Good On You is an app which enables consumers to make informed shopping choices. With their own brand rating system, Good On You rewards ethical fashion brands through empowering consumers to make fashion choices that are respectful of people, the earth and animals. The five-point rating system shows consumers where a brand is located on a sustainability scale.
Founded by Gordon Renouf and Sandra Capponi, Good On You was launched 2015 in Australia and rolled out in Europe one year ago. It is now the largest app of its kind worldwide. Storing data for more than 2,000 brands, it allows users to search for a brand name, or a garment, and instantly see the out-of-five rating as well as a summary of how ethical the company is.
The Brand Rating System
To determine their ratings Good On You looks at brands supply chain, considering the treatment of workers, environmental impact and the use of animal by-products.
To address the social aspect, they look at a brands impact on workers. This includes looking at policies and practices on child labour, forced labour, worker safety, freedom of association (the right to join a union) and payment of a living wage. These conditions are not met in most sweatshops. Furthermore, Good on You considers a brand’s supplier relationships and auditing practices.
Regarding the environmental impact they consider the brand’s resource use and disposal, energy use and carbon emissions, impacts on water, as well as chemical use and disposal. To rate the use of animal by-products, they identify the use of fur, angora, down feather, shearling, karakul and exotic animal skin and hair. They equally consider wool use including ‘mulesing’ and whether and how the brand uses leather.
Additionally, Good On You considers if brands are taking constructive steps such as providing industry leadership on issues. Further they take into account whether they engage in ‘negative citizenship’ like lobbying against legislation to increase transparency or reduce harm.
Certifications and Beyond
To rate brands, they build on standard certification schemes and other independent rating projects. Information about how a brand performs on an issue comes from standard certification schemes like Fair Trade, OEKO-TEX and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). But they also look further than that. If a brand does not have such prominent certifications, they also check standard systems the brand may choose to follow and the other actions that it claims to take.
Still, only a minority of brands have their products certified. Especially for small ethical brands, receiving and implementing certifications can be challenging. The process of obtaining them can be resource intensive. Therefore, the Good On You rating-approach can be utilitarian for those ethical brands that do not have the resources to obtain prominent certifications yet.
In case an issue is not fully covered by a standard system or rating, Good On You considers the brand’s own official statements. They focus on those statements where it matches certain conditions that increase its reliability and usefulness. In particular, Good On You looks for statements that make relevant and specific claims which, when revealed as greenwashing, would breach misleading advertising laws.
Dissolving the Stigma
Ethical fashion brands still have to combat the stigma of being unflattering, unfashionable and hippyish. Good On You helps to dissolve this stigma. The app itself is modish, has a user-friendly interface and their beautifully curated Instagram feed is soon to reach 100’000 followers.
To spread the word of ethically produced fashion, they partnered up with the actress, UN Ambassador and ethical fashion role model Emma Watson. «I support Good On You because I need to know my clothes do not harm our precious planet or its people. It is my benchmark for sustainable fashion. This means that when I am given a platform to speak about my choice of outfit, I will have a meaningful story to tell. And it’s powerful». Watson says about her partnership with Good On You.
With this clever strategy Good On You brings ethical fashion into the mindset of fashion lovers. Especially for small ethical brands – which often do not have the resources to do big marketing campaigns – it can be of great support to be part of the platform. Jamil Mokthar, who produces Fair Trade and ethical graphic T-shirts with his label A New York Affair said: «For small ethical fashion brands or entrepreneurs who want to achieve something in the field it is important to be on the right platforms. The majority of sales I do with my t-shirts is through Good On You.»
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