We investigated almost 500 sustainability claims from 17 of the biggest European fashion companies to find who can keep their commitments, and who skirts the issue.
This project is a collaboration within the European Data Journalism Network.
Project lead: Deutsche Welle, research by Kira Schacht and Ana Muñoz Padrós
Project partners: El Orden Mundial, EUrologus, Facta.eu, The Journal, Voxeurop
In this repository, you will find the methodology and data behind this investigation.
Links will be added as articles are published.
- DW: "From luxury to fast fashion: How green are European brands?" [ Chinese | English | German | Russian | Spanish | Turkish ]
- Chateurope: From luxury to fast fashion: how green are European brands? [English]
- European Data Journalism Network: From luxury to fast fashion: How green are European brands? [English]
- FACTA.EU: Behind the Labels: Fashion Brands Meet Half of Their Green Pledges [English | Italian]
- The Journal Investigates:
Data was collated from various sources and collected for this project by collaborators.
Companies were selected from a list of the biggest fashion companies headquartered in Europe, measured by sales/revenue, based on the following sources:
- Deloitte, Global Powers auf Retailing Report 2025: "Leading European apparel and accessories retailers ranked by worldwide retail sales in 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)"
- McKinsey, The State of Fashion 2025, p. 141: Top 20 players by economic profit, 2023, USD (millions)
- CompaniesMarketCap, Largest clothing companies by market cap, accessed September 2025
Partners each selected the most relevant companies for their respective countries. Selection criteria were kept as homogenous as possible.
For each company, we analyzed annual and sustainability reports, as well as supplemental reporting, starting from the year 2000, to find any publicly stated pledges or goals relating to sustainability, e.g.:
- reduction or replacement of harmful chemicals
- increasing more sustainable materials like cotton, leather, recycled polyester, ...
- water use and intensity reductions
- waste management
- energy use and efficiency
- emissions reductions
For each pledge, we noted the following:
| pledge year | Year the commitment was made |
| goal year | Year of target |
| description | Free-text explanation of target |
| goal value | Target value |
| source | Link and name of source |
| notes | Further comments |
We then noted the state of reporting in the baseline year, as well as the target year.
We contacted all companies covered in this report for comment, and asked for clarification on any targets labeled "unclear". Company responses to each pledge are logged in the database. Where clarification based on publicly available sources was provided, we amended the database. If companies did not comment further on targets or did not provide publicly available documentation, the targets remained labeled as unclear.
For each promise, we evaluated the data as follows:
| status | description |
|---|---|
| achieved | Pledge achieved |
| failed | Pledge failed |
| unclear | No information found, or information unclear |
| future | Target year is in the future |
We assigned each pledge one category, reflecting the most relevant content of the promise as best possible.
| type | description |
|---|---|
| animal products | Focus on animal welfare or reduction of animal products |
| circular economy | Product design or business measures to improve the recyclability and reusability of items |
| eco certification | Achievement of official sustainability certifications, if not covered elsewhere |
| emissions | Reducing absolute or relative GHG emissions |
| energy | Reducing energy use or intensity, switching to renewables |
| environmental protection | Reducing environmental impacts, restoring ecosystems, biodiversity |
| hazardous substances | Reducing the use and leakage of hazardous substances |
| sustainable materials | Shifting to more sustainable clothing materials |
| traceability | Improving data availability and traceability of the supply chain and its environmental and climate impacts |
| waste management | Reducing waste, improving recycling of waste |
| water use | Reducing water use and intensity |
| others | Any other pledges |
The full database, available in this repository under Fashion Promises Database.xlsx or as a Google Sheet, provides detailed information on each pledge, as well as an analysis sheet detailing the results.