Greenwash watch: Banana Republic 'organic' range
Banana Republic is already in the doghouse as far as most self respecting ethical shoppers are concerned: pulled up on its factory working conditions when its London store opened last month, the chain is in dire need of a little greening.
But I'm not sure it's achieved that with its latest move: an 'organic' range, consisting of a mere 5% organic cotton.
Given that the Soil Association stipulates that a garment must contain at least 70% organic fibre to be labeled as 'made from organic materials', this is not only a poor attempt, but also blatent mislabling.
Alessandra Brunialti, Banana Republic's vice president of design for women defended the validity of the range, saying: 'A year ago, when we started this, we were trying to be super pure about it -- have everything be completely organic," she said. "And it was all becoming too much to do at once. Then our mantra became 'One step at a time.''
So what do you think. Is this blatant and misleading greenwash, or a 'step in the right direction'? [via New Consumer]
