Introduction
Kardashian is a smart businesswoman. She knows what works and what doesn’t, which is why she has been able to keep her lifestyle brand afloat for as long as it has been. However, she does have her fair share of issues when it comes to greenwashing clothing labels. In an attempt to save face after being called out over this issue on Twitter by one of her fans (who happens to be an environmentalist), KK responded with a statement saying that although she cares about the environment (she even has a daughter named North West), she doesn’t want people thinking that all of her work with fashion brands means they’re doing anything meaningful about climate change or recycling waste materials like plastic bottles instead of throwing them away into landfills where they would eventually end up buried under soil forevermore:
It Would be Easy to Think
You might be thinking, “But what about all the other stuff? The pollution and waste that went into making those clothes?” Well, I’ve got some good news for you: it was all very much in line with what we already knew about fashion brands and their relationship with waste.
Of course, there are many different products sold by these companies from clothing to cosmetics to furniture and each one has its way of contributing to climate change. But if you think back on your own shopping experiences as a consumer.
A Clothing Line, As Something Genuinely Altruistic
If you’re thinking about this in terms of climate change, it’s hard to imagine that Kardashian is doing much to help the planet. She has a clothing line called KKW Beauty and has been selling it through her website for years. The brand has been criticized for its lack of transparency and for being primarily made up of products that are sourced from China or India both places where labor standards are notoriously low (and where pollution is rampant).
Kardashian isn’t an eco-warrior; she’s just doing things right by targeting people with disposable income who can afford to buy $15 CC creams instead of $3 CC creams.
The cost of materials, labor, and shipping, is not cheap. You will never see the word “sale” on anything at Poosh. The markups on these items are high and they are priced accordingly.
Target People Who Have Diagnosable Income
But it’s not just the Kardashian brand that is trying to greenwash its way out of some pretty sticky situations. There are plenty of other brands that have been accused of doing the same thing and they too are also o distance themselves from their past mistakes by targeting a specific audience who will pay more for products that claim “green” on them.
The Kardashians may be doing this because they want to make money, but neither Kim nor Kourtney have any interest in making changes for environmental reasons (or even for their health). They know exactly what their target audience wants and needs and it isn’t something like organic food or sustainable clothing.
Clothes are not Sustainable
The clothes are expensive. They’re not sustainably made in the US, and they don’t come from women or people of color, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint while trying to greenwash your brand further by purchasing these items at Nordstrom or other high-end retailers, this is the best way to do it: buy them secondhand on sites like eBay or Craigslist.
The secondhand market is already flooded with used clothing that was once worn by celebrities it’s even been covered by Vice News but it doesn’t mean those brands should be exempt from being held accountable for their actions. *
Green-Washed Lifestyle Blog?
Real talk: is your lifestyle blog really about the environment? Or are you just trying to greenwash away your issues with Kardashian’s packaging?
If you’re one of those people who think that Kardashian thinks rest in the environment is genuine, I have some bad news for you. It’s not. According to her Instagram post on Wednesday, when she was asked if she would be working with eco-friendly packaging company Hello Kitty World and partnering on a project together. She replied: “Illy working on something right now.”
However, as much as I want to believe that she reducing waste (and doing what she can to make life less wasteful), this seems like more marketing than substance at this point, and let me teyaya’, there isn’t much evidence otherwise!
Conclusion
If you were thinking about buying into the Kardashian brand, think again. Her clothing line is a great way for her to make a lot of money and she does care about making sure that it doesn’t cost too much money to do so, but there are better ways to get your point across without sticking us all with these high markups.
