Yes, Accessorize is a fast fashion brand.
Accessorize is a British fashion retailer, and is the sister brand of Monsoon. Together, they are known as Monsoon Accessorize Ltd. It was founded in 1972 by white British businessman Peter Simon (worth £600 million) who today owns the business. The business made £196 million in revenue in 2021 across 150 locations and 2,300 employees.
Accessorize is a fast fashion brand due to the speed of production and scale of products that it sells.
Fashion Revolution Transparency Rating: N/A
Good On You Sustainability Rating: 2/5
Remake Fashion Accountability Report Rating: N/A
Additional Reasons Why Accessorize Is A Fast Fashion Brand
- Accessorize has big gaps in their sustainability policies. On their corporate site, Accessorize declares “We’re also constantly improving our sustainability efforts by making conscious choices with the materials we use and our production processes”, but keeps this incredibly vague, focusing on ensuring ‘our range has a sustainable element’ by 2030, as well as achieving goals around recycled polyester, and the ‘closed loop or circliar (sic) economy’.
- When reviewing their Sustainability section in September 2022, I was surprised to find the commitment “By the end of 2021, we’ll define clear goals around reducing plastic in the packaging of our online orders”. I have enquired to see if there has been progress on this, with a reply that this will be updated in October 2022. When I checked back in November 2022, it still hadn’t been updated…
- On a positive note, Accessorize does have one science-based target for its emissions, promising to become Net positive by 2023.
- Accessorize does not publicly display its Tier 1 suppliers, despite stating “Transparency in our supply chain is crucial.” on their People page.
- Accessorize does not stipulate the minimum age of their workers in their Code of Conduct, simply stating that “child labour shall not be used”. Based on the ILO Standards, children as young as 14 could be making Accessorize’s bags, jewellery, and accessories. I have requested more information.
- Despite claiming that “At Accessorize we’re dedicated to offering accessories that enable all women to express themselves, helping you feel confident in your everyday”, Monsoon Accessorize reported a huge 44.2% gender pay gap in 2019. This means women earned just 56p for every £1 that a man earned. Since then, they have not legally had to report their gender pay gap.
- In 2015, Monsoon Accessorize topped HMRC’s ‘minimum wage list of shame‘, having effectively underpaid 1,438 of its minimum wage workers in the United Kingdom by over £104,000. This was due to a policy requiring employees to wear the brand’s own garments at work, the cost of which was deducted from wages. The company was fined a fraction of that sum – around £28,000 – and promised to end the policy to prevent breaking the law again.
Sustainable Alternatives To Accessorize
If you’re looking to stop shopping at Accessorize, I recommend checking out my guides to ethical jewellery and sustainable handbags, as well as my wider guide to 150+ sustainable fashion brands and my favourite second-hand fashion sites.
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. All information is assumed correct at date of publication. Last updated: September 2022.