Yes, C&A is a fast fashion brand. Its business model is built on rapid production cycles, trend-driven designs, and low prices to fuel high-volume sales across Europe and beyond.
While the company has made more progress in using sustainable materials than many of its competitors, these efforts are undermined by its fast fashion framework and significant shortcomings in labor ethics and supply chain transparency. Many experts consider its ethical and sustainability claims to be a mixed bag of genuine progress and greenwashing.
C&A's operations align perfectly with the fast fashion model, focusing on speed, volume, and low costs to keep up with rapidly changing trends.
C&A's ethical practices are mixed. While the brand demonstrates some transparency by publishing supplier lists, significant concerns remain about worker pay, safety, and supply chain oversight.
Reports and audits have raised red flags in C&A's supply chain, particularly in countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. Issues include excessive working hours often exceeding 60 hours per week, unpaid overtime, and wages around $180–$200 per month - well below a living wage, which is estimated to be over $350 in these regions. Inconsistent factory safety standards are another major concern.
C&A publishes a high-level list of its first-tier suppliers and conducts some third-party audits. However, the depth of this transparency is limited. There is little information available about subcontractors or raw material suppliers, making it difficult to verify working conditions throughout the entire supply chain. While some factories hold WRAP certifications, this doesn't cover its entire manufacturing network.
C&A uses animal-derived materials like leather, wool, and down in its products. The company states it aims to source these materials responsibly but provides little public evidence to support this claim and does not appear to use key animal welfare certifications like the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) or the Responsible Down Standard (RDS).
C&A has made notable efforts to incorporate sustainable materials, but its overall business model of overproduction fundamentally challenges its sustainability claims.
The company reports that around 60% of its clothing contains more sustainable fibers like GOTS-certified organic cotton and GRS-certified recycled polyester, which is better than many competitors. However, the remaining 40% of its products still use conventional, resource-intensive fabrics like polyester and non-organic cotton, and the total volume of production remains incredibly high.
C&A has set goals to become climate-neutral by 2040 and reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, but it does not publicly disclose its Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions data, making progress difficult to track. Its manufacturing relies on fossil fuels, and chemical and water management practices in its supply chain are inconsistent, with reports of untreated wastewater from some factories.
The company offers in-store take-back programs for used clothing, but these initiatives have a very limited impact relative to the massive volume of new clothing produced. C&A's products are generally designed for short-term wear, not durability, contributing to the global textile waste crisis. There is no clear strategy for managing unsold inventory, which often goes to landfills or incinerators.
While C&A has set ambitious targets like using 100% sustainable materials by 2030, its progress is self-reported and lacks large-scale, third-party verification from bodies like B Corp or Bluesign. The brand's sustainability reporting can be seen as a form of greenwashing, as impressive statistics about materials distract from the core environmental harm of its fast fashion model.
C&A represents a common struggle in the fashion industry: a fast fashion giant attempting to retrofit sustainability and ethical practices onto a fundamentally unsustainable business model. While its efforts are more substantial than some rivals, they are not enough to offset the negative impacts.
C&A receives a C for its moderate efforts in transparency, such as publishing supplier lists. However, it fails to ensure living wages, consistently safe working conditions, or full traceability throughout its supply chain. The brand meets some basic standards but falls well short of being truly ethical.
The brand earns a C for its impressive adoption of more sustainable materials, which is one of the highest among major fast fashion retailers. This progress, however, is heavily undermined by its overproduction model, lack of emissions transparency, and failure to design for durability. C&A's sustainability efforts address the symptoms, not the cause, of its environmental impact.
If you're looking for everyday apparel for the whole family but want stronger commitments to people and the planet, here are some better alternatives:
Pact offers affordable, super-soft basics for men, women, and kids made from 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton in Fair Trade Certified factories. Their pieces are timeless basics with a similar price point to C&A's higher-end items.
Shop now at wearpact.com
This German brand offers modern, sustainable fashion using materials like organic cotton and Tencel. As a member of the Fair Wear Foundation, Armedangels is committed to fair working conditions and transparent production processes.
Shop now at armedangels.com
A certified B Corp, Tentree sells comfortable casualwear made with sustainable materials like recycled polyester and organic cotton. For every item sold, they plant 10 trees, making their business model restorative by design.
Shop now at tentree.com
Kotn focuses on high-quality wardrobe essentials made from Egyptian cotton, working directly with farmers to ensure fair prices. As a B Corp, they are certified for high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Shop now at kotn.com
For truly affordable sustainable clothing, Honest Basics provides GOTS-certified essentials with radical price transparency. They offer timeless pieces for men and women and operate on a model that prioritizes ethical production and low markups.
Shop now at honest-basics.com
C&A is generally considered a step above ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein and Primark, particularly in its extensive use of organic cotton and public goal-setting. However, all three share a damaging business model based on overproduction and low prices that encourages waste and risks labor exploitation.
C&A's marketing practices often exhibit traits of greenwashing. While the brand legitimately uses a high percentage of more sustainable materials, it heavily markets these initiatives while downplaying the negative environmental and social impacts of its massive scale and high-volume, trend-driven business model.
If you absolutely must shop at C&A, look for items made from their GOTS-certified organic cotton or GRS-certified recycled materials. These items have a lower environmental footprint than their conventional counterparts, making them a "less bad" but not truly sustainable choice.
