'Good On You' app tells you how ethical fashion brands really are

Do you know where or how your clothes were made?

(Getty Images)

From sweatshops and low-paid workers to the fact that fashion is the world’s second-largest industrial polluter behind oil, it has become seemingly impossible to ignore the connection between what we wear and where or how it was made.

But, ethical shopping is hard and, without the right tools and information, can feel near on impossible.

Enter: Good On You, a free app which is helping people make better purchasing decisions based on their principles.

Founded in 2013 by Gordon Renouf and Sandra Capponi, Good On You first launched in Australia in 2015 but rolled out in Europe last month to become the largest app of its kind in the world.

So, how does it work?

Storing data for more than 2,000 brands, the app allows users to type in the name of a brand, or a type of garment, and instantly see a rating out-of-five as well as a summary of just how ethical the company is.

Using information from the brand’s own reported data, certification schemes - including Fair Trade and Global Organic Textile Standard - and investigations by NGOs such as Greenpeace, the app ranks brands on a number of areas.

These include people (workers across the supply chain), the planet (use of resources and energy, carbon emissions, impact on water and waste disposal), and animals (use of fur, angora, shearling, leather and exotic skins).

It’s also important to note that the more publically available information there is on a brand, the easier it is for Good On You to rank them. As such, if a brand chooses to withhold information about its ethical practices, it gets a lower score.

Among the brands that score well are Stella McCartney and Adidas while labels that have achieved rankings of one or two out-of-five include Maje, Free People, Whistles and Louis Vuitton.