Curriculum · Sustainable Brands
Brand Audit Project
Time to turn detective. Pick a brand, run them through the same 5-part framework Rewoven uses to grade 500+ brands, and see what your favourites really look like under the microscope.
The 5-part Rewoven framework
Rewoven (and similar rating systems like Good On You, Remake, and Fashion Revolution) grade brands across five categories:
1. Materials: What % of the brand's materials are organic, recycled, or low-impact? 2. Supply chain: Do they disclose factories at all 4 tiers? 3. Workers: Do they verify living wages and safe conditions? 4. Climate: Do they disclose Scope 3? Are emissions falling? 5. Circularity: Do they offer take-back, repair, or resale?
Each category gets a 0–20 score. Total: 100 points. A brand scoring 80+ is genuinely doing something. A brand scoring under 30 is either greenwashing or just hasn't bothered.
Step-by-step: pick and audit a brand
Here's how to actually do it:
1. Pick a brand you've shopped from at least once. 2. Spend 20 minutes on their website. Read the About, Sustainability, and Materials pages. 3. Check Fashion Transparency Index for their score. 4. Check Good On You for their grade. 5. Look for an impact report. If they have one, read the executive summary. 6. Score them 0–20 in each of the 5 categories. 7. Total it. Add a one-paragraph 'verdict.'
Don't worry about being perfect. Even a quick audit reveals more than most shoppers ever know about a brand. The discipline is what matters.
Worked example: a fictional brand
Let's audit fictional brand 'GreenWearCo':
- Materials (8/20): Their homepage says 'we use sustainable materials.' Looking deeper, only their 'eco-line' (about 5% of products) is organic cotton. The rest is conventional. Score reflects mostly conventional materials with a sliver of organic. - Supply chain (4/20): They list one factory in Portugal but no Tier 2/3/4 information. No production map. - Workers (6/20): Vague claim of 'safe working conditions' but no audits, no living wage data. - Climate (5/20): Reports Scope 1 and 2. No Scope 3 disclosed. No year-on-year comparison. - Circularity (3/20): No take-back program, no repair offering. Sells gift cards for clothing, not used clothing.
Total: 26/100. Verdict: Mid-range greenwashing. They've made some real efforts (a small organic line) but the bulk of their business looks like normal fast fashion with green marketing. Worth pushing them to do more.
What to do with your verdict
An audit isn't the end — it's the start of being a different kind of customer.
If the brand scored 70+: Good. Reward them with your money. Tell friends.
If the brand scored 30–70: Mixed. Email them with a specific question — 'why don't you disclose Scope 3?' Brands respond more to customer pressure than activists. Your single email is a data point in their inbox.
If the brand scored under 30: Consider switching. There's almost always an alternative brand that scores higher in your category. Save the old brand for emergencies, not as your default.
Doing this for the 5 brands you buy most often is the single biggest 'sustainable shopping' move you can make. It's worth more than 50 random ethical purchases.
Key takeaways
- Audit framework: Materials, Supply Chain, Workers, Climate, Circularity — 20 points each.
- Use Fashion Transparency Index + Good On You as starting data.
- Real impact reports include Scope 3 and year-over-year change.
- Mid-range scores (30–70) often indicate partial greenwashing — push for more.
- Auditing your top 5 brands matters more than 50 random ethical purchases.
Try this
Audit a brand from your wardrobe
Pick the brand you shop from most. Score them across all 5 categories using websites, the Fashion Transparency Index, and Good On You. Total their score. Write a 3-sentence verdict. This is your first complete brand audit.
Build a personal scorecard
List the 5 brands you wear most. Run a quick (15-minute) audit on each. Build a small leaderboard from highest to lowest score. Decide one brand to drop and one alternative to try next. Track your shopping for 3 months and see if your average score goes up.
Class brand showdown
If you're doing this with a class or family, divide brands among the group. Each person audits one brand and presents in 2 minutes. Build a master leaderboard for everyone. Argue about scores. (You'll discover that scoring is actually hard — and that's the point.)
Which combination is the BEST way to start auditing a brand?
Fashion Transparency Index gives you a transparency score, Good On You gives you an A–E grade across multiple categories, and the brand's own impact report (if they have one) shows you the numbers. Combined, those three sources give you 80% of the picture in under 30 minutes.