Is Lindex Fast Fashion? An Expert Breakdown!
Share
With so many fashion brands emerging in recent decades, the competition is tougher than ever to win the hearts of customers and create a permanent place in their hearts. In our search for a brand that could appeal to a larger audience, we stumbled upon Lindex and we loved what we found. A Swedish-based fashion brand focused on women? We’d love to explore more!
Lindex entered the fashion industry in 1954 as a lingerie store aiming to empower women and help them find the right garments that complement their body type and make them feel sexy and confident in themselves. With the low prices and good quality materials that made so many customers shine, Lindex began to grow exponentially and it became a sensation among women.
In the 1970s, due to its popularity increasing day by day, Lindex introduced women’s wear, hoping to expand its boundaries and attract a larger audience. It also opened stores in Norway with a focus on women’s fashion. It was then taken over by the Finnish company, Stockmann which facilitated its growth in the coming years and helped it reach new heights. As Lindex was known for being diverse and inclusive of all body types, it quickly rose as a market leader in the Nordic countries where size inclusivity was still not prioritized.
Its design teams explore the world in search of new and exotic designs that can help the brand stand out in the overly condensed fashion market. It loves to combine foreign designs with local Swedish designs so that customers can venture into unexplored territory and be surprised by unfamiliar designs.
It offers a vast range of clothing from lingerie and women’s wear to kids’ wear, and even beauty products. You can rely on Lindex for casual as well as party wear that screams chic and effortless. One of its major advantages is how inclusive it is in terms of body types and sizes, carrying out tests on models to ensure that each fabric and item is comfortable and wearable by all women.
Sustainability Rating: 6/10
Category: Clothing, Accessories, Beauty Products
For: Women, Kids
Products: Tops, Sweatpants, Skirts, Lingerie, Lipstick
Style: Chic, Casual, Effortless
Quality: Low, Medium
Prices: $15.00 - $250.00 (US Dollars)
Size: XS - XXXL (International Size)
Fabrics: Polyester, Organic Cotton, Cotton Blend, Nylon, Rayon, Viscose, Polyamide
100% Organic: No
100% Vegan: No
Ethical and Fair: No
Recycling: No
Manufacturing Countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, Myanmar, Sri Lanka
Certifications: GOTS
Lindex has been eco-conscious about its manufacturing and production process since its inception, but it worked at a slow pace until recently, when it began to speed up to keep up with the growing environmental awareness. It grew more transparent and began releasing a sustainability report almost every year to bridge the gap between the brand and the company.
In 2020, it released its sustainability report that stated that about 70% of its garments are made of sustainable materials. Its cotton is GOTS certified which increases its credibility but not all of its cotton products are organic. However, by 2025, it aims to only use recycled materials for the production of clothing. Moreover, it has significantly improved its energy and water use, decreasing it by 45% and 27% respectively. This led to its clothing line being produced by water and energy-saving processes.
Its CEO, Ingvar Larsson, said, “To act sustainable is a key value at Lindex and it influences everything we do.” In addition to caring for the planet, the brand also donated almost 1.3 million euros to cancer research, and as of October 2023, it has started a campaign according to which 10% of all bra sales in October will be donated to the Pink Ribbon Foundation.
This admirable effort has led to the company carving a respectable space in the customer’s mind. It is also very conscious of the use of chemicals in its supply chain, hoping to lessen the usage of hazardous chemicals that have negative effects on workers and marine life.
In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Sara Winroth, CSR Coordinator and Environmental Manager at Lindex said that by creating brand offices in the manufacturing countries, the company can keep an eye on the work environment and practices, and nurture good relations with the local people which can also be good for the creativity.
Lindex is transparent about the countries it buys its products from, but most of those countries are third-world and are known for unethical practices. Lindex ensures customers that it carries out audits regularly and makes them sign a code of conduct that binds the factories to follow a certain protocol. It makes sure that the workers get minimum wage and are not forced to work but disappointingly, Lindex has not set an amount of minimum wage for any of the countries.
Sara Winroth promises that its code of conduct and sustainability work is based on the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact which encourages transparency and a move towards an eco-friendly future. It carries out announced and unannounced inspections at the factories to make sure that all environmental protocols are being followed.
Lindex has taken initiatives to strengthen the role of women in Bangladeshi factories where they are paid quite less even though almost 80% of the employees in their factories are women. Lindex has made it customary to follow protocols to ensure a safe environment for women and minimum wage so that women can also gain independence in the workplace.
Lindex is categorized as a fast fashion brand but the brand itself considers itself to be different from other fast fashion companies. We are also confused about its inclusion in the fast fashion category as although, it does seem to follow some trends, it is also dedicated to sustainability and offering good quality clothing to customers which is unlike other brands who aim to produce cheap materials and sell them at low prices. Thus, we have concluded that Lindex cannot be called a fast fashion brand but it is not 100% sustainable either because it still has quite a long way to go.
Sources:
Lindex Sustainability Insights | 10 Principles of UN Global Compact (fibre2fashion.com)
Lindex says 42% of garments are now made from sustainable materials (fashionnetwork.com)