From luxury to fast fashion: How green are European brands?
Analysis on around 500 sustainability claims from 17 of the biggest European fashion companies to find who can keep their commitments about switching to a greener clothing production.
Methodology
Data was collated from various sources and collected for this project by collaborators.
Companies were selected from a list of the biggest fashion companies headquartered in Europe, measured by sales/revenue, based on the following sources:
- Deloitte, Global Powers auf Retailing Report 2025: "Leading European apparel and accessories retailers ranked by worldwide retail sales in 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)"
- McKinsey, The State of Fashion 2025, p. 141: Top 20 players by economic profit, 2023, USD (millions)
- CompaniesMarketCap, Largest clothing companies by market cap, accessed September 2025
Partners each selected the most relevant companies for their respective countries. Selection criteria were kept as homogenous as possible.
For each company, Deutsche Welle analyzed annual and sustainability reports, as well as supplemental reporting, starting from the year 2000, to find any publicly stated pledges or goals relating to sustainability. Crucial information on each pledge was noted, as well as the state of reporting in both the baseline and target years.