Brand Helps Consumers With Environmental Awareness

"The obvious change in the past few years is that as consumers become more aware of the true environmental costs of their clothing, purchase decisions become more prudent. And, interestingly, fast fashion brands become leaders in sustainable development.

Penn Whaling, PSFK chief strategist

Nowadays, consumers are becoming more and more responsible. It seems that from handmade luxury brands to discount retailers, everyone is trying to attract consumers who seek sustainable products.

When the 189 studio displayed its 2020 spring summer series on the latest New York fashion week, its co founders, actress Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah put sustainability in the most important position, including the extensive use of cotton (some recycled) and cowboys (some of them were recycled) and their display notes, which reminded people of the brand's Award for Lexus's sustainable fashion initiative award in the prestigious CFDA.

Earlier this year, Old Navy launched the "heart earth sustainable development program". By 2022, the two major objectives of the plan were to use water-saving technology to produce cotton denim and to purchase cotton produced in a sustainable way. As the company points out, Old Navy sells 27000 Rockstar jeans every day, "making our scale of sustainable development around cowboy and cotton become significant." The company says it aims to directly convey to its customers the brand's efforts in sustainable development. Such efforts are obviously good for brand development: Old Navy recently announced plans to open 800 new stores and double the number of stores to 2000.

"I believe that the new demands of consumers on sustainability and transparency will undoubtedly force brands and retailers to take different positions," said Penn Whaling, chief strategist at PSFK. "The obvious change in the past few years is that as consumers become more aware of the true environmental costs of their clothing, purchase decisions become more prudent. It is interesting to see that fast fashion brands become leaders in sustainable development. While they are trying to get rid of the "disposable" image, we see that companies like H&M are trying to introduce sustainability in all aspects of their product life cycle, from the fabric made from biodegradable materials to the test of resale platform to extend their clothing life.

Most consumers want fashion brands to solve environmental problems. According to the study of Cone Generation ZCRS, 86% of consumers believe that enterprises should solve urgent social and environmental problems. The percentage of opinion expressed increased significantly to 94% among Z generation consumers.

In addition, according to the Cotton Corp Lifestyle Monitor survey, more than half of consumers (53%) said that clothing brands are "very, very important" to keep their production practices transparent. This proportion is higher among the X generation shoppers (59%), and many of them are in the parenting stage. In addition, 51% of consumers and 58% of X generation consumers say they are "very likely" to shop in a clothing brand, provided that the brand truthfully conveys its environmental and social impact.

　　 Kayla Marci, a market analyst with Edited, a London based retail technology company, confirmed that with the sustainability of development and ecological initiatives becoming daily headlines, retailers' positioning in the information transmission with customers has changed.

"As time goes on, there is an increasing number of communication around sustainability," Marci said. "Retailers focus on environmental products to outline sustainable development goals and other broad marketing themes to show their awareness of the environmental impact of fashion. Attracting people's attention to environmentally friendly fabrics has always been a key topic advocated by many retailers. In the April earth day and fashion revolution week, people's references to sustainability, ecology, recycling, awareness and iteration have reached the highest level ever.

According to the lifestyle survey, when asked about "sustainability" when buying clothes, most consumers (45%) indicated that this meant "lasting". Followed by "environmental protection" (17%) and renewable (12%).

Since 2011, consumers have been improving their clothing standards and getting rid of the fast fashion which is full of cheap manufacturing in wardrobe. Lifestyle surveys showed that 61% of men (from 49% to 61%) and 56% of women (from 50% to 56%) considered quality to be crucial to clothing purchase decisions. In general, 62% of consumers think cotton clothing is of higher quality, more durable and ultimately lower cost.

According to the lifestyle survey, brands should also notice that 81% of consumers believe that cotton is their favorite material and 82% think it is the most sustainable. In addition, consumers want the clothing industry to help them make environmental choices. Most consumers (58%) say they blame the clothing industry (manufacturers, brands and stores) for producing clothes in an unsustainable way.

Perhaps, the 189 studio and OldNavy will use cotton in men's wear, women's wear, teenage clothes and children's clothing.

PSFK's Whaling continued: "today's consumers, especially younger consumers like Z generation, are seeking to establish personal emotional connections with their favorite brands, so they want to support brands that share the same values." "This means that they are highly aware of things like" green washing "and will soon come up with any seemingly selfish or unreal sustainability or social impact initiatives, which seem to have betrayed their shared values of brand recognition. In order to solve consumer concerns, brands should have two-way dialogue with consumers to determine which issues are most important to consumers, and then find out reasonable ways to solve these concerns from the perspective of enterprises.

Edited's Marci also mentioned that with the growth of consumer demand for sustainable fashion, the brand shop has adjusted its website navigation to make it easier for consumers to buy such products.

"Environmentally-friendly products are highlighted on retailers' websites, mostly under recommendation or activities," she said. "A small number of retailers, including ASOS, now allow consumers to use sustainable and animal friendly filters to search for products."

This information not only helps consumers, but also benefits retailers. The lifestyle survey shows that nearly 1/3 (30%) consumers who shop online or browse clothes indicate that knowing the environmental footprint information will affect their final decision to purchase clothing online. More than 1/3 (36%) said they were "very likely" to pay the full price for clothing produced in a sustainable or environmentally friendly way. Whaling said retailers can also help consumers who want to "do the right", so that they can handle clothes in a responsible way at the end of the life cycle. He advises brands and retailers to implement resale platforms, renovation and repair services and recycling plans to seamlessly link consumption processes. Companies like Yerdle and Patagonia are making things easier, he said.

Edited's Marci said that with more and more retailers promoting sustainable information delivery, "the most prominent ones are those that are real and transparent to customers."