In case you missed it, fast fashion behemoth Boohoo has announced Kourtney Kardashian Barker has a new gig as the brand's "sustainability ambassador".
This collaboration sees the reality TV star release a new line Boohoo, which will include two 46-piece limited edition collections, the first of which will be showcased during New York Fashion Week on September 13.
This comes hot on the kitten heels of news that Pretty Little Thing - the fast fashion brand that's also owned by Boohoo - has introduced an app encouraging shoppers to buy and sell second hand clothes.
Kourtney's Boohoo line - set to launch in the US market - ranges in price from $6 to $100 and will include items made with recycled polyester and recycled cotton, as well as two vintage-style biker jackets.
"When Boohoo first approached me to collaborate on a line, I was concerned about the effects of the fast-fashion industry on our planet," Kourtney, 43, told WWD in an interview about the line.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to use my platform to drive conversations that lead to ongoing change and use my voice to share actionable tips with consumers on how we can play our own part."
Social media seems less than impressed by news of the collaboration, however. Echoing criticism of Pretty Little Thing's marketplace, Boohoo's latest announcement has been labelled by some as an act of greenwashing.
People have also queried Kardashian's involvement, given her penchant for a private jet or two, and her family's reputation for excess.
Boohoo's business model is famously based on fast turnaround to meet and stoke demand, with more than 3,000 new styles added weekly to its site and some items taking just 48 hours to go on sale from idea to manufacture.
In July, the UK Competition and Markets Authority opened an investigation into whether eco-friendly claims made by various UK fast fashion chains added up - Boohoo is one of the brands under investigation, alongside Asos and Asda.
It was also hit by scandal mid-pandemic in 2020, when a series of newspaper investigations revealed some UK workers who were producing clothes for Boohoo in factories in Leicester were found to be paid below minimum wage and forced to work in non-Covid safe environments.
This led the company to severing ties with some of its UK suppliers, and some of its shareholders voting against big payouts for top Boohoo executives.
It's hardluy surprising, perhaps, that people have taken issue with this new venture on social media.
Boohoo has hired Kourtney Kardashian as a green guru ambassador & to question whether "style and sustainability can eve mr go together". Interesting move for a fast fashion firm still recovering from Leicester scandal & a member of a family that's sold mass consumption pic.twitter.com/Fsoapa3Sxa
big big fast fashion conglomerate suddenly creating sustainability lines and schemes is bare cheeky. and then to appoint a kardashian as an ambassador?? that's brazen https://t.co/nzTwypWWgJ
that's like an oxymoron, how do have kardashian, boohoo and sustainability in the same sentence I-??? https://t.co/1QrNGeOMnG
A private-jetting Kardashian worth $65 million is now "sustainability ambassador" for fossil fuel fashion brand boohoo, where she'll chat "with sustainability experts to better understand challenges and opportunities in the fashion industry." We absolutely KANNOT. pic.twitter.com/cmI8zwB3ui
This is insulting to an entire community working tirelessly to educate / change / provide alternative solutions / invest in climate positive solutions - to hire someone promoting over consumption and capitalism is beyond absurd! Not that Boohoo cares.. They don't deserve our work https://t.co/DnU2pa1GVX
im sure kourtney's collection with booboo will be cute as hell but there is nothing sustainable about that brand? call a spoon a spoon
Sustainability Ambassador but it's your business model that is unsustainable. The call is, quite literally, coming from inside the house!
Kourtney Kardashian collab with Boohoo is not what I was expecting at all!!!! Even if it is sustainable, it's still fast fashion and something I didn't think she'd believe in?
Not Kourtney Kardashian releasing a "sustainable" line with boohoo, girl you have money you can turn down an offer from them and work with a brand that genuinely promotes slow fashion AND pays their garment workers ??????
Items are priced starting at $6 !!
Sorry Kourtney their is no way to make a new sustainable garment to retail at $6.
Sustainable means fair and honest wages for garment workers, for farmers growing the material for the fibres, or the factory worker reconstituting recycled fibre https://t.co/0EtI6PJcQn
Kourtney Kardashian is @boohoo's new "Sustainability Ambassador" and will release her first collection during #NYFW.
You know what's sustainable? NOT MAKING A NEW COLLECTION WHICH FURTHER DEPLETES THE EARTH'S RESOURCES & EXPLOITS GARMENT WORKERS
When we reached out to Boohoo, Cheryl Chung, head of communications for the brand, responded.
"We recognise that working with Kourney is a choice a lot of people will find unusual," she told HuffPost UK.
"Kourtney has faced a lot of criticism about her own sustainability practices. But we're talking to a lot of sustainability experts as part of this project."
Chung emphasised Kourtney's huge following on Instagram -196 million followers at last count - to explain that hiring her in an ambassadorial role could influence a larger number of people to learn more about sustainability.
The brand is releasing her conversations with experts as a docuseries, available to view on YouTube.Those experts include Tim Nelson, the CEO of Hope For Justice, which works on freeing people from modern slavery around the world.
"We're working with her and tackling conversations around the challenges of textile waste, the challenges of worker welfare, and how you responsibly deal with your clothes at the end of their life," Chung said, adding that Kourtney's engagement with these massive challenges facing the fashion industry was, in her eyes, "the most important part of the collaboration".
Asked whether the venture was an example of greenwashing, Chung responded that in-house designers working on Kardashian's line are concentrating on using fabrics and materials that wouldn't harm the environment, but didn't speak to further supply chain logistics.
"We're not claiming to be perfect in any way but we're categorically trying to do our best to be as honest and open and transparent," she added.
"This line probably won't attract people who are massive in the sustainability world but since she has such a large following, it might be better to have Kourtney working with us as it's reaching more people."
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.