Dashboard

Let’s talk about greenwashing

Last month, on a Saturday, an email arrived in my SLF inbox from a company in India, complete with brochure attachment for their “innovative Vegan Leather”!

The email reads: 

Dear Sir / Madam

I hope you are doing well.

Our company XXXXX is one of the top manufacturers and exporters of vegan leather.

Our journey started with a big idea: to make quality, fashionable products that are kind to animals and the planet.  Each item we create is carefully made with top-notch craftsmanship.  For more details, kindly explore our website: www.xxxxx.com  (email address removed because I don’t want to promote it!)

We pledge to provide exceptional service together with top-notch quality.  If you’re interested in purchasing or importing these items, we would appreciate it if you could provide your contact information. In addition to above, please find enclosed catalogue for product details.

Also, feel free to type in your queries. We will be committed to provide you with the best match to your needs. We are looking for your kind support.

There are many things that I dislike about this email:

  1. Unsolicited Email: This Company has clearly not checked out what the Sustainable Leather Foundation does.
  2. Factual Untruths: There is no such thing as Vegan Leather
  3. Misleading narrative: Top manufacturer (that I’ve never heard of) among the other deceptive quotes that are in bold above).

 

As you would imagine, I sent a response to this Company advising them of the following:

“There is no such thing as Vegan Leather.  Leather by its very definition is a product derived from an animal.

I would appreciate it if you would correct your marketing communications to stop misleading consumers about the material composition of your product.

I would also alert you to the incoming legislation about Green Claims – and urge you to please refrain from making unsubstantiated claims as this will soon be illegal for anyone buying or selling in Europe. Terms like “guilt-free” and “ethical” included within your brochure are emotive and not factual.

Finally, as the Founder and Managing Director of the Sustainable Leather Foundation, it is highly inappropriate for you to be sending me an email trying to sell your products – it clearly shows that you have not made any due diligence check of what our Foundation does.

I request you remove this email address from your mailing list and refrain from sending further emails”.

I am sure I am not the only one who receives emails of this nature, and I am not afraid of speaking my mind in return.  However, the threat to our industry is that if this email lands in the inbox of someone working for a brand that utilises many textiles and fabrics, that person may not understand that this email is a mass of untruths and misdirection.   Communication in our society today is a tool that is abused and underestimated.

A speaker I once listened to (and I can’t remember who it was) said something years ago and it has stuck with me.  Indeed it’s a phrase I repeat when I am making presentations myself:

“Truth Decay:  If you say something often enough, eventually people will believe it, whether it is true or not…”

The lines between truthful communication about a product or service, and marketing untruths designed to mislead for profit are becoming more and more blurred. 

“Truth Decay” results in diminishing trust of objective facts and an increased blurring between fact and opinion.  This erosion of trust in factual information has significant implications across many sectors, including our own leather industry where environmental, ethical and animal welfare topics are used to dissuade consumers from purchasing leather in favour of plastic derived alternatives.  This is manifested with the rise of greenwashing – a deceptive practice where companies exaggerate, omit or falsify their material composition to appeal to the growing base of emotive consumers.

Truth Decay trends are driven by a range of factors, including changes in the way information is exchanged (like the rise of social media and 24-hour news cycles), cognitive biases, and polarisation. Truth Decay also undermines the foundations of informed decision-making and erodes the public’s ability to engage in rational debate and critical thinking.

One of the biggest symptoms of Truth Decay is Greenwashing. As consumers increasingly seek products and services that align with their environmental values, companies are creating marketing campaigns designed to present themselves as environmentally responsible with good social values and ethical behaviours. However, the lack of rigorous standards and the opacity in reporting ESG practices has allowed for widespread misinformation.

Truth Decay can be characterised four key trends:

  1. Increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data.
  2. A blurring of the line between opinion and fact.
  3. The increasing relative amount, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact.
  4. Declining trust in formerly respected sources of factual information.

The EU is introducing new regulation to stop Greenwashing – the EU Green Claims Directive – which is hoped to be in force in 2025.  This regulation is designed to prevent:

  • Vague Claims: Companies that use ambiguous terms like “eco-friendly,” “natural,” or “green” without providing clear definitions or evidence to support these claims.
  • Irrelevant Information: Highlighting minor or irrelevant environmentally friendly practices to distract from overall poor environmental performance.
  • False Labels: Creating fake certifications or misleading labels that suggest third-party endorsement.
  • Hidden Trade-offs: Advertising a product as environmentally friendly based on a narrow set of attributes without addressing significant negative impacts.

Greenwashing undermines the genuine efforts that companies make and leads to even more mistrust with the consumer.  It also confuses consumers and can lead to greater cynicism and reduced trust in all ESG claims, making it harder for truly sustainable companies to differentiate themselves. Additionally, it can perpetuate increased harm or degradation by allowing companies to continue harmful practices under a veneer of sustainability.

The introduction of the EU Green Claims Directive can be seen as a positive change for the leather industry.  Any organisation wanting to make a claim that something is “better”, “more environmental”, “more ethical”, “kind to animals”, or whatever other bad marketing claim they currently use, will have to be able to prove it.  We can look forward to being able to differentiate ourselves as an industry because we can already show data to demonstrate our ESG credentials.

As an industry it is important that we continue to be accountable for those sustainability risks that are within our influence and to continue to work with our upstream and downstream value chain industries to ensure long term sustainable objectives.

We have to continue to educate consumers about the dangers of truth decay and greenwashing, encouraging them to look behind the marketing headline and to become critical thinkers – the truth is usually buried deep underneath the marketing hype.

We must also continue to take accountability for our industry’s risks, and not to succumb to greenwashing tactics of our own, and we must at all times counter the falsehoods and promote authenticity of approach and ethics.

Truth Decay and greenwashing are intertwined challenges in our contemporary society. By fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and informed consumerism, we can navigate the complexities of the misinformation era and begin to rebuild trust in information, to ensure that our industry has a sustainable and truthful future.

Thanks for reading!

Deborah

Managing Director

Sustainable Leather Foundation

For more information about how Sustainable Leather Foundation supports the industry, you can visit our website:  www.sustainableleatherfoundation.com or email us at info@sustainableleatherfoundation.com