It was in the spring of 2022 that the Swedish clothing giant Gina Tricot hired the influencer and entrepreneur Bianca Ingrosso for a paid collaboration. In a video on her Youtube channel, Bianca Ingrosso talked about Gina Tricot’s new venture – they would plant a forest that would be filled with beehives.
– Now listen because this is completely insane. Gina Tricot will therefore grow its own forest called Gina Tricot Forest. I think this is absolutely amazing actually, she said in her video.
Bianca Ingrosso promised Gina Tricot Forest. Image source: Youtube/Bianca Ingrosso, SVT
But there was never any forest. Recently, SVT Väst was able to reveal that the place Kalundborg in Denmark, where Gina Tricot’s forest was supposed to be located, is something completely different than a verdant paradise.
READ MORE: Bianca Ingrosso promised Gina Tricot Forest – ended in flop
The Gina Tricot Forest wasn’t even a forest
Gina Tricot owns 503 trees on the Danish land, and of the promised beehives that would fill the forest, there were only two. SVT was then able to report that the planting of trees that Gina Tricot was responsible for could not even be counted as a forest.
For it to even be called a forest, the area needs to be half a hectare, i.e. 5000 square meters. The plot where Gina Tricot has planted extends over 1,600 square meters. It is about the same size as a normal-sized house plot.
Gina Tricot has a turnover of over SEK 1.8 billion every year, and according to unconfirmed information, should have paid Bianca Ingrosso between SEK 5-10 million for the collaboration. At the same time, the Borås company Gina Tricot put just over 100,000 kroner on its “forest”.
Bianca Ingrosso later responded in another email SVT that of course she trusted Gina Tricot to plant a forest and place beehives, and at the same time Gina Tricot took all the responsibility.
SVT’s reporter visits the Gina Tricot Forest in Denmark. Image source: SVTF Several reports against Gina Tricot and Bianca Ingrosso
Bianca Ingrosso’s followers were disappointed with how she contributed to so-called “greenwashing”, and Gina Tricot also faced harsh criticism in her social media. But it wasn’t just on Instagram that frustrated customers made themselves heard.
Gina Tricot. Image source: Janerik Henriksson/TT Bild
Now can News24 reveal that several reports have been received against both Gina Tricot and Bianca Ingrosso to the Swedish Consumer Agency. The common denominator is the so-called Gina Tricot Forest.
“Bianca Ingrosso has done advertising for products and in connection with that advertising said that, as an environmental compensation (greenwashing), an entire forest will be planted and it will be full of beehives. This has been shown in SVT’s review be completely false,” one person writes in his report.
“The fast fashion company Gina Tricot uses the influencer Bianca Ingrosso who fronts a campaign in which the message is that Gina Tricot will grow a ‘Completely own forest’ and which contributes to ‘reduced emissions of carbon dioxide’. These claims are directly incorrect and misleading”, writes a Other.
“In 2022, Gina Tricot went out with a campaign where they communicated that they had bought a forest and filled it with beehives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. They used Bianca Ingrosso to spread the message. Now reviews show that this is a total scam,” reads another notification.
“I consider this to be very serious as events like this damage serious sustainability work. Therefore, I sincerely hope that the Swedish Consumer Agency pushes this further,” writes one person in his report.
Gina Tricot in 2022: “There will be 5,000 trees”
Nyheter24 can also reveal that a person who has now registered the company for the campaign contacted Gina Tricot already in May 2022 in connection with the launch of Gina Tricot Forest.
The person then asked, among other things, how many trees the company planned to plant. She was then told that Gina Tricot would plant 5,000 trees.
As SVT was later able to reveal, there were only 503 trees in what Gina Tricot came to call the Gina Tricot Forest
Gina Tricot wrote in an email that they would plant 5,000 trees. There were 503 trees. Image source: Swedish Consumer Agency