Fashions brands such as Outland Denim, Etiko and Joyya are boycotting Baptist World Aid’s (BWA) Ethical Fashion Report over its grading system.
The ethical report had an A+ to F grading system, but this year it will now use a percentage score out of 100. The boycotting brands commended the change, but urged that it is not enough.
Etiko founder and director Nick Savaidis said that although the report is thorough and highlights important ethical problems within the fashion industry, he believes the grading system is flawed.
“If a brand isn’t paying a living wage to textile workers and paying cotton growers a fair price, then they shouldn’t be given a pass mark,” he said.
“Traditionally, the report hasn’t provided an accurate representation of ethical fashion and actually contributes to consumer confusion.”
In past reports, Etiko has received high ratings, including an A+ rating in the 2019 report.
“Most people didn’t understand how the grading system was scaled and the difference between an A+ brand and lower grades,” Savaidis continued.
“The historic grading system gave kudos to brands that did very little.”
Speaking on the recent change in the report’s grading system, Savaidis said it is a step in the right direction.
“But we still think greater weight needs to be applied to the payment of a living wage for textile workers and the farmers who grow and process the raw materials.”
Savaidis said the report should give the environmental impact of each brand higher consideration when grading.
“I don’t believe a brand that sells a majority of clothing made from plastic-based textiles, like polyester, should get a pass mark in the environmental score,” he said. “They’re contributing to an environmental disaster.
“The same goes for brands that use animal products. Ethical fashion should be holistic and aim to provide minimal harm to people, planet and the animals that reside upon it.”
Ethical fashion brand Outland Denim also issued a statement on its boycott.
“Ultimately, our worry was that brands who are not prioritising people were still able to get a good score, and this doesn’t best serve garment makers or you as a consumer reading the report.
“It’s why we, along with fellow impact-led brands Etiko and Joyya, made the difficult decision to not be involved this year despite our strong relationship with the BWA team.
“We are also concerned that it is still possible for brands to be in the top (blue) tier overall, even if their ‘Supplier Relationships and Humans Rights’ and ‘Worker Empowerment’ scores are below 50%.
“We believe it would be clearer if the top tier was made up of brands who scored between 80% - 100%, rather than brands who scored in the top 20% of all brands surveyed.”
In line with Etiko, Outland Denim also commended BWA’s new rating system, saying it will provide a clearer picture to readers. Outland also commended some of the report’s weighted categories, and that “63% of brands have made credible commitments to paying living wages in their final stage facilities.”
"Overall we commend BWA for the improvements they have made to the report, we continue to have great respect for them and the work they are doing."
BWA corporate advocacy lead Sarah Knop responded to the boycotts, saying that the organisation has continued to evolve the report over the last nine years, "in response to the need for urgency and significant industry-wide progress to better respect workers and protect the environment."
She said that with an average score of just 29 out of 100 across all its included brands this year, it is "sobering" reading for the fashion industry.
"There is more demand than ever for detail about the supply chains of fashion companies, which is why we’d urge all brands to strive for transparency and for global citizens to leverage their power to influence change by using this year’s report and the online Brand Finder tool to make more ethical decisions."
"Encouragingly, brands that have participated in the report for multiple years are showing positive change toward more ethical practices," Knop continued. "The average score for brands included for the last two years increased from 32.5 in 2021 to 34.85 in 2022.
"In contrast, companies included in the report for the first time this year performed significantly worse, with an average score of just 9.7."