Yes, Garage is a fast fashion brand. Its business model is built on rapid trend replication, low prices, and high-volume production cycles that encourage frequent consumer turnover.
While the brand offers trendy, affordable clothing popular with a younger demographic, its ethical practices lack transparency, and there is no evidence it pays living wages to its workers. Environmentally, Garage relies heavily on petroleum-based synthetic materials and has made minimal concrete commitments to reduce its significant impact. Here's what you need to know about Garage's practices:
Garage employs a classic fast fashion strategy centered on speed, volume, and low costs to keep up with quickly changing trends popular among young consumers.
Garage's ethical practices are opaque and fall short of industry best practices, with major concerns around labor conditions and a lack of transparency.
Garage sources its products almost entirely from factories in regions with notorious labor rights issues, including China and Bangladesh. Workers in these areas are often subjected to low wages and poor working conditions. For instance, textile workers in Bangladesh typically earn around $180 per month, which is far below the estimated living wage of over $300 per month needed to cover basic necessities.
The brand provides consumers with no meaningful transparency into its supply chain. Garage does not publish a list of its suppliers, share factory audit results, or hold any third-party ethical certifications like Fair Trade or SA8000. This lack of disclosure makes it impossible for consumers to verify if workers are treated and paid fairly.
Garage primarily uses synthetic fabrics but does include some conventional wool in its collections. The brand has no publicly stated animal welfare policies and does not use any certifications like the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) or PETA-Approved Vegan, meaning there are no assurances for the treatment of animals in its supply chain.
Garage's sustainability efforts are minimal and unsupported by clear goals or data, pointing to a business model that is fundamentally unsustainable.
The brand's material choices are a primary environmental concern. Approximately 60% of Garage's collections are made from conventional polyester, a cheap, petroleum-based plastic fiber. Less than 10% of its materials are from recycled sources. The brand provides no evidence of using third-party certified sustainable materials like GOTS organic cotton or GRS recycled polyester.
Garage does not publish any data regarding its environmental footprint, including its carbon emissions, water consumption, or chemical usage. The production of its synthetic-heavy collections is energy-intensive and contributes to fossil fuel dependency and microplastic shedding when clothes are washed. Its global supply chain also creates a significant carbon footprint from transportation.
Garage has no publicly available initiatives aimed at circularity. The company does not offer repair services, take-back programs, or textile recycling for its old clothes. Its business model, which relies on clearance sales to offload unsold inventory, perpetuates a cycle of overproduction and waste.
Garage has set only vague goals to reduce its environmental impact without providing concrete, measurable targets, timelines, or progress reports. The brand is not certified by any reputable environmental bodies like B Corp or Climate Neutral, and its limited claims appear to be unsubstantiated marketing rather than a genuine sustainability strategy.
Garage remains a typical fast fashion brand with practices that prioritize profit margins over people and the planet. Its ethical and sustainability efforts are minimal, opaque, and fall significantly behind what is required for a responsible fashion company.
Garage receives a D+ for its complete lack of supply chain transparency. Sourcing from high-risk countries without third-party certifications or publicly available audits makes it impossible to verify working conditions or wages. While there are no major public scandals, the extreme opacity and failure to provide evidence of paying living wages are significant ethical red flags.
The brand earns a D for its environmental performance due to its heavy dependence on virgin synthetic materials, absence of any circularity programs, and failure to set measurable sustainability goals. Its vague environmental commitments are not backed by data, leaving consumers with no reason to believe its impact is being managed responsibly.
If Garage's ethical and environmental issues are a concern, consider these alternatives that offer similar styles with a much stronger commitment to transparency and sustainability.
Everlane offers minimalist, casual styles with radical transparency on its pricing and factories. The brand focuses on higher-quality staple pieces made from more sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled fabrics, with prices only slightly higher than Garage's.
Shop now at everlane.com
A pioneer in fair trade fashion, People Tree guarantees its products are made to the highest ethical and environmental standards. It uses exclusively organic and natural materials and is a perfect choice for those seeking GOTS-certified basics, dresses, and casualwear.
Shop now at peopletree.co.uk
Famous for its outdoor gear and casual wear, Patagonia is a leader in activism and responsibility. As a certified B-Corp, it uses nearly 100% recycled or organic materials, implements Fair Trade Certified sewing, and offers a lifetime repair program to combat waste.
Shop now at patagonia.com
For trendy footwear, Veja provides stylish sneakers made with transparency and sustainable materials. The brand uses organic cotton, wild Amazonian rubber, and recycled materials while working directly with producers to ensure fair trade practices.
Shop now at veja-store.com
Though at a higher price point, Eileen Fisher is a leader in circular systems and timeless design. The B Corp focuses on organic and recycled materials, responsible supply chains, and offers a take-back program called "Renew" to turn old clothes into new designs.
Shop now at eileenfisher.com
No, despite being a Canadian company, Garage's products are not made in Canada. The brand sources its manufacturing primarily from overseas contractors in China, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries where labor and production costs are significantly lower.
Garage's low prices are a direct result of its fast fashion business model. The company keeps costs down by producing high volumes of clothing, using inexpensive synthetic materials like polyester, and manufacturing in countries with very low labor wages where ethical oversight is limited.
There is no evidence that Garage ensures its factory workers are paid a living wage. The brand does not publish its supplier lists or wage data, and it operates in regions where the legal minimum wage is often well below the amount needed for a worker to afford basic needs for themselves and their family.
While Garage is not an "ultra-fast fashion" brand on the same scale as SHEIN, its core business model carries similar ethical and environmental problems. Both brands lack transparency, rely on low-cost overseas labor, and produce trend-driven clothing designed for short-term use. Garage might produce less volume, but its fundamental practices are not meaningfully more ethical or sustainable.
