Is Halara Fast Fashion? How Ethical and Sustainable is Halara? Let’s discuss.

Halara is a relatively new clothing company that caters to the fast fashion market and promises trendy athleisure clothing for women. Currently, Halara is keeping up with social media trends, especially on TikTok and Instagram. Halara also gives its customers lots of deals. 

Nowadays, like Halara, a lot of clothing brands promise ethical green production, but how sustainable could Halara be? How ethical could Halara be in its production, from the used materials, production, as well as its products.

And how do they stack up against other fast-fashion brands? Let’s find out on this blog!

Is Halara Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion is the production of inexpensive, trend-driven clothing pieces usually made with low-quality materials and cheap (aka exploited) labor. Fast fashion brands usually produce their products en masse and target the high-demand market for recent trends. This method of unethical production and rapid change of trends is harmful to the environment.

Halara was founded by a Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Joyce Zhang in 2020. Zhang noticed the rise in the demand for clothing suitable for both athletic and leisure during the pandemic. Halara focuses its brand on its design and affordability, in turn, this gained Halara its popularity as a new fast fashion brand, especially with successful targeted marketing campaigns for women on popular social media like TikTok and Instagram.

Due to its popularity and demand, Halara offers a vast range of designs and varieties, from your everyday yoga pants to lush leggings. Due to its rising popularity in social media, Halara launched an online shop as its platform, offering deals and discounts for its products.

Now that we know the tits-and-tats of Halara, let’s investigate the facts behind Halara’s sustainability.

Halara’s Production: Regulated Factories or Sweatshops?

Fast fashion has been in high demand due to its trendy styles and cheap prices.  However, the surge in demand for fast fashion has a much larger price on the environment and clothing makers. 

First off, Halara is a fast fashion brand. They offer little to no transparency into their production processes and supply chain. Transparency is so important because in the supply chain unethical practices can arise due to lack of regulations and supervision, from inadequate work environment, and low salaries for the workers, to much more loose pollution & waste management.

On their website, Halara claimed that most of their clothes were produced in factories across East and Southeast Asia and passed quality checks, as well as strictly implemented local regulations. They quoted:

“We strongly believe in ‘quality made affordable’, and it’s reflected in every step of our manufacturing and shipping process. After passing a thorough internal quality control check, our products are shipped out from our factories in Vietnam, China, and the Philippines. We give our customers exactly what they pay for, and we make every cent count.” 

They don’t elaborate more on the details of these claims or where their factories are specifically located, they don’t provide anything regarding their workshops and working conditions for the employees either. Halara offers no proof to back their claims of fair labor.

Production Process: Is Halara Ethical?

Now, let’s take a peek at Halara’s production process.

The first step starts off by selecting materials from supposedly meticulously picked-out suppliers around the globe. Halara doesn’t disclose where exactly they got the materials from as some plantations and producers around the world could implement shady and harmful practices, like a cotton plantation in Uzbekistan where the producers dumped the waste into the dried Ural sea. 

Halara claims that all factories involved with their product manufacturing adhere to strict ethical standards, yet it is not disclosed where these factories are located. Most sources believe they are based in countries where labour practices are controlled and regulated poorly, like China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The Ethical Practices at Halara: An Insight

Halara has a sketchy commitment to ethical practices. Despite its claim of being sustainable, quick research on the internet does not reveal proof of their claims of  sustainability or ethical practices.

It is safe to say that Halara doesn’t provide sufficient credibility to support its claims. They offer no evidence that their clothing makers earn a living wage, or even a fair wage. To add to this, Halara outsources their labor production with companies in countries in the Global South where regulations regarding workforce are not well enforced.

Environmental Impact of Halara’s Production Methods

Halara’s production methods have been called into question due to so many aspects. By utilising unsustainable materials and processes such as high levels of water consumption, releasing pollutants into waterways, and lack of sustainability practices overall, Halara has gotten itself an unfavourable reputation when it comes to eco-friendliness.

Halara uses polyester, viscose, spandex, and nylon, materials often found in fast fashion. Polyester, nylon, and spandex utilise crude oil-based material and they create nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

They also use a lot of water in the process, with the chance of polluting the water ecosystem in countries where the production and waste aren’t regulated properly. They also take more time to decompose properly as waste. 

Viscose is the least polluting and the most sustainable of all of them, yet the production still doesn’t guarantee a sustainable process since Halara outsourced their production unit. Moreover, chemicals used to process wood pulp into viscose can damage the environment, and without certifications, it’s unlikely the viscose is sourced sustainably.

Halara is also known for employing sweatshop labor practices overseas which are linked to poor waste management—one of the many factors contributing to their careless production methods. Sweatshops also continuously offer poor and dangerous workplaces and circumstances without proper care for employees’ health or safety. All these aspects contribute towards Halara’s unsustainability record.

Halara is rather unclear on its recycling or repair policy, further tainting their ‘ethical & sustainable’ claim on social media. Add to that, many customers noticed that Halara drop shipped some clothes from overseas, thus making its carbon footprint higher in most cases.

Consumers’ Perspectives on Sustainability and Ethics in Halara

Halara gives the consumer sketchy details about their commitments to sustainability or ethical practices. On their website, they claim to use eco-friendly materials and ethical labour in their processes, while there are a lot of consumers who discovered and exposed the errors that Halara made. 

Many consumers and reviewers exposed Halara’s poor product quality and plagiarism. Some postulate a theory that Halara is a knock-off from Shein due to its similar terrible unethical processes, plagiarism, and product quality.

Is Halara Better Compared to Other Fast Fashion Brands?

Halara is a relatively new fast fashion company. Ethically and environmentally speaking, Halara is still as similarly mediocre as other fast fashion brands like Uniqlo or even its closest contender, Shein.

Both Halara and Shein outsourced their production and material acquisition, gave out sketchy commitments, and hid the details about their production processes in poorly managed factories. 

Future Outlook for Sustainability and Ethics in Companies like Halara

The future won’t be bright for Halara. As a fast fashion brand, Halara needs to prioritise sustainability and ethics to develop better as a brand. If things remain as they are, then Halara is just becoming yet another greedy and unsustainable fast fashion brand like its bigger and older competitors.

In regards to sustainability and ethics, Halara needs to address the necessity to use more ethically sourced and sustainable options like organic cotton and linen. Halara needs to be more transparent in their production lines as well. They can improve ethics by outsourcing from better factories with certifications to support their ethical claims.

Furthermore, if companies wish to make sustainable practices and ethical behaviour an intrinsic part of their operation they must incorporate them into all aspects from design through delivery. Halara could note some of these aspects to create a better brand. 

Key Takeaways

Halara offers fashionable clothing for an affordable price, but unfortunately, their sustainability claims are just greenwashing. A quick internet search sadly debunks any positive claim that they make.

Halara’s claims and commitments to minimize water waste and carbon emissions arising from production processes are sketchy. Halara is still problematic regarding sustainability practices – many items are manufactured in places with questionable labor policies or reside in countries lacking strong environmental regulations. The buyers aren’t that fond of the products and its unsustainable policies either.

Moreover, while they use natural fabric options like cotton when feasible, there is no guarantee all of their raw materials meet ethical standards or are sourced from ethical producers. There is zero evidence claiming the cotton Halara used came from BCI or organic producers, suggesting that Halara most likely utilizes conventional cotton with 0 promises on sustainability.

Halara has a lot to do before representing itself overall as a sustainable and ethical brand. In conclusion, Halara is a fast fashion brand with questionable sustainability and ethical practices.

Ethical Alternatives to Halara

Here’s our top 3 ethical alternatives picked for you.

1) Girlfriend

Girlfriend Collective is great for more size-inclusive athleisure clothing for women. This is your eco alternative to Halara leggings, skirts, skorts, athletic dresses, sports bras, and more. They also occasionally offer athleisure selections for men, perfect for gifts!

2) Frank And Oak

Frank And Oak is your go-to for casual and business casual alternatives to Halara. They don’t offer leggings, but they do have a great selection of women’s pants, tops, dresses, skirts, and more. Plus an equally great selection of men’s clothes, all with a much better impact on people and planet.

3) Iron Roots

For more athletic wear and athleisure, you might also want to check out Iron Roots. They utilize organic, sustainable, and natural fabrics, suitable for athletic purposes and more breathable than polyester.

More Sustainable Alternatives to Halara

Looking for eco-friendly clothing brand alternatives to Halara? Then look no further than Eco-Stylist! We offer over 100 great sustainable brands with clothes and shoes that are all responsibly sourced. 

Need to look rad from top to toe with 0 cruelties? We have them all, from shiny shoes to stylish suits, it’s all made from safe materials with the planet in mind. What better way to show your commitment towards sustainability than shopping for the leading sustainable fashion brands? 

Check out our shop to get started and start making a difference with each purchase!

*Article last updated 8/19/24.

Nanda

Nanda is an Indonesian freelance writer, content maker, and blogger, specializing in sustainable fashion, art, music, literature, and entertainment.