The Good On You rating system assesses how well a brand performs on each issue in our methodology (listed above) using one or more of the data sources listed below, including relevant, specific information published by brands and their parent companies, certification schemes, multi-stakeholder initiatives, and independent public data sources.
For example, we identify whether or not a brand has set an approved Science-Based Target; discloses suppliers; pays a living wage to workers—and if so which types of workers and what percentage; and so on, across up to 1,000 data points used in the methodology.
In all cases, each data point must be supported by robust evidence in the public domain. Where data is based on a public statement by the brand, it must be specific and precise (ie provide information about the practice in detail), and material (ie relevant to the sustainability practice under consideration). Statements that are vague or not relevant to a brand’s impact on people, the planet, and animals are ignored. Statements of intention about future action are only relevant to the small number of issues that relate to setting targets.
Specific steps in the Good On You rating system:
- Identify brands to rate, with priority given to brands with the largest market share, brands that are likely to rate highly, brands that cater for diversity, and those requested by partner retailers and Good On You users.
- Determine the brand size.
- Collect data using data scraping, third-party data sources, brand data submission via Good Measures, and analyst research.
- Verify the collected data with automated internal validation and analyst review.
- Evaluate data against our scoring methodology for each of the three key pillars (labour, environment, animals), and overall for the brand.
- Create a text summary of each brand’s rating.
- Collect supporting brand data including location, contact details, price range, product types, styles, images, and retailers.
- Upload final brand listings to the Good On You mobile app, online directory, and industry tools.