It is remarkable how little we know about the items we buy and use in our everyday lives. Providing product transparency as part of the sacred covenant between brands and shoppers is a relatively new convention. And while clarity into the facts surrounding a purchase has improved, it has been slow going with much to accomplish still.
For example, it wasn´t until the 1990s that food companies in the US were required to provide standardized nutritional information on the external packaging of their products – and this only came after years of consumer clamoring for a basic level of insight about the things we put into our bodies.
So when it comes to knowing the details of the clothing we put on our bodies, we are unsurprisingly still very much in the dark. US law requires brands to provide rudimentary product information, such as fiber content and country of origin. Of course, this labeling tells us nothing about how our clothing was made or the impact these items have on the world around us.
However, with the advent of the global sustainability movement, consumer consciousness about the environmental toll of the fashion industry has taken on new meaning and momentum. As such, in recent years, shoppers have started demanding more insight into the garments that make up this $2.5 trillion annual global business.