New Look

Is New Look an ethical fashion brand?

New Look is a low-ranking brand in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Fashion Retailers Ratings. New Look is a global fashion retailer, based in Britain and owned by New Look Group Limited. It receives a poor Good Shopping Guide score in our Ethical Fashion Retailers Ratings Table. Although New Look has not yet met our Ethical Benchmark, we hope to see the brand make progress in the future.

In what areas does New Look perform poorly for its brand ethics? 

Despite New Look’s progress, there is still room for improvement. The brand was marked down under our criteria for Human Rights (People) for incidents of wage theft.

According to a report titled “Wage theft and pandemic profits,” millions of vulnerable workers in the fast fashion industry have been denied the wages that are legally owed to them for work already completed as a result of order cancellations, non-payment, and other bad business practices by brands during the COVID-19 pandemic. When brands refuse to pay their suppliers or demand cutbacks, it immediately affects the ability of suppliers to pay their employees, even for work that has already been completed. Oftentimes, employees—who are virtually invariably women—go without pay for several months. This study demonstrates how the low wages of garment workers are both caused by and maintained by global clothes supply chains and fashion industry business practices.

It was discovered that New Look was one of the companies whose retail price cuts made poverty worse in countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Ethiopia.

In what areas does New Look perform well? 

New Look performs well for our criteria assessing brands’ Environmental Reports. On its website, New Look has a Sustainability Report (amongst other ethical reports and strategies). This report details New Look’s commitment to Science Based Targets and its issuing of a policy for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and endorsing the Call to Action to Abolish Uyghur Forced Labor. The brand is also a signatory of the BRC Climate Roadmap to Net Carbon Zero by 2040. New Look is also a member of the Better Cotton Initiative. The farmers who make the fabric for New Look are supported in their farming practices as Better Cotton Initiative members; they use water wisely, care for their soil, utilise fewer of the most hazardous chemicals, and defend the rights of their workers. Even though it’s not a completely traceable system, the Better Cotton Initiative helps to transform this difficult sector.

How can New Look improve its Ethical Rating?

The Good Shopping Guide score results from multiple ethical criteria. To reach our minimum Ethical Benchmark and qualify for Ethical Accreditation, New Look has some issues to resolve, including its withholding of wages from vulnerable women in LEDCs, which violates workers’ Human Rights.

If your fashion brand values ethics and sustainability, why not check out The Good Shopping Guide‘s Ethical Accreditation? Increase customer and investor confidence and stand out from the greenwash.