Focusing on the welfare of the workers specifically during the manufacturing stage: Are there safe working conditions/fair wages? Are sweatshops used for production? Are there standards/rules put in place to ensure safe conditions are met?

Focusing on the traceability of a company’s sustainable efforts and practices: How much information about their carbon footprint is available? How much is the brand telling its consumers? Are they greenwashing or leaving some information out?

Focusing on how a company is limiting and optimizing waste and switching away from a linear business model that generates a steady flow of waste to a circular business model that creates products with the end of their life cycles in mind: Are they reusing or discarding unused materials? How much waste are the companies creating?

Focusing on the inner workings and process of developing fashion. Are the products manufactured locally or in a third-world country? Are materials locally sourced and natural? Dyeing methods/utilization of chemicals? Green energy in factories?

Focusing on how companies are using their voice and power to advocate for sustainable policies, practices, and the welfare of their workers and the environment as a whole: What steps are they taking to spread awareness? Are they using social media platforms? Are they simply ignoring the problem at hand and not addressing it to the public?

Focusing on a brand’s motivation and desire to take more sustainable steps in the future: Are they pledging to be “zero-waste” or to mitigate their carbon footprint sometime in the future? Do they have a plan set in stone that would help them do so?