Eco-conscious shoppers who visit Boohoo’s website would be forgiven for thinking that many of the skinny jeans, crop tops and miniskirts they are browsing are sustainable. After all, they have been labelled as “Ready for the Future” – part of Boohoo’s flagship sustainability range.

But an investigation by i can reveal that, according to information on Boohoo’s own website, hundreds of items in the range appear to have been inaccurately labelled as meeting the brand’s own “Ready for the Future” criteria.

The news has prompted campaigners to accuse the fast-fashion brand of greenwashing.

Jeans, shirts and miniskirts are among the items listed as being more than 80 per cent polyester, cotton or viscose, which is not identified as sustainable. But they have also been listed as part of the brand’s flagship eco-range.

According to Boohoo’s rules, these items should not qualify as “Ready for the Future”. It says the range will include only “any garment that is made of more than 20 per cent of our stated ‘better materials’ – which range from recycled polyester to organic cotton and responsibly sourced viscose.

“This is the absolute minimum,” it adds. “Most garments will be 50 per cent or more.” But no explanation is offered to consumers about why garments presented as having less than 20 per cent of these materials have also been tagged as sustainable.

Boohoo is already under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), for potentially misleading shoppers about the sustainability of its products.

The CMA revealed in July that it was examining whether Boohoo set stringent enough criteria for items to be labelled as sustainable or included in eco-ranges such as “Ready for the Future”. It is also considering whether some items have been included in these collections when they do not meet the criteria.

In response to i’s findings, Greenpeace campaigner Maja Darlington said: “Boohoo might try to coat itself in greenwash but, as this investigation shows, that green marketing is little more than the thinnest veneer.”

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Boohoo has been making a wider push to improve its green credentials and this month announced Kourtney Kardashian Barker as a brand ambassador “with a focus on sustainability”. She also has launched two new collections, which were not analysed by i.

The investigation rather looked at the “Ready for the Future” range launched in 2021 alongside a wider sustainability agenda. In many instances, the threshold Boohoo set for products to be included in the range is seemingly not met.

i built an algorithm to pull details of all the items on Boohoo’s website labelled as “Ready for the Future” as of 13 September 2022. It assessed the resulting 3,012 items of clothing and accessories.

The results showed that 194 items were more than 90 per cent cotton, for example, but no information was provided to show the cotton qualified as a ‘better material’. A £38 shirred bandeau jumpsuit, made from 95 per cent cotton and 5 per cent polyester, is labelled on Boohoo’s site as “Ready for the Future” despite no information about how the cotton or polyester meets the firm’s “better materials” criteria.

Meanwhile, a dozen items were tagged as part of the “Ready for the Future” range despite the product information showing them to be made almost entirely from polyester that was not labelled as recycled. A pair of wide-leg green striped trousers, retailing for £18, was listed as being made of 100 per cent polyester. Under the “Ready for the Future” criteria, these should not qualify for the range.

Boohoo promises in its sustainability guide that “customers will be able to see the product’s material composition
and how it meets our Ready for the Future credentials on our product web pages”.

i also found multiple instances of Boohoo covertly changing the labels on products, removing “Ready for the Future” tags from items with no explanation. In one example, a pair of men’s denim shorts were labelled as “Ready for the Future” on 26 August, but days later that tag had been dropped from the product page.

Inaccurate labelling was also found. A £9 beach playsuit is labelled as “Ready for the Future”, and the product description states that it is both “made with organic cotton” and is “100 per cent recycled polyester”.

Ethical fashion campaigner Aja Barber said the use of the “Ready for the Future” label in these instances means customers are being misled. “It’s absolutely greenwashing,” she told i. “It’s giving the customer reassurance that you can buy this item and not feel bad about it.”

She said fast-fashion brands must be more transparent about how their products are made, particularly when they are marketed as sustainable, so that shoppers can make informed decisions. “The customer needs to understand what they are buying,” she said.

But Dr Mark Sumner, a lecturer in sustainability, retail and fashion at the University of Leeds, believes the findings are the result of data-handling errors. “It is really quite common when firms are starting on the journey of sustainability that they have problems with marketing and stuff on the web,” he told i. “I don’t think they are trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. They are just not very good at sorting their website out.”

Boohoo said it is committed to giving customers clear and honest information, is working with the CMA and is making “good progress” on sustainability. But it added: “We recognise the scale of the challenge for us and other retailers is vast and the solutions are not simple.”

The CMA said an update to the investigation would be made in “due course”.

Sustainable fashion: What does Boohoo’s ‘Ready for the Future’ promise mean?

Boohoo promises that its “Ready for the Future” strapline will be used only on garments made of more than 20 per cent “better materials”. These are listed as…

Recycled fibres Recycled cotton, polyester or acrylic are fabrics that are made by remanufacturing existing materials, reducing waste and curbing demand for virgin fibres. Recycled polyester, for example, is made by melting down existing plastic and respinning it into new fibres.

Organic cotton Cotton grown without using chemical fertilisers and pesticides for lower environmental impact than conventional cotton.

Leather, wool, feather and down Wool, feather and down certified to high animal welfare standards
and leather from tanneries that are working to reduce their environmental impact.

Responsibly sourced viscose Viscose is a type of rayon made from wood pulp. Responsibly sourced viscose comes from well-managed forests and is produced using responsible practices.

Surplus textiles Using vintage, surplus and rescued fabrics, reducing fabric waste to landfill.

Customers will be able to see each item’s material composition and how it meets “Ready for the Future” credentials on product web pages, Boohoo promises.