Tell the truth!
Companies cherry-pick figures or lie about them, greenwashing their image by, for example, collecting second-hand clothing, which is then dumped or burned, while the website states that they are recycled. Companies themselves do not provide figures on greenhouse gas emissions, or on the amount of waste they are responsible for. The production process cannot be traced back to the source, so it is not known which toxins were used and how much.
Companies pretend to take the human rights of their workers very seriously, but anyone who wants to investigate this will hit a wall. We know that rights are being violated throughout the entire production chain, from cotton pickers to retail workers, for example in the form of child labor, forced labor, unpaid labor, underpaid labor, no right to breaks or reasonable working hours, and so on.
When these things are investigated, if ever, it’s never done by independent parties, but by the company itself, or by a subsidiary or sister company, which means that the reliability of such research is nil.
European treaties oblige companies that operate internationally to prevent climate and human rights abuses throughout the entire production line. This is called International Corporate Social Responsibility. By lying or withholding data, major companies in the fast fashion industry are violating this responsibility. What we demand, honesty and transparency, is already legally required.
Clear insight is needed, published publicly, in annual reports from independent researchers, with measurable and verifiable figures on:
- the working conditions of all employees of fast fashion companies and the companies from which they purchase raw materials and products,
- greenhouse gas emissions across the entire production line of fast fashion companies and the companies from which they purchase raw materials and products, including those from the transport of personnel and goods,
- environmental pollution in the form of deforestation, the use of toxins, water waste, and waste materials such as microplastics that end up in natural water from landfills.
1. Tell the truth!
The fast fashion industry is fighting to maintain its credibility by marketing itself as more sustainable than it actually is. We know that the companies often lie and cheat. There are no standards to regulate them.
We demand honesty and transparency throughout the entire production chain.
2. Stop overproduction!
Even thrift stores are overwhelmed with excess clothing. Full bags are thrown away every day because production is so high. Ultimately, all this clothing ends up in landfills, while depleting vast amounts of natural resources.
We demand an end to the overproduction of clothing and the constant creation of new trends that cause wasteful consumption.
3. Treat employees fairly!
Fast fashion is possible thanks to the cheap purchasing prices of products that are transported all over the world, because it is still possible to exploit workers abroad in industry and retail.
We demand fair wages, safe working conditions and humane employment conditions for all workers in both the production chain and the store.
4. Promote sustainable alternatives!
Many clothing stores collect clothes under the pretense that they’d be recycled. With the Guerrilla Fashion action, we hang secondhand clothing on the racks to give away to customers. Research shows that in the branches where we do this, those clothes end up in the trash.
We demand that clothing companies actively promote the wearing of secondhand clothing as well as other sustainable alternatives.