Can an Ultra-Fast Fashion Brand Be ‘Sustainable’?

Browse US-Australian brand Princess Polly’s website and you could be looking at any of dozens of low-cost, ultra-fast fashion platforms scrambling to compete with sector leader Shein for a slice of the Gen Z market.

New styles drop daily, promising “Insta-ready, TikTok-approved, celeb-worthy” ‘fits for the weekend. Offers abound, and in case customers are hesitating to make a purchase, top-selling products come with nudging reminders that they are going fast.

But Princess Polly is aiming to carve out a particular niche in a crowded and intensely competitive market. The brand’s mission, it says, is to “make on-trend fashion sustainable.”

The brand has launched a “lower impact” section of its website for products made with less environmentally damaging materials, like recycled polyester and organic cotton. It emphasises its commitment to ethical sourcing and promotes its fast-paced, trend-driven business model as low-waste because, it says, the Shein-like test-and-repeat approach reduces the risk of overproduction and unsold inventory.

Last week, it became a certified B Corp, gaining the endorsement of one of the world’s leading corporate responsibility labels — a coveted achievement for companies looking to sell consumers on their commitment to environmental and social good.

But the move has raised eyebrows amongst sustainable fashion advocates, who see business models like Princess Polly’s as the antithesis of responsible practice.

“If it’s not about making and selling less, rather than fast trends and constant sales, they shouldn’t have any sustainability certificates at all,” said Brett Staniland, a model, academic and sustainable fashion editor. “Awarding fast fashion is unnecessary and damaging… It’s a slippery slope for B Corp to engage with brands like this.”

To B or Not to B Corp

These kinds of criticism has become a growing headache for B Lab, the nonprofit behind the B Corp programme. The label meant to serve as a stamp of approval for good actors has in fact become its own form of greenwashing, critics argue.

Earlier this year, cult soap brand Dr. Bronner’s loudly and publicly quit the programme, complaining that the certification scheme’s system allowed large multinational companies with significant environmental footprints and poor ethical track records to qualify.

“The integrity of the B Corp Certification has become compromised and remaining certified now contradicts our mission,” Dr. Bronner’s said at the time.

B Lab said it is focused on “continuous improvement” for its standards and that achieving its vision for a more environmentally and socially responsible economy means working with businesses of all sizes and at all stages of improvement.

It finalised an updated methodology in May following five years of consultation. The new assessment process will be phased in from next year and will require companies to show they are taking “meaningful action” across seven different impact areas, from climate to human rights, before they can qualify.

Under the old system, companies were scored based on their answers to hundreds of questions designed to test their commitment to better business practices. To qualify for certification they needed to score 80 out of a possible 200 points, meaning a B Corp could perform very poorly in some metrics so long as it did well in others.

Brands like Princess Polly that have already gained B Corp status will have to comply with the new standards once their current certification status ends. In Princess Polly’s case, that will be 2028.

B Lab said the brand spent two years assessing and improving its operations to qualify for certification. Its overall score of 86.8 is just above the 80 point threshold required to gain B Corp status. It performed best in B Lab’s assessment of environmental management practices, which assesses companies’ climate impact, but is also intended to recognise environmentally innovative production processes. Its worst score of just 3.8 was in the section focused on customers, which examines things like the quality of products and services and ethical marketing practices.

Mixed Messages

Other sustainability assessments give Princess Polly less credit.

The brand has been awarded a sad face emoji and “not good enough” grading by Good on You, a sustainability ratings platform specifically focused on the fashion and beauty sectors that works with retailers to help them select and promote more responsible brands. Princess Polly does better than Shein (rated “we avoid”), but worse than Zara and H&M, which both score a neutral “it’s a start.”

Good on You’s ratings are based on public disclosures and Princess Polly doesn’t provide much information, said co-founder Sandra Capponi. “There’s a lack of evidence it’s taking meaningful action,” she added.

The organisation also applies a penalty to ultra-fast-fashion and fast fashion companies, which have business models that encourage overconsumption and rely on high-speed, low-cost production that typically lead to negative environmental and social outcomes, Capponi said.

The different scores reflect different approaches taken by ratings schemes, which can also serve different purposes. One benefit of the B Corp system is that it gives brands an internal framework for accountability and roadmap for improvement, supporters say.

Princess Polly said it’s proud of the progress on environmental, social and governance issues that its B Corp qualification recognises. It pointed to other rankings where it has performed well and environmental reporting initiatives that it participates in. “We remain committed to continuously improving and holding ourselves to high standards in everything we do,” it said.

Others say it’s all just greenwashing.

“Celebrating ultra fast fashion brands like Princess Polly with status and certificates like this, does more harm than good,” said Staniland. “It provides them with a marketing strategy to consumers that it is okay to overconsume their products because they’re ‘sustainable.’”