Luxury retailer Toward wants to help eco-conscious consumers find socially responsible items. 

Luxury retailer Toward wants to help eco-conscious consumers find socially responsible items. After surveying more than 1,000 Gen Z and Millennial women, Toward’s founder and CEO found that 80% of them don’t trust brands’ sustainability claims, and 74% are overwhelmed by how much research it takes to determine if they’re making a socially responsible purchase. Enter Toward, an online luxury fashion and beauty retailer giving eco-conscious consumers the confidence to shop responsibly by prioritizing brand transparency. Brands that want to be featured on Toward must pass a 100-plus question exam that evaluates their prioritization of workers’ rights, responsible water usage, and low-waste production cycle. From there, Toward curates brands based on their commitment to the behaviors, and consumers can use the platform’s filters to search for specific products like items from minority-owned brands, cruelty-free products, vegan materials, and more. YPulse’s sustainability data shows that 58% of Gen Z and 47% of Millennials feel brands should be creating more eco-friendly products, and Vivienne Westwood, House of Sunny, and Furtuna Skin are among the 25 brands currently featured on Toward. Meanwhile, Greta Thunberg is using her presence as Vogue Scandinavia’s August cover feature to protest fast fashion and greenwashing—a.k.a. appealing to eco-conscious consumers by deploying false claims about a brand’s sustainable measures. (Adweek, Quartz)