Greta Thunberg Covers 'Vogue' And Calls Out Fast Fashion In One Epic Post

Greta Thunberg goes off on fast fashion in an Instagram post about her Vogue Scandinavia cover

When most celebrities appear on the cover of a magazine, they post the photos online and give a shoutout to their makeup artist and photographer and talk about how excited they were to appear on [insert magazine cover name here]. When climate activist and teen icon Greta Thunberg appears on the cover of Vogue magazine, she throws up one photo from the cover on Instagram and is like, While I have your attention, let’s talk about how fast fashion is contributing to the climate crisis. Greta, as always, remains a damn queen.

Thunberg appeared on the cover of the first-ever issue of Vogue Scandinavia and while we’re sure she was honored by the distinction by the famous fashion brand, Thunberg — as always — used the spotlight to talk about climate change.

“The fashion industry is a huge contributor to the climate-and ecological emergency, not to mention its impact on the countless workers and communities who are being exploited around the world in order for some to enjoy fast fashion that many treat as disposables,” Thunberg opened her no-holds-barred takedown in an Instagram post.

“Many are making it look as if the fashion industry are starting to take responsibility, by spending fantasy amounts on campaigns where they portray themselves as ‘sustainable,’ ‘ethical,’ ‘green,’ ‘climate neutral’ and ‘fair.’ But let’s be clear: This is almost never anything but pure greenwashing. You cannot mass produce fashion or consume ‘sustainably’ as the world is shaped today. That is one of the many reasons why we will need a system change,” the young activist continued.

Only the great Greta Thunberg can go on the cover of the world’s best fashion magazine and talk about how the fashion industry is killing the climate. The confidence!

And she’s not wrong.

For example, it takes over 2,000 gallons of water to make a single pair of jeans. Of course, there are brands trying to become *more* sustainable, like Levi’s Water<Less jeans, which it says uses up to 96% less water in the manufacturing process. But as Good Housekeeping pointed out, “there’s no such thing as ‘eco-friendly clothing’ — i.e. all garments have at least some negative impact on the environment.” The most sustainable thing you can do is buy clothes that have already been worn before, i.e. second-hand clothes or new clothes made entirely from recycled fabrics.

Thunberg actually told Vogue Scandinavia, “The last time I bought something new was three years ago and it was second-hand. I just borrow things from people I know.”

Obviously, Vogue Scandinavia and fast fashion are not one in the same, so it’s not exactly like Thunberg is roasting the magazine, which Thunberg actually addressed in the interview.

“There is some kind of misconception about activists, especially about climate activists that we are just negative and pessimists, and we are just complaining, and we are trying to spread fear but that’s the exact opposite. We are doing this because we are hopeful, we are hopeful that we will be able to make the changes necessary,” Thunberg said in the interview.

It’s just extremely on-brand for the fiery queen to use her status as a magazine cover star for an imprint devoted to fashion to call out the same industry in one fell swoop. As always, iconic. You can see and read the rest of her interview here.