Tencel) are used.

• Percentage of sale goes to conservation efforts.

• Design to fit all body types.

What do we miss:

• A sustainability reporting with more data of the clothes impact.

• An action plan on how to make the brand more sustainable.

• A lifecycle assessment of the clothing and why they have chosen the materials they do (natural doesn't always mean better).

• Work conditions and salaries, who makes the clothes?

These are just a few examples of things we find good and areas of improvement, more can be added on both lists. However, this brand seems to be very small and therefore standards are not always the best things to look for or measures of impact, such as lifecycle assessment. The benefit of supporting artists can actually weight up not having all the certifications and standards on spot.

Therefore we would recommend you to ask for certifications, standards, materials, production conditions and land, codes of conducts, action plans, sustainability reporting, design process, diversity aspects, animal welfare aspects and so on. But, there’s so many things that can be included in the concept of sustainability, such as practicing ones culture.

This is why you have to navigate yourself what aspects of sustainability you find important. There is no perfect answer to the question on which brands are sustainable. The question is, what is good enough for you when you consume clothes?