An anti-competition complaint has been submitted against leading fashion brand Lululemon by advocacy nonprofit Stand.earth over claims that the company misleads customers about its environmental impact.
- The complained was filed on 8 February with the Competition Bureau Canada.
- According to Stand.earth, Lululemon — one of Canada’s most influential companies and one of the world’s biggest fashion brands — presents itself in its advertisement campaigns as a company whose actions and products contribute to a healthier environment and planet.
- However, the complaint argued that Lululemon’s business is inconsistent with its public claims to be an environmentally positive company.
THE CAMPAIGN IN QUESTION: The complaint hinged on the 'Be planet' campaign of Lululemon.
- The complaint said that it was directed at “a marketing campaign that goes too far by creating the general impression that the company’s actions and products are positively contributing to the environment and a healthier planet. The Applicants are of the opinion that representations of this nature are appropriate only for companies whose true purpose is protection of the environment and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.”
- Lululemon also had scored a ‘C-’ in Stand.earth’s 2023 Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard, which evaluated the company’s performance in taking steps to deploy renewable energy in its supply chain, how its climate targets stack up against others, its state of progress in transitioning from fossil fuel-based fabrics to low-carbon materials, and its actions to reduce fossil-fuel pollution from shipping.
LULULEMON'S PERFORMANCE: The complaint cited several examples:
- Since Lululemon launched its Be Planet marketing campaign in 2020, rather than seeing a reduction in Lululemon’s greenhouse gas emissions, those emissions have increased significantly.
- Lululemon’s own reporting indicates that its reported Scope 3 emissions have more than doubled since 2020, as follows: 2020: 829,456 tCO2e; 2021: 1,343,649 tCO2e; 2022: 1,691,009 tCO2e.
- Lululemon’s 2022 emissions are the equivalent of burning of over 720 million litres of gasoline, over 3.8 million barrels of oil or the fuelling of over 518,000 passenger vehicles for a year.
- Many of Lululemon’s products are made with polyester and nylon, which are manufactured from fossil fuels. Further, over 80% of Lululemon’s manufacturers and suppliers are located in countries with significant fossil fuel reliance and minimal grid renewables, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.
- While Lululemon represents that it is committed to working with its suppliers to increase use of renewable energy and eliminate on-site coal boilers, such representations are not readily verifiable. Many of Lululemon’s largest suppliers do not publish information relating to their coal usage or plans to switch to renewable energy.
- The detrimental impact of Lululemon’s products and actions on the environment is further increased by the company’s use of air and marine freight to transport its products.
- A study that assessed the use of air freight by major companies in the apparel industry highlighted Lululemon’s high use of air freight. The study found that Lululemon transports by air freight approximately 30% of its products manufactured in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. In contrast, competitors such as Nike, Adidas and Puma transported less than 5% of their products from Vietnam by air.
- Lululemon relies heavily on synthetic fabrics in their products, with polyester and nylon representing over 60% of the company’s material mix. Accordingly, based on the sources noted above, when Lululemon’s polyester and nylon products are washed by consumers, significant amounts of microplastics are released.
- While Lululemon claims that it is converting to recycled polyester and nylon in its products, experts do not consider these products to be a truly sustainable alternative as they are energy intensive to manufacture, do not biodegrade and still release microplastics.
- A 2021 study found that washing knitted recycled polyester fabric, which is used by Lululemon, shed 2.3 times more microfibres than virgin polyester.
- It is also likely that many millions of Lululemon’s products also end up in landfills. Lululemon sells millions of garments each year. Many of Lululemon’s products are made of synthetic textile materials that cannot or are not recycled, meaning they contribute to the 92 million tons of textile waste filling landfills around the world every year.
WHAT THEY SAID:
Lululemon states that its ‘products and actions avoid environmental harm and contribute to restoring a healthy planet,’ however, its products are made in factories that burn coal for energy, and are made in countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia that rely heavily on fossil fuels to power their production. Despite these claims, some of the company’s biggest suppliers have made no clear strides towards reducing their negative impact on the planet. I would call that greenwashing.
— Rachel Kitchin
Senior Corporate Climate Campaigner
Stand.earth
Based on how Lululemon’s marketing claims contrast with their reliance on fossil fuels in the majority of their products and their growing emissions, this definitely seems to fit my own oft-cited definition of greenwash as ‘communication that misleads people into adopting overly positive beliefs about an organization’s environmental performance, practices, or products.’ In my expert opinion, as well as as a Canadian citizen and consumer who cares about the planet, this is just the type of corporate communication that the Competition Bureau should be examining carefully for greenwashing,”
—Wren Montgomery
Associate Professor of Management and Sustainability / Co-Founder
Western University / Greenwash Action Lab
