Is Amazon Aware Legit? Is It Actually Sustainable?

Amazon is one of the world’s largest retailers, but it’s also one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, packaging waste, and questionable labor practices.

In 2022, in a response to growing pressure from conscious consumers, Amazon launched Amazon Aware, a collection marketed as sustainable and climate-friendly.

But can a massive corporation like Amazon truly create a sustainable product line, or is this just another case of greenwashing?

In this article, I’ll take a closer look at Amazon Aware, breaking down the materials & ingredients they use, potential strengths and weaknesses, and more.

Is it actually a more responsible choice, or just a way for Amazon to keep selling more while appearing eco-friendly?

Let’s find out.

I have to be honest right off the bat: my biases are strong with this one.

I am not a fan of Amazon. I rarely shop from them out of principle. (I don’t judge others for using Amazon though, which I’ll get to more later.)

I’m going to do my best to give you a balanced take on Amazon Aware. I won’t neglect to mention the potentially positive aspects of it. But I do think it’s important to point out my bias against the company as a whole.

What is Amazon Aware?

As I mentioned, Amazon Aware is Amazon’s in-house brand that claims to offer sustainable, climate-friendly products across a few different categories:

Clothing & accessories (for adults & kids)
Household goods (like paper towels, bedding, and bath towels)
Beauty & personal care (even though all of these products are unavailable at the time of publication)

The Amazon Aware line was launched as part of Amazon’s broader “Climate Pledge Friendly” initiative, which essentially highlights products with third-party sustainability certifications.

The only qualification seems to be that every product in the Amazon Aware collection comes with one third-party certification, such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or OEKO-TEX (which certifies that an end product is free from certain toxic chemicals).

Or should I say, “every product is supposed to come with a third-party certification”?

As you’ll see, there are plenty of Amazon Aware pieces that don’t come with any certifications at all (specifically in the clothing category).

A closer look at the home goods

a picture of Amazon Aware's toilet paper in lilac pink background with a phrase "Paper to feel good about"

The main products Amazon Aware carries in the home department are bed sheets and paper goods (like toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues).

Let’s take a closer look at each.

The toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels are all made of FSC Certified bamboo. This is much more eco-friendly than regular paper products, which contribute to deforestation. Bamboo grows faster, requires less water, and is generally just more renewable then regular trees that are cut down to make these types of products.

I also like that it says they are fragrance-free. In my opinion, there’s no need for scented tissues and toilet paper. It’s just more potential exposure to endocrine-disruptors and allergens.

Amazon also tells us that these products are elemental-chlorine-free, which is kind of like the “second best” option for bleaching. It’s not the safest, but it’s not the worst either.

Overall, Amazon Aware’s paper home goods aren’t bad! They seem to be comparable to a lot of other “tree-free” paper towel and toilet paper brands on the market.

a picture of bedroom with gray bedsheet from Amazon Aware with beautiful and unique white side table and a pink lamp

Amazon Aware’s various bed sheets appear to be pretty good as well.

Most of them are made out of 100% organic cotton and come with multiple third-party certifications:

Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which indicates the cotton is grown organically
And OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN, which indicates the finished product is free from a list of potentially toxic chemicals and that the supply chain meets a certain level of transparency and ethics.

These certifications may not be perfect, but they’re definitely better than nothing, and I usually recommend looking for them no matter what brand you buy from!

Let’s dive deeper: the beauty products

At the time of publication, none of the Amazon Aware beauty / personal care products are available for purchase. Their collection includes things like facial cleaners, moisturizers, and body washes, but all of them say “Currently unavailable.” Who knows if and when they will be back.

That said, I can still look at the product ingredients to see how “clean” they are.

And actually… some of the products are not as bad as I thought they’d be.

In fact, I was surprised to find that many of them are EWG Verified.

Some of the products contain a few “iffy” ingredients such as phenoxyethanol. A few of them contain undisclosed “fragrance“, which I don’t usually recommend (even though it appears that EWG has reviewed and approved their fragrance ingredients, which does make me slightly less concerned). And I found at least one product (this body wash) with an ethoxylated ingredient in it. (Ethoxylated ingredients are *iffy* because of their potential to contain carcinogenic contaminants.)

But then other products, like this facial cleanser for example, actually don’t have any super concerning ingredients.

I also like that these products come in aluminum bottles with minimal plastic (basically just the pump lids). I also appreciate the fact that they’re refillable.

All in all, Amazon Aware’s skin/personal care line isn’t the worst. But with the number of amazing clean skincare brands out there, I still wouldn’t recommend Amazon Aware. There are better ones to choose from.

What about the clothing?

an image of a girl wearing an Amazon Aware's clothing in a mustard long-sleeved knitted shirt and pants

So far, Amazon Aware’s products appear to be not that bad, right!?

The clothing category, however, is a different story.

The Amazon Aware clothing collection is larger than the two previous categories. They carry men’s, women’s, and kids’ sizes and have options for tees, tanks, sweatshirts, pants, loungewear, and more.

Some of the clothing options seem to be okay from a materials standpoint. For example, these men’s chino pants appear to be made with 98% Organic Textile Standard certified cotton and this girls’ dress is made out of 100% GOTS organic cotton.

But for the majority of the pieces I looked at, I couldn’t even figure out why or how they qualify for the Amazon Aware collection…

This women’s sweater, for example, is made out of 65% acrylic, 20% nylon, and 15% cotton, and I cannot find any third-party certifications at all.

This seems to be the case for a lot of the clothing: they’re made out of blends with a high amount of synthetics, the cotton appears to be conventionally grown, and it doesn’t say anything about third-party certifications or other sustainability initiatives whatsoever.

Considering that Amazon itself said that “all Amazon Aware products have certifications” but most of their clothing doesn’t have ANY certification(s), this comes off as major greenwashing to me.

Some of the clothing is just straight-up all plastic. This kids’ jacket, for example, is 100% polyester. I suppose the sustainability feature is that it’s “recycled,” but as I’ve discussed before, clothing made of recycled plastic is borderline greenwashing as well.

The other issue I have with clothing in general is the lack of transparency in the supply chain. Human rights violations in the fast fashion industry are a huge problem.

Smaller sustainable brands can often provide a lot more transparency into their supply chain: they can actually visit their factories, make sure people are being treated well and paid fairly, etc.

Third-party certifications such as GOTS and OEKO-TEX MADE IN GREEN can also provide at least a certain amount of accountability for the brand and assurance for consumers. (Which is why I’m not quite as concerned with Amazon Aware’s bedding as I am with their clothing.)

We have virtually no way of knowing whether or not Amazon Aware’s clothing is produced in an ethical way.

All of these things considered, I definitely would not recommend Amazon Aware’s clothing line.

Amazon’s shady private-label practices

Obviously, Amazon sells a lot of different brands on its platform, but it also sells it’s own brands.

Amazon Aware is one of those in-house brands. Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentials are two others. Amazon has started a lot of private-label brands over the years, many of which you might not have even realized are Amazon brands.

Amazon has been accused several times of copying other brands’ work to create their in-house products (and then selling them at a much lower price).

Internal documents have revealed that Amazon employees study third-party sales data, analyze returns, and even partner with manufacturers of competing products to recreate best-sellers under its own private-label brands.

In 2018, Williams-Sonoma filed a lawsuit alleging that Amazon copied its furniture designs. In 2019, Allbirds’ CEO kind of accused Amazon of copying its shoe design (except he took a much different approach, actually encouraging Amazon to steal its practices in order to push the industry as a whole in a more sustainable direction).

Amazon denies these claims, but the pattern has been established: small brands take the risks, and Amazon swoops in once a product proves profitable.

Then, to make things worse, Amazon rigs its own search results, ensuring its knockoffs show up first while pushing original brands down the page.

Because of the way the Amazon platform works, this isn’t normal, healthy competition. It’s more like exploitation, backed by a monopoly-sized advantage.

This is another reason why I would be hesitant to buy from any of Amazon’s in-house brands, including Amazon Aware.

Amazon’s broader sustainability issues

Since this article is specifically focused on the Amazon Aware collection, I don’t want to dive too deep into the sustainability issues of Amazon more generally. But I still think it’s worth touching on.

First of all, Amazon seems to be failing its own Climate Pledge. The company’s carbon emissions apparently aren’t going anywhere impressive—they jumped 40% from 2019 and 2022, and then dropped 0.4% from 2021 to 2022, then another 3% from 2022 to 2023.

Plus, Amazon relies heavily on carbon offsets as they move toward their goal of “net-zero by 2040.” The problem is that carbon offsets don’t always work and are not really a long-term solution. Carbon offsetting is a controversial practice that allows companies to claim carbon neutrality without making meaningful reductions in actual emissions.

Then, of course, there’s the packaging problem. Amazon claims to use “frustration-free” and recyclable materials, but in reality, plastic packaging waste linked to Amazon was estimated at over 709 million pounds in 2021 alone. Much of this ends up in landfills or the ocean.

Beyond its direct footprint, Amazon has a history of greenwashing—using misleading labels and vague claims to make its products seem more eco-friendly than they are. They’ve even been called out for it by their own employees.

A step in the right direction?

Personally, I have mixed feelings about huge corporations making steps toward sustainability.

On one hand, any progress in a less toxic, more sustainable, and more ethical direction is good because big companies can make a more significant impact on the industry as a whole.

On the other hand, I have found that these big corporations almost always do the bare minimum, and that their “footprint” as a whole is a net negative.

In my opinion, it’s almost always better for human and environmental health to purchase from smaller brands.

As you can see from my breakdowns above, there are some positive aspects of the Amazon Aware line. But at the end of the day, Amazon Aware still operates within Amazon’s larger, unsustainable system—one that thrives on overconsumption, excessive packaging, and a high-emissions logistics network.

So, is Amazon Aware better than conventional Amazon products? Kind of—but not by much. If your choice is between an Amazon Aware item and a conventional Amazon product, the Aware option may have slightly less environmental impact. But if you’re looking for truly sustainable shopping, better options exist outside of Amazon entirely.

Or, if you really do want or need to shop from Amazon (for shipping reasons of whatever), I would personally recommend you buy from a more sustainable and low-tox brand that sells on Amazon.

At least that way, you know your money is going back to the small brand, and the supply chain as a whole is probably more transparent and ethical.

For example, instead of this Amazon Aware women’s v-neck tee, you could order this organic cotton v-neck from Fair Indigo. Yes, it’s more expensive, but it’s also a much more ethical and sustainable brand as a whole.

Or to give you another example, you could order Naturepedic’s bedding off of Amazon instead of the Amazon Aware bed sheets. That way, you still get the ease and shipping convenience of shopping from Amazon, but you’re giving more of your support to a smaller, more sustainable brand. (Again, I know it’s more expensive, and I’ll get to that in a second.)

Just do what you can…

For years, I didn’t include Amazon links on The Filtery. I didn’t really want to support such an unethical and unsustainable massive corporation. I’d rather give my money to smaller brands that I know care about the earth rather than put more cash into Bezos’ pocket.

But then in 2024, I asked you, The Filtery readers, if you shop on Amazon. I was surprised to find that about 90% of you said you shop on Amazon and would like me to include Amazon links in our shopping guides!

When I asked for more info about why you shop on Amazon, I got some great answers:

Some folks live in remote places (like Alaska), and Amazon is the only place where they can get certain items.

Some folks shop from Amazon for budgeting reasons. Sometimes you can save on shipping versus buying directly from a brand’s website.

Some people shop from Amazon because they are disabled and can’t shop in-store. Again, it’s easier and cheaper to be able to buy (almost) everything in one place.

And a lot of people are just plain busy, stressed, and overwhelmed. There are bills to pay, kids to pick up, meals to make, sleep to catch up on, etc… Whether we like it or not, Amazon simply makes shopping for certain things easier.

And I totally get all that.

At the end of the day, you have to decide what’s best for you based on your current capacities, budget, etc. If you need new bed sheets and you want to buy organic, but you truly can’t afford one of these brands, I won’t judge you for going with the Amazon Aware option.

Some people are boycotting Amazon as a form of protest, and I think that’s awesome. Your form of protest might look different.

All each of us can do is our best. While I 100% believe that our shopping decisions make a difference in a collective way, I also believe in progress over perfection. I don’t think that one individual shopping decision is going to make or break your long-term low-tox, sustainable lifestyle journey.

Summing up the pros & cons

Pros of Amazon / Amazon Aware:

Convenience & accessibility: easy to find and order.

Affordability: Lower prices than many sustainable brands.

Potential for large-scale impact: Even small improvements could make a difference.

Some better materials: The paper home goods, bedding, and some of the beauty products seem to be made from okay materials and come with third-party certifications. (Most of the clothing, however, appears to be pretty greenwashed.)

Cons of Amazon / Amazon Aware:

Lack of consistency with “eco” claims: Amazon claims that everything in its Amazon Aware collection comes with at least one third-party certification, but I found that to be false. (Some products do come with 1-2 certifications, but many don’t.)