Why so many fashion brands struggle to communicate sustainability

Across the fashion industry, an increasing number of fashion brands are taking steps towards a more sustainable future.

They are investing in better materials, improving production processes, increasing transparency, preparing for new legislation and developing more circular ways of working. Behind the scenes, sustainability teams are often doing more than ever before.

Yet consumers are hearing less about it. For many brands, sustainability communication has become increasingly difficult.

We know this because we speak with fashion brands every week. In conversations with sustainability leaders, marketing teams and decision-makers across the industry, one concern keeps returning: meaningful progress is being made, but brands are increasingly uncertain about how to make that progress visible. They are not lacking ambition or action. They are lacking the clarity and confidence to communicate it.

The fear of saying the wrong thing, being accused of greenwashing or oversimplifying a complex topic has led to hesitation. In some cases, brands have stopped communicating about sustainability almost entirely.

This creates a new problem. When sustainability is no longer visible, it is no longer top of mind.

The growing silence around sustainability

The fashion industry has moved into a new phase.

A few years ago, sustainability claims were everywhere. Today, brands are being held to a much higher standard, and rightly so. Consumers, regulators, journalists and industry partners increasingly expect claims to be specific, substantiated and transparent. But this necessary shift has also created uncertainty.

What can we still say? Which claims are credible? How much context do we need to provide? How do we communicate progress without pretending the work is finished?

Faced with these questions, many brands choose silence as the safest option.

But silence carries its own risks.

When brands stop talking about sustainability, consumers may assume that less is happening. Valuable progress remains hidden, responsible choices become harder to recognise and sustainability gradually disappears from the wider cultural conversation.

If consumers are not regularly shown why materials, production methods and circular business models matter, these considerations are less likely to influence their purchasing decisions.

Consumers cannot support progress they cannot see

Sustainability cannot become part of mainstream consumer behaviour when it is only discussed in reports, internal meetings and industry conferences.

People need clear and accessible stories that help them understand what is changing, why it matters and what role they can play.

That does not mean reducing sustainability to a campaign slogan or presenting one improvement as the solution to every industry challenge. It means finding a way to communicate progress honestly, while being transparent about limitations and the work that still needs to be done.

Good sustainability communication makes complex developments understandable without making them simplistic.

It helps consumers recognise better choices. It creates internal pride and alignment. It shows the wider industry what is possible. Most importantly, it keeps sustainability visible at a time when attention is moving elsewhere.

The gap between sustainability and marketing

One of the biggest challenges we see is the distance between sustainability and marketing teams.

Sustainability teams understand the data, risks, regulations and operational complexity. Marketing teams understand the audience, the brand and how to build engagement. Yet these teams do not always have a shared language or a clear process for deciding what can be communicated.

This can lead to valuable stories becoming stuck between departments.

The sustainability team may worry that a message lacks nuance or evidence. The marketing team may struggle to turn technical information into content that people will engage with. Legal concerns, limited capacity and the fear of public criticism can slow down the process even further.

The result is often communication that is either too vague, too technical or never published at all.

From communication paralysis to credible visibility

We believe the answer is not to communicate more for the sake of it.

The answer is to communicate with greater clarity, confidence and credibility.

That starts by understanding where the brand truly stands today. Which actions are substantial? Which claims can be supported? Where are the risks? And which stories are both relevant to the audience and aligned with the organisation’s actual progress?

To help fashion brands answer these questions, Mumster and RethinkRebels have joined forces to develop the Sustainability Narrative Sprint.

RethinkRebels brings the strategic sustainability expertise needed to determine what is real, relevant and credible. Mumster translates this foundation into narratives that people can understand, trust and remember.

Together, we help sustainability and marketing teams move from uncertainty to action.

What the Sustainability Narrative Sprint delivers

The Sprint is a compact and interactive strategy process that helps brands define how sustainability can become a credible and structural part of their communication.

Before the session, we review the brand’s current sustainability communication and conduct relevant desk research.

During a three-hour interactive strategy session, we work with sustainability, marketing and other key stakeholders to explore:

• where the brand stands today;

• which communication barriers are holding the team back;

• where potential greenwashing or reputational risks exist;

• which sustainability narratives the brand can credibly own;

• which campaign, activation or content opportunity could become the first concrete step.

Afterwards, the team receives a compact strategic document with key insights, two to three narrative routes, practical recommendations and clear next steps.

Sustainability needs to remain part of the conversation

Fashion brands should not have to choose between overclaiming and saying nothing.

There is a credible space in between: communication that is transparent about progress, honest about limitations and engaging enough to reach people beyond the sustainability bubble.

Because when consumers stop seeing sustainability, they may also stop thinking about it.

And when sustainability is no longer part of the public conversation, it becomes harder to build the awareness, demand and behavioural change needed to move the fashion industry forward.

The work is happening. Now we need to make sure people can see it.

Interested in booking a Sustainability Narrative Sprint?

Contact us at info@mumster.nl to learn more.