Superdry is a British clothing brand. The brand sells a wide range of clothes, from menswear to womenswear and kidswear.
Superdry was Launched in 2003, and it’s been more than 18 years since Superdry entered the clothing line.
However, this brand is not limited to just clothes but also sells sportswear, shoes, and fashion products.
Superdry is a famous international brand. The demand for Superdry products has always been high.
Therefore to match the increasing demand, the brand officials manufacture the products on a mass level in advance.
Hence Superdry is a fast-fashion brand because it manufactures the products on a mass level, lowering the product prices and making the garments affordable for consumers worldwide.
Is Mass production suitable for the environment?
Since the industrial revolution and with the help of powerful machines, it has become convenient to manufacture products on the mass level.
Apparently, mass production is progressive. It saves time and makes the work easy, but it is unsustainable, catastrophic, and hazardous to the environment, especially the mass-production of clothes.
The manufacturing of clothes consumes massive amounts of water and pollutes the air, water, and soil altogether.
Conclusively, mass production severely threatens environmental health and isn’t suitable for the environment and habitat.
Is Superdry a sustainable brand?
Sustainability comes with creating balance in the environment.
Whereas brands like Superdry are responsible for disturbing the balance of the atmosphere, then how come this brand is a sustainable one?
Superdry manufactures garments. When garments are manufactured, toxic gases are released, which are drained into the atmosphere, increasing carbon dioxide levels.
Similarly, the liquid wastes obtained are drained into the freshwater. As a result, water gets polluted and becomes undrinkable for humans and animals.
In the same way, pesticides are used when the cotton crop is fertilized, which causes soil contamination, reduces the soil’s fertility, and causes an imbalance in the environment.
Living beings get deprived of fresh air and water, which causes health issues and eventually results in the deaths of different species, including humans.
However, brands don’t care if their products are sustainable; they just look for profits.
From where does Superdry get its clothes?
The prominent locations where the Superdry clothes are manufactured are China, India, and Turkey.
Like other international brands, Superdry also gets its clothes manufactured in developing countries of Asia.
The primary reason behind this is the low production costs. The costs of raw materials or labor wages are minimal compared to the developed countries.
Therefore it has been the priority of big brands to have manufacturing plants in the developing countries where products can be manufactured at as low prices as possible.
Is Superdry exploiting laborers?
Almost every brand has its factories in developing countries where the labor wages are one of the lowest.
Laborers in these countries are hired at meager wages and forced to work more than 10 hours daily.
Unfortunately, Superdry is also one of the brands that pay its laborers as low as possible; This is an exploitation of laborers and a violation of human rights.
Contrary to this, the products are sold in the global market at high prices by Superdry to earn maximum profit.
Is Superdry ethical?
The clothing brands are not supposed to be ethical. Clothing brands are one of the significant agents of polluting the environment.
Superdry being a clothing brand, is also not supposed to be ethical because it pollutes the environment like other clothing brands.
8% to 10% of the total carbon dioxide released into the environment comes from the clothing industry.
In the same way, 80% of polluted water results from toxic wastes from the clothing industry.
Therefore a clothing brand, be it Superdry or any other, can never be ethical.
Is Superdry switching towards sustainability?
At present, Superdry uses traditional cotton for the manufacture of cotton garments.
Still, according to the brand officials, they are switching towards organic cotton, and by 2025 all-cotton products will be made of organic cotton.
Organic cotton is fertilized and cultivated without pesticides, whereas traditional cotton is fertilized with the help of pesticides.
The use of pesticides contaminates the soil and reduces its fertility, and the soil’s production capacity decreases to a great extent.
Besides this, organic cotton consumes 87% less water than traditional cotton. A shirt made of conventional cotton would drink 1000+ liters of water.
In comparison, organic cotton would reduce the water consumption to 130+ liters.
The statement about switching towards organic cotton is available on the official website of Superdry and is as follows.
“We’re switching to organic cotton because it preserves the soil, uses less water, and reduces carbon emissions. Kinder to people and the planet – no pesticides are used during cultivation – by 2025, all of our pure cotton clothing will be organic.”
What are alternatives to Superdry?
Superdry is a big brand, but it isn’t very likely regarding ethics. Most clothing brands are unethical, and Superdry is more likely among them.
Therefore consumers might run out of ethical options; we have done in-depth research to extract a few ethical clothing brands.
Here is the list of better alternatives to Superdry.
