Greenwashed or sustainable? What it actually means to have sustainable practices

Greenwashed or sustainable?
What it actually means to have sustainable practices

Today, sustainability is everywhere. It’s on websites, packaging, credentials decks and social feeds. It’s become the default line in brand straplines and this makes me wonder what it actually means?

At Salt we do take sustainability seriously, we’re a B Corp, we measure and publish our carbon footprint annually, and we actively review how we operate and who we work with.

But my understanding of sustainability didn’t start here, it started in fashion. 

‍What I learned running a sustainable fashion brand

Alongside my role at Salt, I have built a small fashion brand called Safarahh. Sustainability has always been at the heart of everything we have done. We only use natural fabrics, 70% of our fabrics are purchased from a deadstock supplier, we add extra margin to our fitted clothes so you don’t have to throw them out as your body changes, we donate to ocean conservation and we prioritise timeless designs over trends.   

All of those decisions make the product more expensive, as natural fabrics and small production runs cost more, and deadstock sourcing is harder.

We have therefore always accepted that we could never compete on price with fast fashion.

But what is frustrating, to say the least, is being placed next to brands labelled ‘sustainable’ that use synthetic fabrics, manufacture at scale in low-cost factories, and produce trend-driven pieces designed for short-term wear. How is a customer supposed to differentiate between them?

‍The reality of greenwashing

Apparently this isn’t just my personal frustration:

• A 2020 European Commission study found that 42% of green claims online were exaggerated, false or deceptive¹
• The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority found that around 40% of businesses’ environmental claims could be misleading²
• Earlier research by TerraChoice suggested that 95% of products marketed as ‘green’ committed at least one ‘sin’ of greenwashing³

When sustainability becomes a branding exercise over an operational commitment, it creates confusion. Customers struggle to tell the difference between genuine sustainability and surface-level messaging and it’s not fair on the businesses absorbing higher costs and making harder decisions. Sustainability shouldn’t be a campaign strapline.

‍How this applies to agency life

Sustainability in a creative agency isn’t just about using recycled paper, offsetting a photoshoot and having some sustainability messaging on our website. It should be inherent in the way we think and work, making us ask ourselves:

• How are we producing work?
• Are we minimising waste in production?
• Who are we partnering with?
• Are we measuring our impact – and publishing it?
• Are we introducing changes for continual improvement?
• Are we prepared to be scrutinised?

At Salt, we don’t claim to be perfect but we do measure, publish and challenge ourselves.

‍Practising what we preach

My experience in fashion made me much more sensitive to how easily sustainability language can be used. It also made me more committed to working somewhere that doesn’t treat it as a trend.

Greenwashing doesn’t just mislead customers, it negatively impacts trust across entire industries. What it means to be sustainable needs to be taken more seriously – if we want to use it in our messaging, we need to have something to show for it.

Priyanka Patel | Account Director

References

1. European Commission (2020), Screening of websites for ‘greenwashing’
2. Competition and Markets Authority (2021), Environmental claims and consumer protection
3. TerraChoice (2010), The Sins of Greenwashing

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