Amazon Essentials is the company’s in-house clothing line, churning out cheap basics designed to undercut competitors and keep shoppers locked into Amazon’s ecosystem. Every T-shirt, sock, and hoodie is another brick in the empire built on worker exploitation, union busting, and environmental destruction. Buying it is supporting the worst company on earth.
Amazon is rated High Impact because its harms are systemic and interlocking.
Environmental Harm: Delivery fleets, aviation cargo, and data centers generate massive emissions and plastic waste, while public pledges mask lobbying against climate regulation.
Human Rights Violations: Workers face surveillance, injury-level quotas, and unsafe delivery speeds. Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere face wage theft and coercion.
Military & Conflict Complicity: AWS is central to surveillance states. Project Nimbus embeds Amazon in Israel’s occupation and war crimes, supplying AI and data services to its military and government.
The result: consumer spending that powers a machine which entrenches inequality, accelerates climate collapse, and sustains state violence worldwide.
Stepping away from the convenience of fast fashion works best when you slow your shopping pace, focus on versatile pieces that last, and keep a shortlist of brands with transparent sourcing and fair labour practices. If shopping at more ethical stores is out of reach, choose the least harmful fast-fashion option you can find, prioritizing higher-quality items you intend to keep for years. The goal is to buy less, choose better, and source smarter, not to eliminate new purchases altogether.
Try these brands:
Everlane
Kotn
Tentree
MATE the Label
Outerknown
Tradlands
Able
Neu Nomads
Whimsy + Row
The Common Good Company
OMNES
Dedicated
CHNGE
Yes Friends
Honest Basics
Toad&Co
Afends
Dawn Denim
Wildflo Studio