How We Evaluate Brands

This page describes how we research and evaluate brands. The scoring framework itself — the five categories and their weights — is documented on the PWW Integrity Score page. This page focuses on the process behind the scores: how we gather evidence, how we stay transparent, and how we plan to improve.

Research Process

Each brand evaluation follows a structured workflow. We start by gathering publicly available information: the brand's own published materials, third-party certifications, industry databases, academic research, and consumer reviews. We assess the brand against the five PWW Integrity Score categories: Fit & Function, Value Preservation, Transparency, Environmental Stewardship, and Social Responsibility. Each category is scored independently before a composite is calculated.

Evidence Gathering

We prioritize primary sources over secondary claims. A brand's published supplier list is evidence. A certification from a recognized body (B Corp, Fair Trade, GOTS) is evidence. A marketing claim about sustainability, without supporting documentation, is not evidence — it is a claim. When evidence is missing, we say so. Brands are not penalized for what we cannot verify; they are marked as unevaluated in that category.

Where possible, we cross-reference claims against independent databases: the Higg Index, Fashion Revolution's Transparency Index, the Changing Markets Foundation reports, and peer-reviewed research on textile environmental impacts.

Transparency

We publish our scoring methodology, our criteria, and our evidence sources. Readers can see why a brand received a particular score. When we update a score, we note what changed and why. Brands are welcome to review our evaluations and provide additional evidence — and when that evidence warrants a change, we make it publicly.

Updates

Brand evaluations are living documents. We revisit scores when new information becomes available — a new certification, a published audit, a change in ownership, or a reported labor violation. Major updates are documented with a date and a summary of what changed.

Future Refinement

The PWW Integrity Score is at version 1.0. We plan to refine the methodology as we gather more data, receive feedback from readers and brands, and identify gaps in the current framework. Future versions may incorporate consumer-reported fit data, lifecycle assessment tools, and more granular supply chain tracing. Every methodological change will be documented and explained.