From Target to Sheike: Australia’s most and least ethical fashion brands, ranked

Billabong, Sheike, Mountain Designs, Windsor Smith and Anaconda are among the Australian brands that came last in a “sobering” ethical fashion report released today, though homegrown brands also dominated the most-improved list this year.

The 2022 Ethical Fashion Report, which assessed 581 brands across 120 fashion companies, scrutinised living wages, forced labour and human rights, as well as the origins of raw materials and sustainable fibres, in the world’s most environmentally damaging industries.

Overall the 2022 edition gave out a fairly low average score of 29 out of 100 (the top score was 86), while the average score of Australian companies was even lower, at 24, compared to the average score of companies based overseas, at 35.

The Baptist World Aid report threw light on the dismal conditions of fashion workers up the supply chain, finding only 10% of all fashion brands pay a living wage while none of the footwear companies, including Birkenstock, Wittner, Nike, Nine West, Keds, and Easy Steps, paid a living wage at any stage of their supply chain.

“With over 60 million garment workers worldwide, it’s time to move beyond policies to take tangible action to empower workers at every stage of the supply chain,” corporate advocacy lead at Baptist World Aid Sarah Knop said.

“Stories of garment workers like Layla in our guide, who’ve worked 13-hour days from age 14, experienced workplace abuse, to earn just $85 a month, is far too common.”

The report also revealed just 60% of brands knew who supplies their raw materials, while only half of all brands (54.2%) use sustainable materials for up to a quarter of their production, a figure that comes as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) flagged it would be cracking down on greenwashing.

Among some of the better-performing Australian brands was local success story Nobody Demin at 48/100 (a 13-point jump from last year). Nobody manufactures the majority of its denim garments in Melbourne with a shortened supply chain of just 6km distance between the factory, head office and retail store.

It could look for inspiration in its Swedish rival, Nudie Jeans, which came in at 57/100 making it the 9th best brand on the list. Founder and creative director Maria Erixon baked ethical practices into the brand when she launched in 2001, and the Nudie team holds itself accountable by releasing an annual sustainability report.

Australian jewellery and accessories brand Mimco, which is part of the Country Road Group, scored 53/100 in the report. The brand is known for lining nearly all Mimco bags with a fibre made of recycled bottles (four bottles a bag), and sourcing leather from tanneries accredited by the Leather Working Group (LWG) standard.

Interestingly, Kmart and Target Australia ranked 10th best overall on the list despite being known as big box retailers, with a 9.5 point improvement from last year at 57/100, while somewhat surprisingly, Spanish-owned import Zara Australia scored 60/100 for both its fashion and homewares arms.

Zara Australia says half of all marketed items fall will under the Join Life standard in 2022 (a sustainability project from the Inditex group where garments are created using low-impact processes and raw materials like organic cotton, Tencel or recycled polyester), while also running on 100% on renewable energy across all offices, logistics centres and stores.

Luxury bed linen brand Sheridan, which was founded by environmentalist Claudio Alcorso more than 50 years ago, scored 60/100, with a 2019 recycling program diverting well in excess of 25,500kg of textile waste from landfill.

Among the Australian brands who bombed the 2022 Ethical Fashion Report was Melbourne-based sports brand 2XU, created by former professional triathlete Jamie Hunt, Australian retail guru Clyde Davenport and marketing specialist Aidan Clarke in 2005, with 0/100.

Other Australian brands that received a zero include Sheike, Windsor Smith, and Novo Shoes, while Anaconda, Bardot, Harris Scarfe, Mountain Designs, and Easy Steps all received just 1 out of 100.

Surf brands Quicksilver, Roxy, and Billabong all received 5/100, while German-owned Birkenstock came in astonishingly low at 7/100 too.

Brands that ranked around the middle of the bunch were R.M. Williams (33/100), P.E. Nation (32/100), Ksubi (31/100), ASICS (31/100), Veronika Maine (30/100), Rivers (30/100), Atmos&Here (29/100), Myer (24/100), Allbirds (27/100) and Peter Alexander (27/100).

But overall Australian brands are doing better, the report found — eight out of the 10 whose scores improved the most from 2021 to 2022 are Aussie-owned.

Check out all the scores here.

Most improved companies 2022

(Australian-owned are bolded)

1. Forever New (+20.76)
2. R.M. Williams (+20.69)
3. Nobody Denim (+13.83)
4. Rip Curl (+13.76)
5. Lorna Jane (+12.25)
6. Universal Store (+10.76)
7. Kmart and Target Australia (+9.48)
8. Princess Polly (+8.04)
9. Boohoo (+8.04)
10. Ralph Lauren (+7.97)

Top scoring companies 2022

1. Mighty Good Basics
2. Patagonia
3. AS COLOUR
4. Inditex
5. Adidas
6. Puma
7. Hanesbrands
8. Rodd & Gunn
9. Nudie Jeans Co
10. Kmart and Target Australia