The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
South Korean makeup and skincare brand Innisfree’s sustainability credentials are under fire after a customer found that eco-friendly packaging it marketed as a “paper bottle” was actually a plastic bottle concealed in paper wrapping, The Korea Herald reports.
The discovery was made by a customer who posted images of the bottle in a Facebook group dedicated to plastic-free shopping.
In a statement published by The Korea Herald, Innisfree said it “overlooked the possibility that the naming could mislead people to think the whole packaging is made of paper” and apologised for the confusion caused.
The brand added that the plastic bottle, which is recyclable and came with recycling instructions, uses less plastic than typical beauty packaging, but that statement failed to quell concerns over alleged greenwashing. The anonymous netizen who made the post deemed the apology “insufficient”.
Local streetwear brands, festivals and stores selling major global labels remain relatively small but the country’s community of hypebeasts and sneakerheads is growing fast.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Senegalese investors, an Indian menswear giant and workers’ rights in Myanmar.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstances kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
This week’s round-up of global markets fashion business news also features Korean shopping app Ably, Kenya’s second-hand clothing trade and the EU’s bid to curb forced labour in Chinese cotton.