Christian Dior is one of the leading French fashion brands in the world today. It was founded by Christian Dior in 1946. The company offers ready-to-wear luxury clothes, accessories, bags and other personal care products for men and women. Dior clothing has been revolutionizing womenswear in its own unique way.
Dior is famous for creating the ‘New Look’; a fashion masterpiece ahead of its time which broke all the traditions of silhouette apparels, and emphasized on a woman’s busts and hips back in 1947. Dior called it ‘the look of peace… it reflected the times.’ It symbolized glamor, femininity and austerity.
Dior has faced a lot of criticism for the ‘New Look’ line of products, for being ethical or not. It does take into account some environmental-friendly practices, but whether the ideology of Dior clothing is totally ethical or not – the question still remains unanswered.
Dior clothing impact on the environment
Dior Clothing is part of the Better Cotton Initiative. Whether it works toward minimizing the textile waste or not that is unknown. The company has announced to reduce the operation-generated emissions by 25% but no concrete outcome has been reported as of yet. It seems that the practical motive is missing on Dior’s part.
The parent company of Dior clothing LVMH terms environmental responsibility as its pillar to success. It has been under spotlight – several times before – for not delivering what it commits. The production of biodiverse goods along with contributing in the fight against the climatic changes and likewise improving the products’ sustainability – is all mentioned in the company’s statement. Yet, no concrete plans are in place to acknowledge whether the ideals mentioned are actually executed or not. Therefore, Dior’s contribution towards ensuring a sustainable environment is rated as ‘Not Good Enough’.
Conditions of the Labor
As far as the condition of labor at Dior is concerned, it is also rated as ‘Not Good Enough’. The company has an internal policy of maintaining health and safety standards, but there is no actual evidence if it ensures them to be followed or not.
It is also noted that Dior outsources the finished goods from countries where labor abuse is extremely prevalent. This has further dented its reputation when it comes to ethics.
Animal Abuse
Until recently, animals were used as a product for many luxury fashion brands. With the advent of the animal rights movement, the practice using animal fur has seen a downward trend. Like many of their counterparts, Dior also stopped using fur, angora and down in manufacturing its products. But it still produces goods made of leather, wool and exotic animal’s skin and hair. Dior clothing has denied any such practice, and has announced that these products are custom-made only for their prestigious clients. Dior clothing is urged to adopt more innovative alternatives to stop animal abuse. They can afford it, being the pioneers in the fashion industry. They can also use other options to produce more sustainable products.
Dior clothing is Not Cruelty-free. Dior allows its products to be tested on animals and pays for it as well. Dior supplies its products to be sold at stores in mainland China where animal testing is mandatory for almost all of the imported cosmetics.
Overall Rating: Not Good Enough
Dior has an overall rating of “Not Good Enough’. The brand is continuously trying to come out of this stigma by making small improvements. It has set a target to reduce the greenhouse gas emission from its production units.
To diminish all the criticism and remove the label from themselves – as not being ethical – Dior clothing has partnered with Coloco – a renowned group of botanists and urban landscapers to develop a Paris Fashion Week garden in September 2020. The garden has 164 trees brought from different nurseries across France, Germany and Italy.
The main motive behind this initiative was to highlight the need of biodiversity, along with showcasing the fashion house’s effort to encourage manufacturing of sustainable products.
It has also promised that everything in their spring/summer 2020 collection will be recycled as well.
There is still a long way to go. From prevention of harmful chemicals to ensuring that the workers are not being abused by the higher authorities, the world’s famous brand, Christian Dior needs to put a lot of efforts in removing the stigma attached to them. They need to do the needful to improve their ratings to become an ethical brand.