66% OF GLOBAL CONSUMERS WILL PAY MORE FOR SUSTAINABLE BRANDS
According to a report put out by Nielsen, 66% of Global Consumers say they are willing to pay more for sustainable brands. These days, it just makes sense to become more sustainable. You are not only helping the world in terms of environmental and social issues, but you are also helping your bottom line ($$). According to sustainability and economic experts, being more sustainable can drive more customer engagement, and sales as well as help employee satisfaction. Customers want to purchase garments that are more sustainable and employees have a longer retention time at brands that are more socially and environmentally responsible.
For example, Adidas has created their own Sustainability Strategy and has established a number of goals aimed at reducing their carbon footprint. They have made a public commitment to reduce their waste production, energy consumption and water use by at least 20% at all their facilities by 2020. Adidas have also committed to steadily increasing the use of more sustainable materials, and aim to have 100% of their cotton meet the Better Cotton Initiative‘s standards. As a big company, Adidas admits it has been a big contributor to the plastic problem. Which is why it believes its actions need to be equally as big. The brand has made a commitment to END PLASTIC WASTE through innovation and partnerships. The Alphabounce+ Parley runners from Adidas are designed to give you all the comfort and support your run needs, with tuned forging and an optimized fit. They are also designed to save the oceans, with a woven upper made from upcycled plastic trash (see photo below).
HOW DO YOU BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE AS A FASHION BRAND?
As a fashion or apparel brand, are you wanting to be a more sustainable? Are you trying to figure how to get started? If that’s the case, don’t worry. You’re not alone, we’re here to help! Moda Circolare is a sustainable fashion consulting agency. We help the fashion industry live in harmony with nature and become more sustainable!
(please note: at the end of this blog post, you can download our FREE Sustainability Assessment.)
For many fashion brands, sustainability is still relatively new and the steps to become more sustainable and build a program can be daunting and unclear. What if you could learn about best practices for sustainable fashion, see where your business is doing well in terms of sustainability and identify areas where there is need for improvement?
As a fashion and apparel brand, improving your sustainability agenda will include assessing all of the social, ethical and environmental impacts your business has and understanding where improvements could be made.
This is why designed the MINI S TOOL! To help brands just like you. This is a FREE Sustainability Assessment for your to complete (see below).
WHAT IS A SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT?
A sustainability assessment is a tool that is used to compare your current company’s practices to the best practices that sustainable fashion brands are utilizing. The assessment looks at what you are doing right now in terms of sustainability. It assesses how your company and brand is doing in a variety of areas including social and ethical issues, environmental issues and circular fashion design considerations.
YOUR TEAM’S ROLE
One of the most important things to realize when you begin the sustainability assessment is that you won’t be able to complete it alone. You can fill out the assessment by yourself, but more likely than not, you’ll find that you don’t have all of the information that you need in order to fully complete it. Sometimes, the information required will take a bit to access and you may need a few people to help. Having designated people to help you will help your sustainability assessment and future planning more successful.
WHAT IS THE MINI S TOOL AND HOW WILL IT HELP YOUR FASHION BRAND?
The MINI S TOOL is a sustainability assessment tool designed specifically for fashion brands. This mini sustainability assessment tool evaluates a company’s governance, ethical/social practices, environmental practices and the inclusion of circular fashion.
Once completed, brands will be able to get an idea of how they rate in terms of sustainability and associated best sustainability practices. This tool will help to easily identify areas for improvement.
The Mini-S Tool evaluates the following areas:
- Governance – does the business have the necessary support and infrastructure to develop a strong sustainability program?
- Social Impact: Workers – looks at how has the business engaged employees and ensured that they are treated well?
- Social Impact: Civic Engagement & Giving – how does the business give back to the community?
- Ethical Impacts – what standards of ethics does the company follow?
- Environmental Impacts: Waste Reduction and Resource Conservation – what is the business doing to reduce waste and conserve resources?
- Environmental Impacts: Carbon Footprint and Toxic Chemical Reduction – what is the business doing to reduce its carbon footprint and reduce its use of toxic materials (including cleaning products)?
- Environmental & Social Impact: Supply Chain & Procurement – how is the business engaging with suppliers to promote sustainability?
- Circular Fashion Impacts: Product Development and Life Cycle – what the business is doing to make their products more circular in their design life.
The Mini S Tool, looks at a wide range of practices that determine your business’s social and environmental impacts. In each of these areas, specific sustainability initiatives that represent best practices have been identified. This is not a comprehensive assessment, but a mini version. Even so this will give fashion brands an idea of where they fair in terms of sustainability. The Mini S Tool is designed to be a snapshot of where your business is doing well and where it can improve!
We hope the Mini S Tool will be a catalyst and help start the discussions about sustainability.
Next Steps
Download the Mini S Tool below, then go through this with your sustainability team.
About the author:
Elizabeth cross is the founder and CEO of Moda Circolare, a sustainable fashion consulting agency. Moda Circolare, helps fashion and apparel brands embed sustainability into their current business strategies. Moda Circolare’s mandate is to help the fashion industry live in harmony with nature and they do this by working with clients conducting sustainability assessments, completing eco-certifications and improving their sustainability mandates.