On 30 March 2022, the EU Commission published guidelines for empowering consumers towards a green transition, through new alternatives to guide them on making informed choices while protecting them against unfair practices (according to a special Eurobarometer in 2019 “the environment was personally important for 94 % of participants”, while the consumer conditions survey carried out by the EU Commission in 2021 showed that “56 % of EU consumers pay attention to the environmental impact of goods and services”). This is especially relevant in the footwear and apparel sectors, which are very globalised and full of cases of misleading marketing on sustainability.
The motivation behind the project stems from the unawareness of EU consumers when it comes to the tricks that some brands use to make them believe their products are sustainable. Consequently, the aim of VETting Green is to investigate the issue and develop EU-wide VET courses on such concepts to help consumers spot deceptive green claims and choose products from brands that are able to back up their environmental claims. For this purpose, project partners work on raising awareness of the concepts of greenwashing in the footwear and apparel sectors among VET students, professionals and consumers.
To this end, the project will provide relevant training contents to help footwear and apparel workforce, footwear and apparel companies, and consumers to become experts in the following topics:
- Strategies used by companies in the footwear sector and other related bodies that can be considered greenwashing, and existing labels.
- Tools to tackle the issue of greenwashing through interactions and synergies between different sectors.
- Understanding of greenwashing and real sustainable strategies for the creation and manufacturing of high quality green products.
GOALS
Our comprehensive range of professional services caters to a diverse clientele, from homeowners to commercial developers.
Green policies
To support policy makers and public authorities on the transition towards greener policies in the footwear and related sectors. To tackle unscrupulous practices to exploit consumers’ willingness to protect the environment.
Environmental information
To provide intelligence on environmental issues to VET communities and current professionals in lifelong learning processes, as well as other key-actors. To leverage for companies to change their current policies to increasingly sustainable ones.
Sustainability
To raise awareness on products traceability and labelling among footwear workers and consumers. To foster consumers’ conscious decisions. To provoke a change in the footwear industry thanks to best practices and strategies to communicate transparent information on sustainability