If you’re on TikTok, you might have come across a mysterious new brand from Hong Kong: Cider. But how ethical is Cider? This article is based on the Cider rating published in April 2021.
Cider has taken social media platforms by storm this year, with some of its products going viral (like this cute orange sweater), and it now boasts an immense community of 2.1M followers on Instagram.
Digitally-native Cider describes itself as “a globally-minded, social-first fashion brand” that makes “clothes for a new generation”. On paper, the brand functions similarly to SHEIN, listing small batches of items for specific moods and occasions every week and functioning as a direct-from-factory marketplace. Cider also prides itself in being “an innovator”, using data to only produce what they know will sell, which allegedly enables them to keep costs low and reduce the unsold stock.
We’re getting a whiff of greenwashing here, so we thought it was high time we took a look and answered the crucial question: how ethical is Cider?
How sustainable is Cider?
Usually, in our “How Ethical Is…?” articles, we have a closer look at the brand’s rating and break it down so that you know more about how a brand is performing across the three key areas of environmental impact, labour conditions, and animal welfare.
But this time, we don’t have much to say about Cider. As internet users have noticed in this Reddit thread, Cider doesn’t provide transparent information about its practices.
We tried to dig a bit deeper, but we found, well, nothing—the brand provides insufficient relevant information about how it reduces its impact on those three areas. As a result, Cider is rated “We Avoid”, our lowest possible score. As a shopper, you have the right to know how Cider’s production practices impact the planet, people, and animals.
Cider is indeed a mysterious brand and, like SHEIN, sits up there in the fast fashion brands we recommend you avoid at all costs. It is the prime example of an ultra-fast fashion brand—even though the brand prides itself on “celebrating smart fashion”, it still launches new collections at lightning speed, implementing high-scale production as soon as a product is on demand. Yikes!
Cider needs to start disclosing more information about how, where, and by whom its items are produced, as well as the materials used. Transparency is crucial to ethical and sustainable fashion and is the first step towards reducing a businesses’ impact.
Note that Good On You ratings consider hundreds of issues, and it is not possible to list every relevant issue in a summary of the brand’s performance. For more information, see our How We Rate page and our FAQs.
Luckily, the Good On You team found a few “Good” and “Great” brands that we’d love to see go viral for all the right reasons. They are fantastic options to choose from if you want to break your fast fashion addiction and support the planet and all of its inhabitants with your purchases.
Good Swaps
Sustainable alternatives to Cider
