These major fashion brands have been linked to deforestation in the Amazon

100+ of the brands that might have made the leather accessories or items you are wearing have been found to have a link or multiple links to the deforestation in the Amazon.

Why is deforestation even happening in the Amazon in the first place?

Scientists recognize that the rainforest is approaching a tipping point of irreversible ecosystem collapse in a fast way (in the image above in red and yellow the areas affected).

Cattle as an industry has been found to be the single largest driver of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and of tropical forests globally (World Resource Institute-2001 to 2015, Union of Concerned Scientists- 2016) – and this deforestation that comes along with it accounts for the emission that all airplane flights create in a year.

So basically, since cattle need ranching, trees get cut to create space for that, and cattle are used for meat and leather.

Who are the clothing brands linked to deforestation in the Amazon?

Adidas, NIKE Company, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, ASICS, H&M Group, Ralph Lauren, 31 Phillip Lim are some of the brand names this research has found multiple connections with the deforestation happening in the Amazon.

There is a full list here.

Gotcha, now go back to your shopping and forget about it

Hopefully not, cause we are all decent people. We are releasing now a new feature on Renoon where you can see all the brands that are linked to the deforestation of Amazon and choose to buy only pre-owned or rent the clothes. Or support brands that have placed sustainability at the heart of everything they do. No one is perfect, but if there is something wrong, we should be able to do our best and choose differently.

If you want to dig deeper in this topic, here’s how fashion is linked to forests, and here’s more on forest friendly brands & items!