Build credible claims
Distinguish traceability from transparency, examine communication rules and recognise misleading sustainability messages.
01
Course overview
This module treats sustainability communication as a governance and accountability function, not a marketing add-on. It starts with the foundations: why credible communication matters, how supply-chain traceability differs from corporate transparency, and which EU rules now govern environmental claims in fashion. From there it works through the three failure modes that destroy trust — greenwashing, greenwishing and greenhushing — then moves outwards to stakeholder-specific messaging, consumer engagement and co-creation, responsible campaign design, and the longer-term effect of repeated communication on what the industry treats as normal and desirable. Each chapter pairs a concept with an audit tool that learners apply to real brand communication, and the module closes with an industry case and field activity in which learners review an actual campaign against the rules and the evidence behind it.
FROM PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE
From evidence to responsible communication
Understand your audience
Adapt evidence, messages and channels to stakeholders, and design engagement that supports circular practices.
Create responsible campaigns
Develop campaign briefs, audit real communication and consider how repeated messages shape industry expectations.
02
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, learners are expected to be able to:
- Understand the purpose and core principles of sustainability communication in fashion, and its role in accountability and stakeholder trust.
- Distinguish supply-chain traceability from corporate transparency, and explain how each supports credible claims.
- Recognise the main EU rules that now apply to environmental claims in fashion, including the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (ECGT), the Green Claims framework and the relevant ISO and FTC standards.
- Identify and distinguish greenwashing, greenwishing and greenhushing, and assess the risk of misleading or incomplete messages.
- Adapt circularity and sustainability messages to different stakeholders, decision contexts and evidence needs.
- Turn verified sustainability information into responsible narratives, visual communication and campaign briefs.
03
Learning outcomes
On completion, learners can demonstrate that they:
- Audit a sustainability claim against EU rules and international standards, and judge whether it is specific, substantiated and proportionate.
- Recognise greenwashing, greenwishing and greenhushing in real communications and use the Claim Checker and Messaging Audit templates to diagnose and improve messages.
- Build a Stakeholder Information and Communication Matrix that sets differentiated messages, evidence levels and channels per audience.
- Design a consumer engagement journey that supports care, repair, reuse, resale, rental and take-back without shifting responsibility onto consumers.
- Develop a responsible campaign brief from a verified communication input — narrative angle, emotional hook, visual direction, content formats, call to action and success indicators.
- Analyse what a piece of fashion communication makes seem normal, valuable or desirable, and plan how progress towards a sustainability goal is communicated consistently across reporting cycles.