Are fashion brands contributing to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest?

After the images of the open-air dumps for used clothes from around the world in the Atacama Desert and Al Jazeera, even the big fast fashion chains have launched campaigns on sustainability, but perhaps more to justify themselves morally in the eyes of consumers rather than for a real desire for change, as evidenced by the recent study conducted by The Guardian, an in-depth analysis of the complex global supply chains of the fashion industry and how big brands, such as Coach, LVMH, Prada, H&M, Zara, Adidas, Nike, New Balance, Teva, UGG and Fendi, contribute massively to deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro also forcibly removed indigenous peoples, driving the tribes out of the forest that had been their home for centuries, to make way for agriculture, mining and other development activities.

Credits: @kevinarnoldphoto

The report analyzed nearly 500,000 lines of customs data and found that more than 50 brands are linked to the largest exporter of Brazilian leather, JBS, one of the main responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon. Despite the multiple policies in place, brands still manage to circumvent the rules or ignore them by continuing to exploit the planet's resources at a fast pace: "The rate of deforestation is increasing, so the policies have no material effect" said Greg Higgs, one of the researchers involved in the report. There is a real chance that every single piece of clothing comes from cattle ranches in the Amazon, another cause of deforestation in the area. Of the 84 companies analyzed by the report, 23 had explicit policies against deforestation, based on the data collected, the researchers believe that they are therefore violating their policies, among them the LVMH group, despite the fact that at the beginning of this year the brand has committed publicly to protect the vulnerable region with Unesco. While the Coach case caused a scandal, brought to general attention by @diet_prada, according to which the company's employees voluntarily damaged shoes and various luxury accessories to declare them as damaged goods and save on taxes.

Between a more difficult ecological transition than expected, greenwashing and overproduction, brands should not exploit this particular historical moment not to contribute to deforestation elsewhere, such as in Guatemala or Mexico, but invest and explore alternatives that are not extractive, find alternative solutions that are not of animal origin or plastic-based: ecological fibers such as hemp, organic and recycled cotton, rubber, jute and ramia or laboratory alternatives such as Tencel or Lyocell, up to the most imaginative declinations such as Desserto, the winning fabric of the LVMH Awards 2020 that is obtained from cactus waste or Nopal, vegan leather extracted from the mycelium, or a part that makes up the roots of mushrooms, patented by Bolt Threads and supported by a consortium formed by none other than Adidas, Kering, Lululemon and Stella McCartney to boost production and sales. So with economic means and advances in science, brands really have no more excuses to postpone the change or to fake it.