John,

Zara and H&M source cotton grown on stolen and illegally bulldozed land in Brazil’s Cerrado, according to a new report.

Not only are Zara and H&M complicit in the destruction of one of the world’s most precious ecosystems, they want people to believe that their jeans and t-shirts are sustainably made – by using a fancy certification.

The fast fashion industry has recently come under scrutiny due to its links to forced labour, pollution, and environmental destruction. Let’s use this momentum to pressure Zara and H&M to take meaningful action against cruel cotton!

Tell Zara and H&M: Stop sourcing cotton linked to the Cerrado’s destruction.

Brazil’s Cerrado is a vast, savannah-like ecosystem home to thousands of species like the giant anteater and the maned wolf. But deforestation rates have increased by 43% in 2023 compared to the year before, and as the country is set to become the No. 1 cotton exporter by 2030, things are expected to get worse.

Fashion retailers like H&M and Zara claim to source sustainable cotton, but a recent study by EarthSight clearly shows otherwise. Even though the cotton they used was sourced through the world’s largest certification scheme, Better Cotton, a significant amount was traced to stolen and illegally deforested land in the Cerrado.

The problem is that the commodity is first exported to Asia, where it’s then sourced by fashion brands like Zara and H&M – and where the supply chain turns murky.

But this cannot be an excuse for these fashion giants with billion-dollars profit to just point their fingers towards the certifier or supplier. It is *their* responsibility to implement their own sustainability policies – and razing a unique, crucial biome like Brazil’s Cerrado and being complicit in land grabs clearly don’t comply with those.

So let’s remind Zara and H&M that the world is watching!

Tell Zara and H&M: No more cruel cotton in our it pieces

We’ve done this before: We pushed major food and consumer goods giants like Kellogg’s and PepsiCo to follow through on their promises and stop sourcing palm oil grown on bulldozed forests. Let’s do this now for Brazil’s Cerrado, before it’s too late.