Comments on: Green frills and fluff: Is it green or just greenwashing?

By: Siel

Siel — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:20:06 +0000

April — I have no idea what happened between you and UJeans, but I don’t appreciate your posting two comments pretending to be two different people (I deleted the 2nd comment). That silly effort to make UJeans look like it has a bunch of enemies makes me think you’re not exactly a trustworthy or honest person. I hope you’ll refrain from commenting here in the future.

By: april

april — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:03:53 +0000

Please do not order anything from this company!I worked the POOL convention for Ujeans and was given a BAD CHECK!!!Daniel Feurer has yet to make good on the 3 bad checks he wrote for the 3 models including myself who made him lots of sales during the convention!I would strongly advise each one of you to not order nor ever work for this company!!! April Mason

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:18:49 +0000

While it would be great if our fabrics were also organic, I don’t think, that to be geen, one must be organic. Levis only has one pair of organic jeans out of it’s more than 100 lines of jeans that it sells. That one pair of jeans is the most expensive in the general Levis portfolio! Does that make Levis a green company? That’s not for me to decide but for jean customers to answer.

I’m very proud to say that all UJeans are really green. It would do a world of good if all companies did something, smaller steps like Levis or larger steps like Living Wage Clothing.com, however this is what green means for UJeans:

*Fair Trade/Living Wages;
*Environmentally friendly colouring processes;
*Sustainable Growth Cotton;
*Reusable Packaging;
*Giving back to the greater community;

UJeans is not misusing the word “green”. Green is not an absolute definition, it does mean different things to different companies.

When UJeans decides to offer organic cotton as an option, our “Green” policy will be updated. In the mean time, I will continue to be upfront about our definition of green (http://www.ujeans.com/about-efs.html) and hope that other companies will follow and lead the way for others.

Keep up all of the great green work on your site!

By: tracy

tracy — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:21:27 +0000

I guess I would say that all of these products are “green-ish”. I’m not sure that I think being organic is the be all, end all of what makes something green. If the vodka was organic, but used a lot of fossil fuel energy for the rest of the processing is that *more* green? Certainly none of these products go as far as they could, though what they do is better than what non-green oriented products do. However, I certainly don’t like feeling lied to when trying to make good consumer decisions.

By: bradley tuck

bradley tuck — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:56:00 +0000

Hmm, it is a tricky question. I feel that at least something is better than nothing, but the companies in question should get a positive but cautionary reaction form consumers, to encourage them to go that bit further. I understand Daniels jeans conundrum, having interviewed Katharine Hamnett at length about the subject. She uses organic cotton, and is a tireless crusader for its application, but points out herself that it takes time. For the three years or so that the farmer must farm ‘organically’ before the soil can be certified as organic, his yields drop significantly while he still has a family to feed, tools to buy, cottonseed to purchase, which is a WHOLE other story by the way.
Go to Hamnett’s website for more details. But, I appreciate you bringing this stuff up, and love getting your blog sent to me every day.I forward it to all my friends and have got some of them hooked.

By: Rafi

Rafi — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:04:56 +0000

I like how you interpret “sustainable growth cotton.” I read labels in much the same way.

I don’t take as hard a line as Tammi. I certainly don’t require that a company give financial support to green charities (Ford, Exxon, and BP would be among the greenest companies around if that were my most important criterion!).

For me, any “green” company that encourages a disposable/consumerist life-style can’t be considered green. So if Ikea decides to make their fall-apart furniture out of recycled material, it isn’t green. And if Diesel makes hot-for-this-season-only fashions out of organic cotton, it isn’t green.

I think the bottom line is that we, as consumers, need to demand the DETAILS about what makes a product green. Maria Yee et al. can earn our trust by giving us some hard facts about their products and processes, and we can decide for ourselves if that makes them green.

By: Tammi B.

Tammi B. — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:41:14 +0000

What is Green? I think it means different things to different people. For me, “Green” products are Organic, biodegradable/environmentally-friendly & from proven-sustainable sources.

“Green Business” gives back to “Green” Charities, contributes to “Global Cooling” and provides socially-responsible services or aforementioned “Green” products.

For others it may just mean that the company/manufacturer is taking one or more steps to ensure cleaner products or business practices.

I believe that companies who tout their products as “Green” have a responsibility to back up those claims with proven action!

(Tammi steps down from soapbox)Thanks for this post. May it serve as an eye opener for many!!!

By: jacob

jacob — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 10:02:32 +0000

All very nice, these initiatives, but customers can get confused. Just a little bit of organic doesn’t go. For these manufacturers who use a word as green, or should I say misuse it, it is a chance to ride on the success of the real “green” products…