To All The Gannis I've Loved Before
Greenwashing, secondhand Ganni, and what a responsible brand looks like
Have you ever seen marketing from a fashion brand and thought this has to be greenwashing? Same. And we’re not alone - 52% of people worldwide say that they’ve seen false or misleading information about brand sustainability efforts. You also might be part of the 64% of consumers that think brands aren’t presenting real solutions to the climate crisis. Environmental scientist Linda Greer agrees with you, saying that very few brands know where their products come from in their supply chain and even less have collaborated with their suppliers to decrease their carbon footprint. But there are a handful of fashion brands trying to make a difference. Enter Ganni. I wrote a snippet last week about how Ganni identifies as a responsible brand instead of a sustainable firsthand brand and wanted to dive deeper into their strategy this week.
I came across Ganni in 2017 and it was love at first sight. Their prints really spoke to the late 2010s me: leopard, florals, and checks? Yes please. Does anyone remember the leopard print Tilden dress? My first Ganni purchase on The RealReal that I still wear it to this day. Followed by my only firsthand Ganni item, the red floral Linaria maxi dress. The print was so popular that Who What Wear wrote an article about it and I liked it so much that I also bought it in a preloved mini dress. I eventually consigned my mini dress back to The RealReal (remind me why I thought that I needed two dresses in the same print again?) and hope that someone is enjoying this third or fourth hand today.
Redefining Responsibility
There was a brilliant Vogue Business article that was published in the middle of my strategic business management class this year and I read it with the fervor of someone learning about blue oceans and positive same side effects. The headline sums up something I think about often: What if there isn’t a business case for sustainability? It touched on several brands making environmentally responsible business changes, often at the cost of profit (RIP Mara Hoffman) since sustainability is viewed as the cost of doing business instead of an added expense.
The article featured Ganni for making the tough decision to remove two colorways from their bestselling Western boot since it couldn’t be manufactured in materials that met their sustainability goals. This meant giving up almost half a million dollars in potential sales, a significant revenue bite for a smaller company. I’ve worked at five fashion brands and never came across a scenario where anyone was willing to risk missing plan to invest in sustainability at the style level.
Friends in buying, design, and production I’m curious - has your brand made any responsible assortment changes at the expense of margin?
What Else is Ganni Doing?
I’m so glad you asked. Since I have a personal interest in Ganni and holding global warming under 1.5C, I like to keep up with brand sustainability pledges. And Ganni has some good ones, which they document in their Responsibility Report and their secondary Instagram account @ganni.lab. A friendly reminder that Ganni is trying to become a more responsible version of themselves instead of a slow fashion brand, aligning with their motto of progress over perfection.
Annual Responsibility Report: First things first - creating and tracking sustainability goals and publicly sharing them is a huge lift for any brand and dedicated sustainability teams are not standard roles at fashion companies. Ganni released its first public Sustainability Report in 2018 with over 25 small sustainable initiatives, like biodegradable rainwear, moving to green energy, and creating a sustainability guide for associates. Fast forward to 2023 and Ganni’s shifted to a Responsibility Report with much larger goals, such as directly funding changes in their supply chain to decrease carbon footprint (more on this below), fabric innovation, and tying senior leadership bonuses to carbon targets.
Certified B Corp: Certified since 2021, Ganni’s overall score of 90.6 is led by their Environmental rating of 29.1. While they still have work to do to get to the full 150 points, they’ll recertify to the new B Corp standards in 2025.
Phasing Out Virgin Leather: In one of their most challenging 2023 goals (see the aforementioned Western boot), Ganni stopped using virgin leather due to its high carbon emissions, replacing this with recycled leather and next-gen fabrics. They acknowledged that this wasn’t a profitable change, but one that was needed to make a real impact.
Carbon Insetting: Instead of “paying to pollute” with carbon offsetting, Ganni switched to carbon insetting to reduce their emissions within their supply chain. They started by installing solar panels at four longtime suppliers and plan to action this at additional factories going forward alongside biodiversity initiatives.
Fabrics of the Future: Launched in 2019, this initiative researches and tests textile innovations for eventual scaling. In 2023 Ganni debuted seven next-gen fabrics with six as pilots and one scaled to their main collection. The Ganni Icon Bou Bag made from Ohoskin (oranges, cactus, and recycled plastic) is one of their piloted fabrics, while Circulose is a scaled textile for items like the Future Denim Shirt and Future Rib Halterneck Top. Ganni has 11 Fabrics of the Future on tap for 2024 including Pélinova as a leather alternative.
Offtake Agreements (2025 update): Ganni signed a four year offtake agreement with textile startup Ambercycle to use their recycled polyester Cycora fabric. This means that Ganni is buying the fabric before it’s manufactured, a big deal for both companies since offtake deals put more risk on Ganni and less on Ambercycle, helping textile innovators grow in a tough market. Vogue Business has a detailed explainer on this agreement here that’s worth the read. Cycora is a groundbreaking fabric since it can be recycled using chemicals to maintain the quality of the material. Fabric recycling in general is a challenging process, from blended materials to degradation in quality. If you want to learn about the pitfalls of traditional textile recycling processes, I break it down in the below post.
Repair and Rental: Ganni works with Sojo to offer complimentary repair and alterations in the UK (if you’re reading this Sojo and Ganni, please come to the U.S.). They’re also building their European rental network through partnerships with Hurr, My Wardrobe HQ, Pool, and Studio Paillette. 2025 update: Ganni Repeat is evolving in 2025 so customers can participate in all four R’s: rent, resell, recycle, and repair. They’ve also announced an upcoming partnership with Rent The Runway and other to be named platforms.
Recommerce: Ganni’s Postmodern archive outlet stores in Copenhagen and Oslo are resale hubs where customers can exchange Ganni clothing for store credit. The Copenhagen Postmodern location also offers Ganni Repeat, with resale, recycling, and repair services.
The Ganni Playbook: Ganni co-founder Nicolaj Reffstrup and Brooke Roberts-Islam wrote this book as a guide to creating a more responsible fashion business. They had me at this line: “Ganni…is driven by a mission to demonstrate the principles of responsible business, where greater purpose co-exists with financial ambitions”. It’s challenging to reconcile responsibility with running a profitable business and I’m intrigued to see how Ganni’s leaders juggle these two competing themes.
Minimalist Networking Outfits
Sharing a quick update from last week where I bought preloved cinched waist blazers for a conference, two of which happened to be Ganni. They did not disappoint and gave me the shaped waist aesthetic of my dreams. Since I live in a city that’s very casual, I wore these with jeans but might look for the matching mini skirts secondhand since I feel chic and cinched tight in these.
Preloved Ganni
I couldn’t write this without sharing some of the preloved Ganni that’s available right now from The RealReal, Rent The Runway, eBay, and Depop. Just a few Gannis looking for a new home, with some that cost waayyy less than buying new. Maybe this will replace something that you were planning to buy firsthand, maybe this will encourage you to start shopping secondhand, or maybe this will help you find a new marketplace to buy preloved. If you’re not in the US, check out
’s Resale Platforms: Europe guide, or her Substack in general since she writes with such joy about finding vintage and secondhand treasures.
Have you bought anything from Ganni new or secondhand? Even better, do you own any Fabrics of the Future?
That’s it for this week, thanks for reading. See you next Wednesday!
Your black jacket with light denim outfit is literally perfect. No notes!
Such an inspiring piece! I've been loving Ganni for years and this info makes me happy to continue shopping there