How to write for your sustainable fashion brand (with practical exercises)
As a sustainable fashion brand, your copy has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Talking about your ethical and sustainable values, keeping greenwashing at bay, encouraging your customers to buy, all while letting your brand’s personality shine. It’s enough to make you want to bury your head in the nearest pile of garments, right?!
Here are my top tips for improving the copy for your sustainable fashion brand.
Copy from sustainable lingerie brand Luva Huva (written by me)
1. Be specific
There are so many ways your fashion brand can be sustainable. Do you use recycled fabrics? Do you guarantee workers a fair wage and opportunities for progression? Do you turn old garments into something new? It’s no longer enough just to say your t-shirts are made from ‘eco friendly cotton’. Customers want to know details and they want to see receipts. Tell us exactly why it’s eco friendly and prove it.
This isn’t just customer preference, the Green Claims Code means companies are required to be open and honest about their brand’s sustainable procedures. ASOS, Boohoo and ASDA are already being investigated for potential breaches.
2023 update: This is a fast moving topic. Every week we’re hearing about a different brand having their advertising pulled for unsubstantiated green claims. Visit my article on the Green Claims Code for the latest.
EXERCISE
A quick way to level up your copy is to go through and highlight any sustainability buzzwords. If you see one of these in your copy, can you be more specific or explain what you mean?
Eco friendly
Natural
Sustainable
Planet friendly
2. Be transparent
Talk about how much you’ve achieved for sustainability, but also talk about how far you have to go on your journey. Your transparency will appeal to customers as well as regulators, giving you a roadmap for future action.
Speaking your goals out loud holds you accountable. For this reason, the best copy is more than just a statement but a conversation starter. Offer customers opportunities to respond and ask questions so you can keep learning and improving.
It’s about progress, not perfection, according to fashion brand, Ganni.
EXERCISE
Set three sustainability goals for the next five years and talk about them in your copy. Offer customers the chance to ask questions and respond on social media.
3. Show your personality
Letting your personality shine in your copy helps you stand out from the crowd. Imagine approaching a customer in your store, how would you speak to them? Remember that consistency is so important. If you were to see that same customer the next week, you’d speak to them the same. So it should be when your customer finds you on social media, your website or when they speak to your customer support.
Bec at Dakota Rae Dust nails unique and personality-filled copy. It couldn’t be anyone but her.
EXERCISE
Next time you chat to a customer, think about the kinds of words and phrases you’re using. Maybe you mentioned how soft your lingerie is or how supportive your leggings are. Try to use those words in your copy.
4. Stay up to date with the conversation
Language, science, and understanding around sustainability change all the time. Recently, Lora Nikolaeva Gene, owner of sustainable clothing brand Lora Gene posted on Instagram explaining that the phrase 'garment worker' should be replaced with 'garment professional' to reflect the immense skill people bring to the job.
Stella McCartney moves the story forward with futuristic fabrics
5. Practice what you preach
It’s no good saying you’re diverse and equal if you don’t pay garment professionals fairly or show your garments on models of different ages, races and bodies. Look for inconsistencies between what you say in your copy and what you do elsewhere in the brand.
Beija London saying it with their chest
EXERCISE
Go through your copy and highlight values you aren’t currently embodying in your brand’s action. Fix the actions or remove the copy.
If you’d like some help with your sustainable fashion copywriting, get in touch.