Nike, Lidl, Zara, and H&M: the list of brands the investigators at "flip" have tackled is as long as it is illustrious. Since 2020, the eight-person reporter team has been tracking brand promises and repeatedly uncovering cases of flagrant greenwashing. Some of flip's investigations involve real detective work, leading to sewing workshops in Myanmar where Lidl supposedly has "sustainable" clothing made, to slums near Nairobi where our old shoes end up, or to nondescript warehouses in Belgium where Nike shreds brand-new sneakers.
In this podcast episode, Felix Rohrbeck tells us how they do it and how companies react. The investigative journalist previously worked for DIE ZEIT and helped uncover the Cum-Ex scandal before co-founding flip. "We are not interested in denouncing brands, but rather in restoring consumers' trust in sustainable brand messages," he says. "And that requires solid promises, clean communication, and hard facts."
Two-thirds of the companies they have examined are doing honest work, says Felix. As for the "lime-green" remainder, one simply has to keep a close eye on them.