Puma is ‘most sustainable fashion brand’ using this surprising measure

We see a lot of studies these days looking at how sustainable fashion brands are and they often focus on features such as use of eco-friendly materials and recyclability. But a new one has taken a different angle looking at online emissions. 

And it has concluded that Puma is the most sustainable on this measure, followed by The North Face and Tommy Hilfiger.

For its fashion Energy Report, Utility Bidder (a utility switching service) looked at the amount of CO2 produced when a website is visited. In addition to that it examined sustainability ratings and transparency. 

Puma achieved an “almost perfect score of 9.63 out of 10”. The company said it’s “a leader in sustainability with a high sustainability rating, a high level of transparency, and a low amount of CO2 produced whenever someone visits their website”.

The North Face in second place scored 8.84, while PVH’s Tommy Hilfiger was in third place on 8.19. Both The North Face and Hilfiger have strong sustainability plans with the former aiming to manufacture all clothing using 100% responsibly sourced materials by 2025 and the latter targeting all stores and distribution centres being 100% powered by renewable energy by 2030. However, their CO2 levels of website visits were higher than Puma’s.

Hifiger’s PVH stablemate Calvin Klein was fourth on 8.15 and in fact, the amount of CO2 produced when its website is visited was as low as Puma’s, although the German sports giant scored better on both its sustainability rating and transparency.

In positions five to 10 were Timberland, G-Star Raw, Balenciaga, Burberry (a vast improvement from its scandal of half a decade ago when it was found to be burning unsold goods), Converse, and sustainability poster child Patagonia.