Is Missguided Fast Fashion? Analysis and Alternatives

Thanks to many Gen Z and Millenials turning their back on the dirty habits of the fast fashion industry, we’re demanding more transparency and sustainable production from brands as consumers. So today, we’re asking the question, Is Missguided fast fashion?

We’ll assess where Missguided clothes are made and whether the brand is really ethical or whether it is actually just missguiding its customers into supporting a fast fashion brand.

Missguided is an online UK- based retailer known for creating cheap clothing that keeps up with the latest trends. The brand, which is based in Manchester, UK, was founded in 2009 by Nitin Passi and grew significantly over the years, peaking in 2017. The brand, however, suffered severe profit losses of approximately 45 million British pounds in 2018. On top of this, subsequent profit losses in the last four years meant the company fell into administration in 2022 and was bought by global UK-based retailer Frasers group, which also owns brands including I Saw It First.

Despite the administrative changes, the brand continues to operate, produce, and retail its clothing online.

Is Missguided Fast Fashion?

Yes, Missguided is a fast fashion brand, and here’s why:

Firstly the brand creates thousands of styles of clothing (we found over 800 styles of dresses alone) from cheap unsustainable materials that have the potential to fall apart after a couple of wears. The problem with poor-quality fast fashion garments is these garments end up in landfill due to the poor quality of construction.

Secondly, Missguided sells its clothing for a cheap price point. When researching the brand, we found tops on sale for as little as £2 ($3) – at this low price, we question whether the brand’s garment workers are being paid a fair wage for creating the product.

Along with the points mentioned here, Missguided also heavily market their clothing, posting on social media with the ‘latest must-have styles. This form of marketing instills urgency in the customer, which in turn promotes the customer to buy more clothing, fuelling the clothing consumption crisis we currently face.

What Materials Missguided Does Brand Use?

One thing we found concerning was the lack of information given by Missguided about what each product is made from. For example, we couldn’t find a ‘fabric’ section on their products.

We searched for some sustainable materials like ‘organic cotton’, which turned up zero searches. When we looked for recycled materials e.g, recycled polyester, there were only 68 results out of thousands of styles.

The lack of transparency around materials indicates that Missguided aren’t using sustainable materials, nor are they doing enough to promote the use of more sustainable materials.

Is Missguided Carbon Neutral?

No Missguided is not a carbon-neutral brand, nor does it indicate its carbon emissions or whether it is trying to reduce them on its website.

Is Missguide Ethical?

Again, you may not be surprised to learn that there is a serious lack of information about Missguided’s supply chain, the working conditions of its workers, and the wages paid to garment workers. In addition, when we went to read the Modern Slavery Statement on the Missguided UK website, nothing existed, leading us to this page:

In addition to the lack of information, it was reported that due to financial problems, Missguided failed to pay millions of pounds in invoices to its clothing factories. The lack of payment to its suppliers for finished goods means hundreds of workers in Pakistan have been unpaid for months, leaving them starving and unable to pay their bills.

All of this information, and lack thereof, paints a very poor picture of the ethics surrounding a brand as large as Missguided, which leads us to the summary that the brand has very poor ethics.

Is Misguided Vegan and Cruelty-Free?

No, Missguided is not a vegan brand, as it uses wool and leather in its products. The brand is also not cruelty-free as it permits fur use.

Does Misguided Have A Clothing Recycling Program?

No Missguided does not have a clothing recycling program or resale program.

Ecothes Opinion: Is Missguided Fast Fashion

We rate Missguided an overall sustainability rating of “Extremely poor” 0/5.
What we liked:
❌ We did not find anything that indicated the brand was shifting towards or promoting more sustainable production practices.

What we didn’t like:
❌ Reports the brand has left hundreds of garment workers without pay or compensation.

❌The lack of transparency around materials and where its clothes are made.

Sustainable Alternatives to Misguided

Rather than supporting a fast fashion brand like Missguided, we’ve highlighted some sustainable clothing brands that slow down the fashion world and produce their styles ethically.

1.

2

3. Baukjen

Sustainability: Natural materials like organic cotton, linen, hemp

Best for: Sustainable Workwear

Ships to: Worldwide

Shop Baukjen

4

Wrapping Up: Is Missguided Fast Fashion?

Now you know that Missguided is a fast fashion brand, check out whether Urban Outfitters, Zara, AEO, Express, and Asos are also fast fashion?