How to Assess a Brand for Toxicity

So many brands claiming they're sustainable, so little time!

Marcella says this top is made of ponte… what is that, exactly?

I get a lot of requests for brand assessments. A lot. Here’s a list of brands that readers have asked me to assess to decide if they’re trustworthy, safe, and likely to be free of hazardous chemicals:

• Marcella New York

• Bleusalt 

• Velvet

• By Graham Ospencer

• Modern Citizen

• Lucky Brand

• Lululemon

• Duck Feet

• Birkenstocks

• Canada Goose

• Moncler

• Sivana

• Tank Air

• The Silk Co.

• LESET

• TALA

• Frame

• Dôen

• Baserange

• S P E L L

• Oak + Fort

• Temple Studio

• For Love and Lemons

• Flore Flore

• Cou Cou Intimates

• Public Myth

• Skin Worldwide

• The Normal Brand

• Wrap London

• EB Denim

I have to admit that I am a bit overwhelmed by this list. Some I’ve heard of, some I’ve never heard of. Some are very large, some are tiny. Some I own pieces from, some I will probably never patronize.

"Sorry for the long list, I’ve been collecting brands in my notes app for so long 😭” one reader apologized when she added a bunch of brands in the member chat. Thank you for acknowledging that, lovey.

But, I get it! The government does so little to protect us from hazardous chemicals in consumer products. And unlike with food, beauty products, and cleaning products, you can’t look at a t-shirt’s label to see whether it contains formaldehyde or PFAS.

Maybe I should pivot and create a Good on You-like app, but for toxicity. Please, if someone reading this is a tech entrepreneur, take this idea. I would way rather write this newsletter than create a pitch deck for investors. In this economy??

This list would take me more than six months of a brand assessment a week to get through. It’s possible! But maybe you don’t want to wait that long. So, I’m going to teach y’all how to fish. Or rather, how to assess brands for toxicity yourself in less than 20 minutes.

Let’s use as a case study a popular brand request: Marcella New York.

I have a few items from Marcella. They’re…fine. Not the highest quality, about what you would expect to get from an online-only, direct-to-consumer brand that you don’t try on before you purchase. It claims to be ethical and sustainable, so I’m not surprised it has come up a few times from my readers.

You want to know: Could Marcella New York be considered a non-toxic brand? Let’s go.

Okay, first first thing you do is search EcoCult + whatever brand it is to see if we’ve written about it. If not, then move on to official step 1….