Remake's First Transparency Report asks questions
REMAKE, architects of the #payup campaign, launch their first ever Remake 2020 Brand Transparency Report: evaluating brands on transparency, maker wellbeing, sustainability and more. Powered by a community of activists, designers, IG addicts, feminists and storytellers, Remake’s mission is to make fashion a force for good - rather than the negative influence it currently is - and the Report is another concrete step in creating an industry that respects both the women who make up most of its workforce and the planet.
Remake’s Seal of Approval, built with input from Human Rights, Climate, Water, and Waste Experts, evaluates the data fashion brands publicly disclose. Brands can get a maximum of 100 possible points. A brand must score at least 50 points to get Remake’s Seal of Approval.
The report highlights 10 high performing ‘Rockstars’ including Nudie Jeans, Mara Hoffman, Outerknown and Patagonia; 10 Wannabes including ASOS, Nike and Madewell; 10 promising young brands known as Up & Comers - and 10 Offenders, brands that score under 36 points (“When it comes to naming and shaming, we’re not afraid to do it”). Amongst this rosta sit H&M (28 points, due to lack of transparency and over production), misguided.com (3 points) and Boohoo (5 points). Supreme wins the top of the drop with a score of just zero.
Transparency matters
“We aren’t fans of 90-page, jargon-heavy sustainability reports or sustainability efforts that take place behind closed doors,” the campaign group says in its press release. “If a brand does not disclose their policies, process, and progress publicly, we give them zero points because we know that transparency is the first step towards turning fashion into a force for good.”
When a brand scores less than 50 points, Remake approaches them to start a conversation, inviting them to do better. While the scoring system includes points for multiple categories, it is difficult for a brand to pass without making progress across the board. This ensures that brands with the Remake Seal of Approval are holistic about the human rights, women’s rights, and environmental sides of sustainability.
Main takeaways? That - no surprise here - Rockstars tend to be smaller brands with engaged leadership and a consolidated supply chain. This is a powerful illustration of how size and sustainability are at odds; it’s hard to retrofit sustainability with the larger brands, no matter how hard they say they’re trying. Next: every brand - and that includes the Rockstars - has a long way to go in terms of their diversity and inclusion efforts. All scores were downgraded when looking at Diversity & Inclusion, for example. Finally, another issue that arose was that many Wannabes are staying away from the substantive, structural issues of living wages and overproduction to focus on low hanging fruit: capsule collections and including a small percentage of sustainable materials. It’s the very definition of greenwashing. Must do better.
Follow Remake to keep up with its campaigns. Hear my interview with founder Ayesha Barenblatt here.
