Insetting: 3 brands and how they approach it

Plus a checklist to detect greenwashing traps in your carbon communication

Welcome to The Crisps–your weekly newsletter on anti-greenwashing and honest fashion communication. In this issue, we will discuss insetting efforts by brands in our and will give you a checklist to detect greenwashing traps in your carbon communication. If you haven’t subscribed yet, make sure to not miss out by becoming a pro subscriber (a BIG thank you to everyone who already is!).

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Hello, there! Glad you’re here for our pro issue on insetting. Last week we discussed the differences between insetting and offsetting and why brands should care about carbon literacy.

In this issue, we look at the topic in more detail and will analyze 3 brands and their approaches to insetting. It’s definitely not an easy topic to tackle for brands and all three of our examples are just taking the first steps in this direction. But they are worth looking at.

If you know of any brand that is doing a LOT of insetting successfully already... Please let us know, we don’t want to dissect & criticize only – we want to show great, positive examples, but they are not that easy to come by. So thank you in advance for sending them our way!

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These brands are starting to implement insetting

1. Patagonia

The outdoor clothing brand is known for its commitment to environmental sustainability. Even though they are not perfect (but who is?!) and for example still use lots and lots of synthetic fibers – Patagonia is one of the brands following insetting approaches. They are doing it by investing in “regenerative organic agriculture practices”¹ to grow the materials used in their products such as cotton.

On their website², it reads: “After committing to organic cotton in 1996, we began supporting farmers to grow cotton using Regenerative Organic Certified® practices, which prioritizes organic, no- and low-till methods that build healthy soil and respect the welfare of people and animals. We piloted a first crop of Regenerative Organic Certified cotton in India in 2018, working with more than 150 farmers to implement this highest organic standard. Since then, the cotton program has grown to include over 2,000 farmers. In Spring 2022, we launched our first collection of Regenerative Organic Certified cotton products.”