Yes, Superdry is a fast fashion brand.
Superdry is a UK fashion retailer, founded in 2003 by white British businessmen Julian Dunkerton (worth £441 million) and James Holder (worth £199 million). Today it is listed on the London Stock Exchange and owned by shareholders. The company made £871.7 million in revenue in 2019, across its 400 owned stores and 475 franchised stores.
Superdry is a fast fashion brand due to the speed of production and sheer amount of clothes that it sells.
Fashion Revolution Transparency Rating: 32/100
Ethical Consumer Score: 8.5/15
Good On You Sustainability Rating: 2/5
Additional Reasons Why Superdry Is A Fast Fashion Brand
- Superdry has set itself the corporate goal of becoming “the most sustainable global fashion brand on the planet by 2030”. However, it spends just 0.23% of its overall revenue on directly supporting its CSR and Sustainability agenda.
- Despite an impressive Sustainability minisite, the brand does not mention the reducing the amount of clothing it makes, nor treating people in its supply chain fairly, or implementing circular systems:
- It appears the brand has not updated its Child Labour Policy since 2008, and within that, shows that Superdry’s clothing is made by children as young as 14.
- Superdry provides credit payment systems Klarna and Clearpay, which encourages overconsumption and invites customers to get into debt to purchase its products.
- The business has a gender pay gap that expanded greatly during the pandemic from 4.5% to 21.1%, meaning men now earn £1.21 for every £1 that women earn.
- Like many fast fashion brands, Superdry is part of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and credits this with their focus on providing living wages for workers across their supply chain. However, Superdry is not an accredited Living Wage Foundation employer.
Sustainable Alternatives To Superdry
If you’re looking to stop shopping at Superdry, I recommend shopping for their products second-hand, as well as find ethical loungewear brands to shop with, and more alternative brands from my guide to 150+ sustainable fashion brands.
This post is part of a larger guide to UK fast fashion brands, which goes into more detail about the issues with fast fashion, why it will never be sustainable, and how to make your wardrobe more sustainable.
Data for this review is taken from the brand’s website, corporate website, Wikipedia, and sites linked throughout. The Transparency Rating is from Fashion Transparency Index 2021. All information is assumed correct at date of publication.