ON DUTY CITIZEN
AYESHA BARENBLAT
1) I love hearing about the moment people realized they were passionate about environmentalism. What was this moment like for you?
The first time I visited a dye house and the stench of the chemicals lingered in my throat, my relationship to fashion was forever changed. It was sobering to witness how much water, chemicals and pollution to bring to life the many colors in our wardrobe.
2) On your website, you mention the importance of education, advocacy and transparency. Can you tell us about why each of these pillars is integral to the foundation of Remake?
At Remake, our overall mission is to turn the fashion industry into a force for good by creating a more transparent and accountable industry that provides living wages to workers and reduces environmental harm.
Education - we’ve created documentary films, fact-filled stories, campaign assets, and workshop materials to empower our community, inspiring them to buy less and better through our various campaigns. In addition, we have hundreds of ambassadors (700+) around the globe who host workshops, panels, and webinars to educate, inspire, and engage with those in their own communities, inspiring them to get involved in the sustainable fashion movement.
Advocacy - through our campaigns like No New Clothes and PayUp Fashion, we’re able to amplify our messaging and lead movements dedicated to a better future for the industry, our planet, and those who make our clothes.
Transparency - our Remake Seal of Approval process makes it easy for our community to call out greenwashing and support better brands. The Seal of Approval process pushes brands to be more transparent in their production and business practices.
3) How and when did Remake start and what has it grown into today?
Professionally I have worked over the last decade across brands, manufacturers, and governments to improve sustainability and human rights within the fashion industry. Then on April 24th, 2013 Rana Plaza fell down. I was working with the International Labor Organization at the time to improve garment factory conditions. As the death toll mounted, I watched the footage with growing horror and felt that I had to do more, sooner and faster. Working on the inside of the industry, I had always thought there was a missing piece of the puzzle – shoppers.
I have had the pleasure over the last decade to have meals, laugh, talk and be awestruck by the women who make our clothes. These were not victims as the media paints them. These are incredible, resilient women often supporting upward of 5+ family members, leaving the safety of their villages to enter the big bad world of factory city life. I believe these stories, of the millennial maker, could spark a more empathic connection with millennial shoppers. With the power of video, virtual reality and social media we can connect in ways that were never possible before. I hope that the story told differently, may finally seal her in our collective consciousness, so we can start to ask more about who makes our clothes and to buy better, with the future of our planet in mind.
In just 5 years, Remake has grown from a community of 3 to over 150,000. In addition, we now have over 700 Remake ambassadors across 33 states in the United States and from various countries around the world.
4) How do you distinguish between green washers and those who are doing the best they can with the resources they have?
Here’s a rule of thumb: When a company is charging $10.00 for a tee-shirt, the likelihood of that garment being sustainable or ethical is practically non-existent, and the consequences on both the environment and garment makers are dire. While brands have a duty of care to uphold, we have a duty of care to uphold as consumers. Asking the below questions is a must when investigating a new brand and determining if they are truly sustainable and producing ethically made apparel.
Here are 3 ways you can tell if a brand is greenwashing:
1. Brands Use Generic Language to Greenwash
When making purchases at a low price point, you always need to first interrogate the brand. Two questions that should run through your head before running your credit card are as follows:
How much is the company I am buying from paying the woman who made this piece of clothing?
What values am I contributing to by making this purchase?
Furthermore, you can look at the language a brand is using on their website to see if any red flags pop up while learning more about their practices:
Is the brand using language that is hard to understand?
Does it evade using detailed language around the topic of sustainability?
Is the brand using language in a way that markets itself as being environmentally and socially concerned without offering detailed stats and information to back this up?
2. Pay Attention to a Brand’s Advertisement Strategies
Along with using evasive and non-specific language to greenwash, brands also rely on powerful advertising strategies to come across as sustainable even if they aren’t truly doing the work.
When investigating a brand, take a look at the images they use on their website and in advertisements and ask yourself the following questions:
Is the brand using generic nature shots or stock images to depict their sustainability, or are they using imagery of their actual sourcing and manufacturing practices?
Are they showing you images of the women making their clothing on their website?
Never accept what a company claims at face value and use a sustainable and ethical brands rating tool as a starting point for research on truly ethical brands. Remake’s Sustainable Brand Directory is a great resource for those wanting to find brands that have been vetted for their sustainability practices. Also, take the time to see if the brand you love has any proof to back up their claims. Do they promote a “sustainable” collection while not providing any concrete evidence as to how they’re making these clothes sustainably? People spend hours researching and comparing products for other things in their lives. Do the same for your clothing.
3. Brands Should Be Practicing What They Preach
A brand may talk all the right talk, but if they’re not putting their values into action, that’s a problem. Ask yourself the following questions when wondering if a brand is truly taking action.
Are you able to find a brand’s stance on diversity and work culture on their website??
Are you able to verify that they are taking action rather than just talking?
Are they all talk when it comes to world issues?
Sustainability is not only in the materials brands use; it is also in how they treat those who work for them. It is easy for brands to say they use sustainable materials, but that’s not enough; it is also about how they treat those within their supply chain. Check to see if employees are rating the brands you like as being ethical and sustainable as well as a safe and good place to work.
5) Can you tell us a bit about your brand transparency report?
At Remake we hear time and time again that our fast growing community wants to shop sustainably, but they don’t know where to begin. The research process is daunting. It can be time-consuming and confusing, especially given the proliferation of sustainable labels: organic, sustainable materials, fair trade. Not to mention, many brands are co-opting all the interest in sustainability to greenwash, so you’re never really certain who you can trust. Enter our Remake Transparency Report which we published for the first time last fall.
In our report, we rate brands based on what information is publicly disclosed. 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.
Brands can get a maximum of 100 possible points. A brand must score at least 50 points to receive Remake’s Seal Of Approval. In the case of a brand scoring less than 50 points, we start a conversation, inviting them to do better. And while our 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. Here is a more detailed look at our scoring criteria.
Our Remake Seal of Approval has always required brands to encompass both the social and environmental sectors of sustainability. At Remake, sustainability means fully considering each of the 5 sections included in our Seal of Approval criteria:
1) Transparency + Traceability - 14% For this criteria we have to consider 3 sub-categories: Supply Chain Transparency, Product Traceability, and Ethical Sourcing Scope. We can understand traceability as the information provided to the consumers about the road taken to make the product. We can start by asking these questions: Where does the material come from? How was the product made? Where has it been made? By whom? Under what conditions?
2) Maker Well-being - 33% This criteria focuses on the actions the company is taking to assure good conditions for the workers involved in the supply chain. Some examples of questions we should be asking are: What is it like to work for this company? How do their garment makers live? Under what terms are they working? Do they have social security? Does the company promote a good working environment? Is anyone allowed to work there? Do they promote a collaborative and inclusive environment?
3) Environmental Sustainability - 31% For this criteria, we’re looking at the impact brands’ actions have on the environment. We can ask: How does the company manage their waste? Does the company promote clean energies? What actions are the company taking to mitigate their impact on the environment? Is the company working to reduce their consumption of nonrenewable materials? What does the brand do in order to control their waste?
4) Sustainable Raw Materials - 14% Questions within this criteria include: What are the materials being used? Where do they come from? Do they come from nonrenewable sources? Do they come from animals? What alternatives is the brand considering? What is the impact of the materials on the environment after their life cycle?
5) Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion - 8% For this criteria, we should be asking the following: Does the brand promote an inclusive environment? Is there diversity among the board members of the company? Is it easy for anyone to access and work for the brand? Is the advertising of the brand considering different types of bodies and races?
We find it important to add that our way of assessing brands will continue to evolve as our understanding of the planetary emergency deepens. In the near future, we hope to add a column to our scoring chart that takes into account brand growth and the overall scale of production. The fact is, brands will need to move away from the mass production of clothing in order to curb the impact of fashion on the planet. Even the most sustainable brands, if growing fast, are not thinking about the impact on natural resources and planetary boundaries.
6) Are you optimistic about the future of sustainability? If so, how do you find balance and remain positive when you come across disheartening news?
I do, here’s why: I see the demand for fast fashion decreasing as demand shifts, particularly as GenZ comes into their consumer power valuing individuality and customization over trends. . I see this firsthand in conversations I have with young change-makers all over the country who worry about climate change and our planet’s future. Moreover studies show that 89% of Gen Z would rather buy from a company supporting social and environmental issues over one that does not.
I also see the fashion industry being pushed toward more transparency. Activism is back with women leading the way. From Greta Thunberg to Jane Fonda, there’s been an influx of consciousness that’s here to stay. From Extinction Rebellion to our own community, I see a future where more and more people are taking to the streets to demand a fashion industry that puts people and our planet first.
Finally circularity is becoming more than just a buzzword, from inroads in sustainable materials to a growing interest in a minimalist lifestyle and capsule wardrobes. I am excited by breakthroughs in technology such as Amber Cycle and innovative approaches to reducing waste such as the Renewal Workshop.
When I come across disheartening news, I remember that change is here, and it is here to stay. I see it every day in the conversations I have with change-makers all over the country. I also see it in Remake’s growth, from a team of three to a 150,000 community. In just two year of launching our Ambassador program, we now have over 700 women leaders engaging their community on women’s rights and climate justice through the lens of fashion. We have pledged to embrace a sustainable fashion lifestyle, to buy less and better, and to keep clothes in circulation longer. We are here to demand transparency from the fashion industry on wages, action on climate, and waste
Also in my office, I have a picture hanging on my wall of Char Wong, a garment maker I had met while filming our documentary short, Made in Cambodia. When we met, she carried herself with such fierce dignity despite all the turmoil of making poverty wages and working punishingly long hours while making clothes for Zara, H&M And Tommy Hilfger. Advocacy work is hard and can take a toll both physically and mentally. So when I am having a bad day, I look at her portrait in my office. She gives me strength to fight on. Char Wong is a constant reminder that women are resilient and that Remake’s work matters.
7) What does intersectional environmentalism mean to you?
Remake’s Stance on Intersectional Environmentalism - For myself and for us at Remake, both ethical and sustainable fashion ideologies must be upheld simultaneously to do good for workers and good for the world. The symbiotic relationship between ethical and sustainable fashion holds more power together than separately. After all, what good is organic cotton if harvested with slave labor? And what good is the living wage payment of a garment worker if her body is threatened by the toxins being output during the sourcing and sewing processes?
A single clothing item’s footprint indelibly molds our land, our water, our air — and each other. Our purchase power to choose companies is important, but it’s not enough. Sustainable and ethical fashion both call on revolutionizing the social, economic, and environmental systems in which the fashion industry functions. A shift is needed: companies must treat workers fairly and use earth-friendly materials — not one or the other. Companies must support the wellbeing of the individual worker and the environment.
Brands cannot be truly sustainable unless they’re also ethical, and vice versa. Though using earth-friendly materials is beneficial for all, the persisting unfair treatment of workers exemplifies the sometimes disingenuous nature of trendy environmental movements. The lack of intersectionality in protecting vulnerable populations is the antithesis of sustainability’s mission to reach environmental justice. The production of and access to sustainable products for consumers cannot come at the cost of violence of human wellness.
8) What are some of the ways in which you think we can make the sustainable/environmental movement more inclusive?
Elevate the voices of garment makers who are mostly women of color and on the front lines of fashions human rights abuses and environmental impacts. This is why our PayUp Fashion Action 4 notes that we must put makers center stage. We ask all fashion conferences, workshops and gatherings to include at least 50% women worker representation.
We also think it is important for sustainable brands and brands overall to have more size inclusivity
Finally in our Seal of Approval process we look at D&I from a board, senior management level calling on fashion brands to be more representative of the US population by elevating Black and people of color into top executive positions.
9) The Pay Up campaign is absolutely fantastic, and so, so necessary! Can you tell our community about it and how we can all support it?
We launched the #PayUp campaign in March of 2020 at the start of the pandemic when major brands and retailers refused to pay their factories for $40 billion worth of apparel, much of it already completed, sewn and on ships headed to Western markets.
The campaign had a very simple demand: for brands to pay their factories in full for any clothing that was in production prior to the pandemic. We also demanded that brands stick to the original terms of their contracts, meaning no discounts on their clothes (as factories already operate on razor thin margins) and no delays in payments (as brands already wait upward of 60 days to pay their factories). #PayUp was hugely successful at securing approximately $22 billion back from 24 major brands, including Zara, Levis, Nike, Primark, ASOS, adidas, and many more. This was because 270k citizens signed our original #PayUp petition and millions more engaged with our campaign.
As successful as the #PayUp campaign was, it also underscored the need for fundamental reforms to reign in corporate power and truly eliminate the race to the bottom in fashion that puts women workers' lives at risk. In short, the public shouldn’t have to chase down hugely profitable companies to pay their garment makers during a global pandemic. And without big, bold changes, another crisis is around the corner.
After the #PayUp campaign scored some victories, we looked ahead to what systemic reform in fashion should look like based around two core ideas: Real brand accountability and centering women worker voices. PayUp Fashion, which is a coalition born out of the #PayUp campaign is now working towards those big, bold changes in 7 Actions, which were developed by two female union leaders in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Among those 7 Actions is a demand (Action 5) that brands make legally-binding commitments to protect human rights and labor rights in their factories. No more voluntary initiatives without accountability. Through Action 7, Help Pass Laws, we are also garnering political will for better regulation be it the EU’s mandatory human rights due diligence law or California’s Garment Worker Protection Act.
But in the short-term the crisis for garment workers is worsening. Millions are out of jobs right now without their full wages or unemployment insurance. So, through Keep Workers Safe, Action 2, we’ve fundraised tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of garment workers in frontline communities and are pressuring the International Labor Organization’s Call to Action, an initiative that is supposed to get financial relief to garment workers but has fallen short so far, to get brands to step up and provide relief to the people who have kept them profitable for decades. #PayUp was just the start. We have only just begun to push for deep systemic reform.
Citizens can continue to support the #PayUp campaign by:
Signing the PayUp Fashion Petition: each time someone signs the petition, an email is sent to over 200 fashion executives letting them know that person is petitioning their brand and wants to see change.
Donating to the Emergency Garment Worker Relief fund: last year we were able to raise over $150k for garment workers worldwide with 100% of donations going toward providing garment workers with emergency food and medical relief.
Being Curious and Don’t Be Afraid to Speak Up: challenge your favorite brands asking how much do the lowest paid workers in your supply chain make? What are factory conditions like? How much do you pay factories for this article of clothing?
Shop Sustainable Brands: check our Remake Sustainable Brand Directory to discover new brands and see how some of your favorite brands are tackling environmental waste and treating the people who make their clothes.
10) What advice do you have for someone who would like to live more sustainably? For someone looking to join this movement as well as for people who are on their path hoping to not lose momentum.
For those wanting to get more involved in the sustainable fashion movement, I’d reiterate that changing your fashion habits can be done step by step. Don’t get overwhelmed! There are big and small ways, regardless of your wallet size, to be involved in the movement. Some ideas include:
Taking stock of what you own. Are piles of clothes sitting there and making you unhappy? Only keep what you think you will wear at least 30 times and host a swap party for the rest. The next time you want to buy something consider this: will you wear it at least 30 times? If not it’s best to walk away. If it costs less than your cup of coffee, know that women were exploited in the making and, again, walk away.
Check out vintage, rental or consignment options. Consider “shopping” in a good friend’s or sibling’s closet.
Care for your clothes like the good friends that they are. Wash on cold, line dry, skip the dry cleaner and mend and invest in quality not quantity.
For more ways to support the sustainable fashion movement, we’ve also created a quick “How To Be A Sustainable Fashion Pro” video featuring Role Models Management here.
