Greenhushing in Fashion: It’s Bad... But We Kind of Get it

Maybe you heard of greenwashing before but… what’s the deal with its quieter sibling?

Like the name suggests, greenhushing isn’t a good practice. But, to be honest, though: after dealing with hundreds of small ethical brands and familiarising ourselves with their challenges, we do understand why some of them use it.

But let’s start by getting clear on what fashion greenhushing means, why some brands are being unethical (while others are just trying to survive), and what you can do as a consumer.

What is the meaning of greenhushing?

Greenhushing means that a company purposely downplays or keeps quiet about their sustainable practices and goals (even when they mean well) to avoid greenwashing accusations, criticism, or backlash.

It’s playing it safe and, as a brand, not directing any attention to your environmental plans.

The term greenhushing was coined by Treehugger all the way back in 2008, but it’s been thrown around (or whispered?) a lot more, recently.

In fact, it’s particularly common when working towards climate and carbon goals: 1 in 4 companies would NOT share their net zero emissions targets, even when they’re science-based.

What is the difference between greenwashing and greenhushing?

The main differences between greenwashing and greenhushing is what is (or isn’t) shared and the intent behind it.

Greenwashing is when a company fabricates or exaggerates its environmental practices, tricking eco-conscious consumers into believing they’re buying a sustainable item (for example, through misleading terms like “100% green cotton”). Greenhushing is when they keep quiet about their environmental practices or goals, mostly to avoid backlash.

So, in a way, greenwashing and greenhushing can be seen as opposites, but they have one thing in common: a lack of transparency.

Is greenhushing good or bad?

At Project Cece, we believe that greenhushing is bad news for the fashion industry, but we can’t judge small ethical brands for being hesitant to share their environmental goals. Why?

Ethical fashion brands have it harder

It’s NOT easy to stay in business as a small brand that actually cares about the environment and the people making your garments. 

To produce clothes ethically and market them as such, sustainable brands must charge higher prices, and their margins are usually much lower than fast fashion giants. They also have smaller budgets, fewer resources, and lower reach. So, the stakes are already high, especially when the economy isn’t good. 

Can you blame them for being reluctant to share their environmental goals out of fear of backlash if they fail to achieve them or make a mistake?

Small brands haven’t got communications teams to help them word these objectives properly or keep up with emails and questions. 

Trust me: even though we’re not a fashion brand (Project Cece is a platform bringing hundreds of them in one place for you), we know what that’s like. On top of all our other jobs, you have to handle dozens of daily emails. If we accidentally overlook something that could be a reputational risk? People assume we have something to hide. Luckily, we have systems for it now, but in the early days, it was quite intimidating. 

So, we can see why some small ethical brands might choose to play it safe.

They’re already treading a fine line

New regulations (like the Green Claims Directive) only allow the use of terms like “eco-friendly” and “sustainable” based on specific requirements.

On one hand, that’s great: it could finally stop unethical fashion brands that are slapping those terms on clothes that are the opposite of sustainable.

At the same time, though, if a small brand calls a catalogue page “sustainable jeans” or "eco-friendly sweaters" on their online store, it could be seen as greenwashing. These keywords help them put their products in front of more consumers who are actually using those terms in search engines to find products like theirs, but now they have to be wary. And again, it’s trickier without a communications team.

Big brands have an unfair competitive advantage

When it comes to sustainability legislation, certain companies have a larger say.

For example, with this Green Claims Directive, some voting members are fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M, or they have a business model that heavily depends on synthetic fibres. So, for example, it looks like polyester (one of the most polluting fabrics, derived from fossil fuels) could be marked as a sustainable material.

Once again, it’s HARDER to navigate these issues as a small and underrepresented brand as they often don't already have legal or communication teams to dive into this.

Small ethical brands aren’t the problems, anyway

The biggest culprits are huge fashion companies that promote overconsumption by listing thousands of new items every week, that rely on sweatshops, that choose the worst materials and production practices just because they’re cheaper…

Some fast fashion brands are actively trying to trick you using greenwashing, like labelling a jumper “sustainable” because it involves some recycled polyester… even though 95% of it is new!

What you can do about greenhushing as a consumer

Unfortunately, things are rarely black and white when it comes to making ethical choices, but you could:

• Continue to look for transparency – Sure, small ethical brands might not be able to make the best claims when it comes to carbon emission goals. Most of them will tell you who made their clothes and how, though! Instead, when a (fast) fashion brand just slaps a “green” label on a collection without providing context, it’s usually greenwashing
• Be nice to small brands – Don’t be too quick to judge them. Most of them are trying their best (and sadly, we keep losing more and more of them)
• Find ethical brands on Project Cece – To make things easier for you, we brought hundreds of vetted fair trade brands in one place and added filters to simplify your choices. So, you can see exactly what makes a company or product ethical

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