Consumers are Googling sustainable fashion brands more than ever. Here’s how Adidas, Patagonia, Puma, Quince, and Reformation are answering the call with measurable sustainability progress in 2025.
Online searches for sustainable fashion have surged in 2025. According to Google Trends data from the first half of the year, queries related to “sustainable clothing brands” have spiked, with Adidas, Patagonia, Puma, Quince, and Reformation consistently ranking among the most searched names.
Each brand represents a different consumer priority: Adidas is gaining traction for its emissions disclosures and recycled-performance materials; Patagonia for its elimination of harmful chemicals and environmental grants; Puma for its substantial shift toward recycled content and renewable energy; Reformation for integrating impact data into its shopping experience; and Quince for offering lower-cost alternatives with sustainability claims.
These five brands are showing up not only because they’re responding to climate expectations, but because they’re doing so in ways that consumers can trace — through product labeling, take-back programs, emissions reports, and direct-to-consumer transparency. As sustainability marketing becomes increasingly scrutinized, Google search data suggests that shoppers are becoming more investigative, rewarding clarity over hype.
Adidas is betting big on decarbonization and circular materials
Adidas has set a bold course: reduce emissions across long‑established categories and refocus its supply chain. Since 2024 the company cut Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by seventeen percent over its 2022 baseline, alongside a twenty percent drop in Scope 3 outputs and a five‑point‑three percent decrease in carbon intensity. It targets a nine percent reduction in carbon intensity by end of 2025.
Long-term, Adidas plans a 90 percent reduction in direct emissions by 2030 and a 43 percent decrease in its supply chain’s footprint. To finance this shift, it is expanding its purchase agreements for renewable power and installing solar infrastructure across Europe, North America, and Asia. It has also partnered with Parley for the Oceans, continuing to convert ocean plastic into footwear and apparel, and eliminating virgin plastic from stores and packaging.
Earlier this year, a German court found the company’s marketing vagueries problematic, citing “greenhushing” — nebulously defined environmental claims without clear metrics. Adidas responded by publishing comprehensive, Science‑Based Targets‑validated goals in its 2024 Impact Report.
Patagonia is pushing beyond product to eliminate “forever chemicals”
Outdoor brand Patagonia is doubling down beyond fabrics. By spring 2025, it plans to remove perfluorinated compounds (PFCs/PFAS) from all outerwear finishes. These compounds, often referred to as forever chemicals, linger in water and soil and pose health risks.
Patagonia’s website notes that almost 96 percent of its water‑repellent gear was free of PFAS in spring 2024. To meet its aim, the brand is converting every membrane and finish — work started in 2019 — to non‑fluorinated alternatives.
That chemical transition is part of a broader commitment. When it launched a carbon‑neutrality goal for 2025, it framed it less as a finish line and more as a launch pad. It wrote, “Ultimately, we want to rely less and less on offset mechanisms and see our gross emissions plummet toward zero.” Patagonia is also investing in regenerative agriculture and reforestation to remove carbon permanently from its supply chain.
By spring 2024, 87 percent of its products by weight comprised recycled polyester, nylon, or organic and regenerative cotton; only four percent contained virgin polyester. Since switching to recycled fibers in 2019, it estimates it has kept 153 million pounds of CO₂ out of the atmosphere.
Puma reaches its recycling targets and eyes net zero by 2030
Puma has embraced sustainability under its “Forever Better” Vision 2030 strategy, with nine out of ten of its products made with recycled or certified materials by 2024 — one year ahead of schedule. Materials included thirteen percent recycled cotton and nearly seventy‑five percent recycled polyester.
That surge came via key investments: two utility‑scale solar plants at its German headquarters and distribution center, a commitment to renewable energy certificates, and electrifying its global vehicle fleet.
Puma also cut direct emissions by eighty‑six percent compared to 2017 levels. It has pledged a ninety percent decline in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030, and a 33 percent cut in Scope 3 supply chain emissions. It received early SBTi approval and expanded its human rights agenda; by 2024, core suppliers’ crews were earning sixty‑six percent above minimum wage on average.
Its efforts won recognition: carbon disclosure rankings and a lifting in reputable climate‑performance lists, even while ASN impact investors temporarily divested to signal lagging disclosure among peers.
Quince is a disruptive bargain, but it falls short on transparency
Quince shot up Google’s ranks with its value proposition: cashmere sweaters under $60 and washable silk dresses under $80, direct‑to‑consumer and transparent pricing. Packaging is all compostable or recycled, and the site breaks down “factory to doorstep” costs line by line.
But critics argue that affordability may obscure compliance and sustainability. Good On You rates it “Not good enough,” a second‑lowest rating, because the company provides little evidence in multiple areas: labor rights, hazardous chemical reduction, wastewater or water conservation, or animal welfare. Social media voices and forum users echo this, noting “all the markers of greenwashing”.
There are no independent emissions disclosures or audited environmental targets to date. So while Quince delivers tempting price transparency, it falls into a growing category of value brands that are prompt to promote green messaging — but slow to back it up with third‑party verification.
Reformation is turning consumer data into a sustainability currency
Reformation commands attention by offering metrics alongside its clothing. Its RefScale reads like a sustainability scorecard, detailing each item’s carbon, water, and waste footprints benchmarked against U.S. national averages. The methodology is third‑party verified and publicly available.
Reformation reports that over 70 percent of its primary fabrics are recycled, regenerative, or renewable. Styled programs are in place to shift another ten percent of sourcing annually. It has also partnered with Ambercycle to introduce “cycora,” a recycled fabric line. The move acknowledges that circularity is not marketing—it is structural.
Technology, transparency, and ticking targets
A broader categorical overview reveals clear pressure points across sustainable fashion in 2025. Industry‑wide emissions, including from brands like Adidas and Puma, have begun to shrink, but global fashion emissions are still rising, with a widening gap between what’s pledged and what is delivered.
Brands are turning to recycled polyester, regenerative cotton, and bio‑based fabrics en masse. Adidas works with Parley for ocean plastic; Patagonia phases out fossil fibers entirely.
Reformation’s take‑back loop and Puma’s recycling goal show structure emerging, but textile recycling still remains a niche — only one percent of materials are typically reincorporated into clothing.
Good On You’s ratings — alongside court rulings over greenwash and investor divestments — suggest external verification matters. Adidas and Puma now publish SBTi targets; Quince still does not.
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