By Tirzah Rezende

 

Brazil has emerged as one of the top applicants for the B Company seal for best social, environmental and governance practices, as well as the transparent way it communicates its public commitments, according to the latest list published by Best For The World™, a global network of B Companies or B Corp companies seeking to exchange best practices and explore opportunities for collaboration towards positive collective impact.

 

Complementing the system to combat greenwashing in Brazil, according to journalist and sustainable fashion specialist Julia Codogno, we have other legal enforcement tools to curb this practice. The Consumer Protection Code (Código de Defesa do Consumidor, in Portuguese) is the first example.

 

«Currently quite consolidated it serves as a basis for possible regulations and establishes that disclosing information that leads to an error at the time of purchase is also subject to sanction, which includes the practice in the textile sector,» she says.

 

Codogno also highlighted the app «Moda Livre», which evaluates the involvement of clothing brands in slave labor. At the moment, following the same purpose, there are the mandatory sustainability reports for publicly traded companies generating greater articulation and implementation of best practices and evidence of them.

 

We are fed up with seeing, for instance, containers of clothing waste spread through large retail stores such as H&M, in exchange of discount coupons and garments with labels indicating they are made from 100% of recycled textiles. But, how does this process work?

 

To put it bluntly, the answer is to educate and to inform, clearing up the prejudices behind the textile industry. Facing the greenwashing means to pay attention to the transparency process at all the stages of the value chain of major brands and fashion companies.

 

Terms such: sustainable, durable, organic, ecological, ethical, recycled, upcycling, vintage, crafted, natural, biological, handmade, local manufactured (or Brazilian product), chemicals free, original, fair trade, circular, manual, confuse the consumer, even those who want to be more responsible.

 

These are some of the warnings and tools that are being used in Brazil to tackle the greenwashing, which is a tactic that represents the action of companies who wish to act in bad faith to mislead consumers about their real practices and environmental impact.