Hannah Orloff - Greenwashing in Sustainable Clothing Companies

 This past weekend while Black Friday shopping I was scanning several websites for deals, and decided to check Patagonia's webpage since their clothing is typically astronomically expensive. When I opened the webpage, I was greeted with a pop-up message that said something along the lines of "while we do not believe in the intentions of Black Friday, we will still offer our clothes marked as they were to promote investment in real quality material," which essentially means that Patagonia will continue to sell their products at full price because if not they are playing into the fast fashion market. By fast fashion, I mean the epidemic where consumers are purchasing trendy clothing and then scrapping them shortly after once the trends are out of style. Although Patagonia's approach as company may appear as a consideration to a more sustainable approach, the high pricing of their clothing meant to convince people to "invest" in sustainability is more of an example of "greenwashing".

Greenwashing is defined as a ploy companies use in order to market their products as environmentally friendly and sustainable. It is achieved by labeling certain clothing as "sustainable" since they fit a certain criteria such as being produced with organic materials or made in factories that claim to pay their employees a livable wage. The threat of climate change is alarming and people want to do something about it, so many feel comfortable dropping a couple extra bucks on a more sustainable product Companies recognize this, and so they market their product as sustainable at a higher sale price in order to generate more revenue. Patagonia's products are certainly high quality, and are produced in slightly better conditions than other companies, however when companies chose to mark higher prices on goods they are only appealing to a market of consumers that can afford to purchase such goods. It displays this idea that in order to be sustainable you have to be wealthy and invest in the concept, when in reality sustainability comes in all different forms. It may be sustainable to purchase one jacket from Patagonia and have it be the only jacket you own/wear, but it is also sustainable to go to your local thrift store and re-use old clothing before they are thrown away. The general concept of de-promoting fast fashion with higher prices to deter consumers in theory is not a terrible idea, however in reality it only limits the market to individuals who can purchase those products (and if someone has the money, they can drop a buck on multiple Patagonia products and still engage in fast fashion).

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