Executive Overview
In an era where sustainability claims are woven into nearly every garment tag and beauty product label, consumers are increasingly left wondering where marketing spin ends and genuine ecological commitment begins. Enter Good On You, widely recognized as the world’s leading platform for rating fashion and beauty brands on their environmental, human rights, and animal welfare track records.
Unlike self-reporting mechanisms or confidential industry audits that remain locked behind corporate boardroom doors, Good On You operates on a strict, uncompromising premise: its expert team of analysts only considers publicly available information.
This methodology is not designed to be punitive for the sake of it; rather, it is anchored in the foundational principles of transparency and accountability. Without openly accessible data, tracking real progress in multi-billion-dollar global supply chains is impossible. Consumers have a fundamental right to know how the products they purchase impact the planet, workers, and animals. By examining up to 1,000 publicly available data points per brand, Good On You is exposing the companies doing harm, spotlighting those paving the way toward a regenerative industry, and arming consumers with the rigorous data they need to vote with their wallets.
The Anatomy of Accountability: Why Transparency is Non-Negotiable
Transparency is the bedrock upon which any credible future for the fashion and beauty industries must be built. Being open about what happens behind the scenes—including the unvarnished reality of supply chain mechanics, raw material sourcing, and factory conditions—allows external stakeholders, watchdogs, and everyday shoppers to understand a brand’s actions and hold them accountable.
The Three Pillars of Impact
Good On You’s rating methodology evaluates brands across three critical pillars:
- People: Labor rights, fair wages, safe working conditions, and supply chain traceability.
- The Planet: Carbon emissions, water management, chemical usage, and waste reduction.
- Animals: The ethical treatment of animals, including the use of fur, leather, exotic skins, wool, and animal-derived ingredients in cosmetics.
By systematically analyzing public data across these categories, the platform sorts companies into a spectrum of impact. At one end are brands driving positive change; at the other are those causing active harm. When Good On You issues its lowest ratings—“We Avoid” and “Not Good Enough”—it is not merely an exercise in public shaming. It is a strategic mechanism designed to compel corporations to reform their practices, eliminate harmful operations, and pivot toward ethical alternatives.
"It should be as easy to understand how a product or brand impacts on the sustainability issues that are important to you as it is to know the price or features of a product."
— Gordon Renouf, CEO and Co-Founder of Good On You
Uncovering Hidden Horrors
For decades, fashion and beauty conglomerates operated under a veil of secrecy, shielding devastating realities from the public eye. Consumers have frequently been shocked to discover the true human and environmental costs behind their favorite purchases.
Consider the severe health hazards associated with toxic chemical exposure during viscose production, the unethical exploitation of animal labor (such as monkeys harvested for coconut-based beauty ingredients), or the catastrophic structural failures like the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which claimed over a thousand lives.
Without demands for mandatory, public disclosures regarding chemical management, factory safety, and wage transparency, corporations can easily sweep these tragedies under the rug. Conversely, celebrating true industry pioneers is only possible when their achievements are backed by verifiable public evidence.
Supporting Context and Metrics: The State of Industry Disclosure
Despite increasing consumer demand for ethical alternatives, the fashion and beauty sectors still face a monumental transparency deficit. The landscape of corporate reporting remains patchy, opaque, and heavily skewed away from accountability.
The Big Players Fall Short
Perhaps the most damning indictment of the current corporate landscape is the performance of major retail giants. Out of 40 of the world’s most profitable and influential fashion brands analyzed by Good On You, zero received a “Great” rating. This staggering statistic highlights a complete vacuum of leadership and transparency from the industry’s most powerful market makers.
A deeper dive into Good On You’s directory of over 6,000 rated fashion brands reveals systemic blind spots across key environmental indicators:
- Water Management: 61% of large brands fail to disclose any information regarding their water usage, conservation, or wastewater treatment protocols.
- Chemical Management: 54% of large brands provide zero public data concerning their chemical usage and the safety protocols applied to textile processing.
- General Environmental Policies: While smaller brands struggle with formal reporting, 24% of small brands publish no details on their environmental policies. Surprisingly, even among large corporations, 18% fail to publish basic policy frameworks.
The Climate Target Illusion
Setting climate goals has become a favorite public relations tactic for fashion houses, but follow-through remains rare. According to Good On You’s research, 81% of large fashion brands that have established greenhouse gas emissions targets fail to state whether they are actually on track to meet them.
Publicizing an ambitious net-zero goal for 2050 is easy when there is no interim accountability. To combat greenwashing, corporate disclosure must extend far beyond visionary statements; it requires regular, verifiable progress reports detailing how close—or how far—a brand is from achieving its stated targets.
Perspectives from the Frontlines: Navigating the Obstacles to Disclosure
Why are multi-billion-dollar corporations so hesitant to publish their data? The barriers are cultural, structural, and legal, as explained by Good On You ratings analyst Jessica Ouano.
Internal Bureaucracy and Legal Hesitation
According to Ouano, many large brands cite internal red tape as a primary deterrent to total transparency.
"Some large brands have mentioned to us that they aren’t disclosing information on all their sustainability initiatives because they need approvals internally to disclose everything. I understand that can make it more challenging," Ouano notes.
Furthermore, corporate legal departments are acutely aware that publishing detailed supply chain data invites intense public scrutiny. When brands put their metrics on the record, they open themselves up to immediate fact-checking by consumer advocacy groups, NGOs, and investigative journalists. If a discrepancy is found between marketing claims and reality, the resulting backlash can be severe.
"Despite that, we strongly believe that it is important for brands to be transparent since it encourages accountability," Ouano argues. "It also allows consumers and stakeholders connected to a brand to call them out when the information they do share about their initiatives is misleading or incorrect. I would think that is one of the reasons why larger brands are more careful with disclosing information."
Small Brands vs. Large Giants
Navigating transparency is not an even playing field. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face distinct disadvantages compared to multinational corporations. Large brands possess vast financial reserves, dedicated sustainability departments, and immense leverage over their supply chains.
To maintain fairness, Good On You’s rating methodology explicitly distinguishes between large and small brands, utilizing the European Commission’s definition based on annual turnover. The platform applies nuanced criteria that acknowledge the resource limitations faced by independent designers, while holding corporate giants to a significantly higher standard of in-depth reporting.
For smaller brands worried about their ratings, Good On You provides actionable guidance. The key lies in being current, specific, and honest, tackling the most impactful sustainability issues first rather than attempting an impossible, enterprise-level reporting framework overnight.
Official Statements and Industry Evolution
The push for mandatory public transparency is not just about catching bad actors; it is about driving structural transformation across the entire global economy.
Moving Past Greenwashing
Greenwashing occurs when brands mask destructive practices behind vague, feel-good marketing buzzwords. Terms like "eco-friendly," "conscious," or "sustainable" are tossed about without a single data point to back them up. Without external pressure forcing brands to substantiate these claims, the status quo remains unchanged.
In response to tightening global regulations and mounting consumer skepticism, a new, equally dangerous phenomenon has emerged: greenhushing.
The Threat of Greenhushing
Greenhushing occurs when brands choose to say nothing at all about their environmental impacts. Fearing accusations of greenwashing, public backlash for falling short of goals, or legal penalties from increasingly strict regulatory bodies (such as the EU’s directives against misleading environmental claims), some companies are quietly scrubbing their websites of sustainability reports.
Industry leaders warn that retreating into secrecy is a catastrophic mistake. Sandra Capponi, co-founder of Good On You, offers a clear warning against this regression:
"Full transparency may not be easy for an industry with complex supply chains, but it’s really the bare minimum we should expect. Consistency in data and disclosure is critical to consumers’ ability to make informed decisions."
This is precisely why Good On You remains steadfast in its policy: it will never compromise on using anything other than publicly available data. If a brand refuses to make its records public, that silence speaks volumes—and it is reflected directly in its rating.
Future Outlook: Bridging the Gap Between Brands and Buyers
As the regulatory landscape tightens and consumer consciousness reaches an all-time high, the fashion and beauty industries stand at a crucial crossroads. Secrecy is rapidly becoming an untenable business strategy.
Tools for Transformation
To help brands navigate this new paradigm, platforms like Good On You are evolving beyond mere rating agencies. Through initiatives like Good Measures, a dedicated sustainability hub, the platform assists brands of all sizes in understanding their disclosures across the people, planet, and animals pillars. This service helps companies identify their most material impact areas, streamline their reporting, and ultimately improve their standing with both consumers and rating bodies.
Furthermore, Good On You is working toward proactive industry engagement protocols. By alerting brands ahead of rating assessments and providing generalized guidance on what constitutes robust disclosure, the platform aims to bridge the information gap before it alienates consumers.
What Shoppers Can Do Today
For the everyday consumer, navigating the marketplace can feel overwhelming. However, the path forward is clear:
- Demand Evidence: Never take a brand’s sustainability page at face value. Look for third-party certifications, codes of conduct, and verifiable data.
- Check the Directory: Utilize independent tools like the Good On You app and directory to research brands before making a purchase.
- Reward Transparency: Support brands that willingly publish comprehensive data regarding their supply chains, even if they admit they are still working to resolve certain shortcomings. An honest brand striving to improve is infinitely more trustworthy than a silent corporation hiding behind polished marketing campaigns.
Ultimately, the future of fashion and beauty depends on collective accountability. By insisting that public transparency become the non-negotiable industry standard, consumers, analysts, and ethical brands can dismantle greenwashing at its root and build an industry that truly respects people, the planet, and animals.
Editor’s note: Feature image via Unsplash. Good On You publishes the world’s most comprehensive ratings of fashion brands’ impact on people, the planet, and animals. Use their directory to search thousands of rated brands. This article was last updated on August 19, 2026, to ensure all referenced sources and metrics remain timely and accurate.
