RateTheLabel · About
Hi, I'm Maria Teresa.
I'm the founder and lead analyst of RateTheLabel. I built this platform because I spent years watching a specific disconnect play out — in my own life, in my work, and in conversations with friends.
Where I come from
I was raised in a Spanish family of female artisanal tailors. In my house, a garment was an object with a history: who made it, what it was made of, how long it would last, and how it would be worn for decades. That context is what most people have lost — not because they chose to lose it, but because the modern fashion market has evolved to break the link between a garment and the information that explains it.
What I do
For almost 10 years I worked as a credit rating analyst, specialising in sustainable investments and ESG audits across a wide range of markets and regulatory frameworks. Rating is a transformation tool: it turns complex, often contradictory data into a standardised, comparable framework — one that a non-expert reader can actually use. It is the same discipline RateTheLabel applies to fashion sustainability. The object under assessment has changed. The rigour has not.
Why this platform, and why now
Friends would tell me they had closets full of clothes and nothing to wear. They would tell me they wanted to shop more sustainably but couldn't tell which brands were real. They would read a brand's sustainability report and feel reassured — without questioning any benchmark. That gap, between the information a consumer needs and the information a consumer can actually use, is what RateTheLabel closes.
What I commit to
Every rating published on this platform follows the same methodology, applied consistently, with every evidence call documented. We don't take money from brands for favourable ratings. We don't accept sponsorships in exchange for coverage. If at some point we earn an affiliate commission from a purchase made through a link on this site, that commission has no influence on the score — and the score is written before the affiliate link is placed.
An invitation
If you're a consumer, I hope the ratings help you choose with confidence and support more conscious purchases. If you're a brand, I hope the assessment is useful — and I welcome documentation that sharpens it. (Reach out for specific opportunities to improve — it's free.) Either way, the ratings are here, they'll keep being updated, and I'm glad you're reading them.
Maria Teresa Vaz Lorenzo
Founder & Lead Analyst, RateTheLabel
Why RateTheLabel exists — and what it's trying to change.
Our Mission
Make sustainability in fashion genuinely comparable.
Not as a stamp of approval. Not as a marketing instrument. As structured, evidenced, independently assessed data — accessible to everyone.
Our Vision
Slow down and allow conscious experiences.
A fashion market in which every consumer can access clear, reliable sustainability data at the point of purchase — and actively makes an independent decision rather than remaining trapped in a vicious consumption cycle.
Too much information, too little clarity.
Every sustainable fashion brand publishes a sustainability report. Every platform has its own rating. Every certification body has its own criteria. The result is not transparency — it is noise.
The word sustainable has been applied to so many different things, by so many different actors with so many different interests, that it has stopped communicating anything. Some brands focus on materials. Some focus on labour. Some focus on carbon. Some focus on packaging. All of them call themselves sustainable — a fair point of view from each angle.
Without a common standard, without independent verification, and without a consistent framework, consumers have no basis for comparison. A shopper holding two jackets in two tabs cannot tell which brand is genuinely doing the work and which is producing better marketing about the work.
That is what RateTheLabel is built to solve — not by adding more information, but by structuring and verifying the information that already exists, and presenting it in a way that anyone can read, compare, and act on.
How a rating gets made.
- 01/05
A brand is queued
Added to the pipeline through consumer requests, direct submissions, or editorial selection.
- 02/05
Public information researched
Analysts examine websites, supply chain disclosures, certification registries, review platforms, and filings.
- 03/05
80 criteria across 7 dimensions
Criteria per dimension are balanced to ensure fair assessment for different business models.
- 04/05
Calculated & reviewed
The RTL formula computes dimension scores and the overall rating. Reviewed for consistency before publication.
- 05/05
Published — and updated
Live on ratethelabel.com. Brands may submit new documentation for immediate reassessment.
Every rating carries a methodology version and an assessment date. When new evidence emerges, the rating is revised — and the change is logged.
Editorially independent.
By design, not by claim.
Ratings are not commissioned. Brands do not pay to be rated, pay to be rated favourably, or pay to have a rating removed.
We earn revenue through affiliate links to rated brands — disclosed in every rating, and structurally separated from the scoring process. The score is written before the link is placed.
Our full disclosure policy is available in the site footer. For direct enquiries, reach us at hello@ratethelabel.com.