Eco-fashion facades: how rebranding and influencer culture fuel greenwashing in fast fashion

The fast fashion industry has embraced sustainability as a marketing strategy, often resorting to greenwashing to align with evolving consumer preferences for eco-friendly products. This chapter aims to explain how influencer marketing and rebranding strategies by fast fashion brands contribute to greenwashing by creating a façade of environmental responsibility. It critically explores the intersection of social media endorsements, strategic rebranding and consumer psychology to unveil how these tactics by the fast fashion brands are misleading consumers and perpetuating unsustainable practices. Eco-illusions deepen the issue more by fostering a false sense of environmental responsibility among customers. Key themes include the role of micro/macro influencers, social media hashtags in legitimizing green claims and an increase in eco-labels that make consumers susceptible to deceptive marketing. This chapter also highlights the difference between claimed and actual sustainability efforts by fast fashion brands that demonstrate how superficial changes in branding products obscure deeper environmental and ethical violations. It emphasizes the importance of robust consumer awareness, consumer education and strict enforcement of sustainability claims to counteract the influence of greenwashing. This study serves as a critical resource for academics, industry stakeholders and policymakers who aim to understand and mitigate the adverse impact of greenwashing in the fast fashion industry.