Week 11 - Sustainability

Patagonia

A great example of a brand that overlooks earnings in favor of sustainability is American outdoor clothing brand Patagonia. From an ad in the New York Times telling people to not buy their jackets to asking customers to fix and repair their clothing rather than buying new items, Patagonia has been doing things their way for a long time. But their commitment doesn't just come from their marketing, it also comes from their products, with many ranges made from recycled materials

Consumers today: sustainability

Consumers are no longer simply looking for a product. Consumers are much more aware of what their favorite brands are doing, and they are happy to support brands that well align with their values. Likewise, consumers are ready to avoid brands that do not align with their values. This shift has inspired many brands to become more sustainable in everything they do, from sourcing eco-friendly materials and paying fair wages to recycling materials and reducing waste.

Examples of sustainable brands

Levi's, IKEA, Patagonia, Unilever

Fashion Greenwashing Campaigns: Examples and Interpretation

As previously stated, the term greenwashing is used to describe insincere engagement in sustainable business practices. It was first used in 1986 by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld, who criticized the hotel's practice of placing green "save the environment" cards in each room asking guests to help them "save the environment" by reusing their towels. This example is noteworthy given that most hotels at that point had poorly-implemented sustainability programs, with few or no environmentally friendly aspects. Similar to this case, today, the term greenwashing is used to describe situations in which significantly more investments have been spent on sustainable marketing than for sustainable improvements in practice. As an outcome of such deceptive business practices, the advertising and promotion misleadingly indicate that the product or service is more sustainable than it is.

Brand Philosophy

Brand managers believe that brand mission is to do the dirty work, actually they state that it is a brand DNA. This is how they describe their brand philosophy on the official website. We organized our first community cleanup the week we sold our first t-shirt. Years later, we're still hauling old tires, gathering plastic bottles, and picking up the bits of styrofoam that litter our shorelines. Our dream is to eliminate the need for this mission one day, so our pursuit doesn't stop at reusable trash bags. We prioritize sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing to lead the charge toward better business practices. We facilitate easy ways for our customers to generate less waste by creating products like reusable utensil kits. And we build community through our waterway cleanups, determined to spread the idea that if one business can make a difference, so can one person. They quit changing their internal practices as well trying to solve some of the environmental issues. For example, they stopped using poly bags, plastic tags, and plastic tape. In addition to their pledge to remove one pound of trash for every product sold, they have committed to removing single-use plastic from entire supply chain. They start building LEED-certified stores, but they also offer their employees paid time off for community service, and use office supplies made from recycled content. Till summer of 2022, they removed 4,294,466 lbs. of trash from the oceans.

How to boost green credentials?

Brands that focus on sustainable values have a greater chance of building a loyal and loving customer base. But that certainly does not mean that a brand can just pick any sustainability commitment without making a genuine commitment to fulfill it. The most specific and tangible your sustainability goals can be, the better. You need to connect the dots for your customers and show how your products and services relate to your goals — there's no point championing renewable energy if you don't use it yourself. That's not to say that you can't do it, but your efforts may be best served in a relevant sustainable cause instead. This helps to create a more authentic story in the mind of your customers. The best way to start is to start with little things that can be easily improved. For example, improving the sustainability of the product packaging. Labeling is another great, and tangible way to showcase sustainability improvements. For example, nowadays many fashion brands are using legit third-party labels to promote that they are using recycled materials, or increased content of organic materials in their products.

Transparency becomes mandatory

Early calls for increased transparency emerged in the 1990s when consumer groups started overtly pressuring retailers to accept the social and environmental responsibility of business operations in outsourcing countries. Relatedly, NGO efforts and media exposing of problems in the fashion supply chain further assisted in raising consumer awareness about how, where and under which conditions clothing production takes place. As a response, fashion brands started publishing business Codes of Conduct setting up a minimal social and environmental standard for suppliers and supply chain operations. Minimal disclosure soon became mandated through regulatory measures. For example, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (CATSCA) and the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 require retailers to trace supply chains and to disclose, on their websites, the efforts they use to eradicate human abuses in their production processes. Likewise, European regulations around improved chemical use in final consumer goods and within supply chain processes have been enforced through the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which also requires accurate product labeling and information disclosure. Furthermore, US consumer protection laws prevent deceptive and unfair brand and product promotion to secure credible information sharing. With all of these changing regulations, in addition to preexisting norms and values companies are expected to fulfill and uphold to increase transparency and secure the validity of the information shared. Maintaining leadership without expanding the business transparency becomes difficult for companies.

Brand Philosophy

Environmental mission at Rothy's includes a long term goal of achieving a closed-loop production model by 2023, but also adopting the inclusive environment with HQ and stores. As of 2022, more than 125 million tones plastic bottles were repurposed into signature thread. Over 400,000 lbs of plastic has been collected from the coastlines, and transformed into Rothy's bags and accessories. As of mid-2022 company relies on 100% renewable energy in within HQ and retail stores.

Greenwashing or Green Revolution?

Greenwashing. Greenwashing is the dissemination of incorrect or incomplete information to convey an impression that the party (think company or brand) providing the information is sustainable or environmentally responsible. The goal is typically to attract customers who have a preference for sustainable or environmentally responsible products without making the effort to build those features into the product. Seven forms of greenwashing have been identified to which have been assigned the following 7 descriptive labels: hidden trade-off, no proof, vagueness, irrelevance, lesser of two evils, fibbing and worshipping false labels. One example of vagueness is to claim that a product is made with "No Emissions", without saying what type of emissions are being referenced. The community of responsible companies has made efforts to combat greenwashing. They include for example industry-based codes of conduct such as the Responsible Care initiative of the chemical industry and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Another initiative out of the UK led by software company Provenance is an online tool that enables businesses to make substantiated sustainability claims, and shoppers to fact-check them.

Good on you: Sustainable Fashion Brand ratings on the app

How do we know if a fashion brand is as sustainable as it claims? You simply check Good On You ratings - the source for fashion's most trusted sustainability ratings. Today, millions of shoppers, major retailers, and tech platforms use Good On You applicationLinks to an external site. to compare brands' impacts on people, the planet, and animals. The directory includes thousands of international fashion brands across the mass market, luxury, and premium categories. Further activity It can be difficult for consumers to tell what is true or not in fashion brands marketing strategies, considering how much greenwashLinks to an external site. is going on in the fashion industry. Download Good On You application and investigate fashion brands' impacts on people, the planet, and animals. This application may help you make an improved purchasing decisions in the future. Currently applications include more than 2,200 fashion brands.

3 Ps Approach

TBL (social, environmental, and economic bottom line) is a term coined by, and vigorously advocated by, John Elkington, the Director of the Sustainability strategy consultancy and author of several influential books on corporate environmentalism. The three components are also presented as; people (social), planet (environmental), and profit (economic) or commonly recognized as the 3 Ps. This view of the TBL is that it represents the idea that business does not have just one single goal-namely adding economic value- but that it is an extended goal set that necessitates adding environmental and social value too (Elkington, 1998). Creating a sustainable economic, social, and environmental world requires whole systems thinking, thus in an ideal world economic, social, and environmental sustainability are inseparable

Build the brand image around sustainability

Once the company determines its sustainability value/s next is to create a brand narrative to build a brand image around it. This will help to reinforce the sustainable identity in every interaction brand the company needs to think carefully about every single process and supply chain to make sure it's in line with the selected sustainability goals. Then, a brand can incorporate the green credentials into the branding, and communication strategy, which includes online, in-store, and even within the products themselves. The optimal strategy is to reinforce sustainable ideals in everything the brand does. Philanthropy. The easiest way to show corporate commitment to a cause is by donating a portion of the business profits to a particular cause. Whether it's 1%, 5%, or 10%, showing this commitment will inspire customers and make them feel good about supporting a brand that has a sustainable cause. Innovation. There's no point just following the crowd when it comes to sustainability because the brand will always play catch up. Of course, good examples may serve as inspiration. But the optimal way is to do something innovative to get tongues wagging. Thus, the company may consider what they can do differently to protect the planet? What they can offer that no one else is offering? The good thing though is that there's no limit to what can be done, but it needs to be realistic for the business, and it needs to be tangible. For example, every time you buy a pair of shoes from TOMS ShoesLinks to an external site., they'll donate a pair to someone in one of 15 countries around the world. Similarly, Better World BooksLinks to an external site. gives a book to a child in need around the world every time someone purchases a new or used book.

Economic Pillar: Profit

Operating in a finite world poses great challenges and organizations face a critical imperative to take action. Social tension has heightened. The decline in quality and quantity of natural capital is constricting resource availability. Unless businesses respond, they put their license to operate at risk. Understanding the types of economic changes that are needed and how companies can become more profitable by adopting sustainability practices is important knowledge for any manager and business leader. Several important strategies represent a solid foundation for establishing a responsible business. Three critical strategies include stimulating circular business models, supporting sustainable consumption, and philanthropy. How do brands integrate economic pillars into branding? Fashion brands increasingly promote circular business models, waste reduction strategies, reusable garments, reusable packaging components, and recycling.

Levis Strauss Case Study

Problem: The denim industry represents one of the largest polluters within the textile industry because of the ample amounts of water and toxic chemicals used in denim production. For example, Levi's has said that it takes them 920 gallons of water to finish one pair of jeans. Levi's website and sustainability communication: To examine how fashion brands incorporate sustainability communication within branding, we will now describe how Levi's promoted sustainability efforts on their official website. On the official website, Levi's discloses that its main sustainability goals are environmental ones, and they include limiting water usage, reducing hazardous chemicals in production, and reducing waste. Levi's water action strategy promises to reduce 50% of water usage in manufacturing promises by 2025 (About us, 2020). Another initiative published in 2019 claimed to save 66 tons of waste from the landfill because 132,899 discarded jeans were recycled after their "Blue Jeans Go Green" program. In terms of chemicals, Levi's published another article in 2019 which announced their commitment to identify and remove harmful chemicals from their supply chain by 2020 (About us, 2020). Not only does Levi's try to make their manufacturing processes more sustainable, but they also work higher up in the supply chain with sustainable initiatives for their raw material suppliers. On their website, Levi's states that they work with the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to grow cotton more sustainably by reducing water and chemical usage in farming.

Rothy's

Rothy's is a San Francisco-based fashion brand founded in 2012 and launched in 2016. They began as a women's shoe company into making handbags in 2020 and the Men's category in 2021. Their products are made with innovative materials including, natural, renewable, bio-based, and recyclable sources. The brand mission is to do business in a better way which starts by putting the planet and its people first. The brand owns vertical supply chain, meaning they own and operated their factory in Dongguan, China. Continually striving for zero waste, they combine the best of 3D knitting technology and handcrafted assembly to create machine washable products which don't compromise on comfort.

Fashion Transparency Index

Since 2017, the Fashion Revolution Foundation UK start publishing the annual Fashion Transparency IndexLinks to an external site., the comprehensive index that ranks the most affluent fashion brands according to the level of information they disclosed on the brand website(s), parent company website(s), or within annual/sustainability reports. The information tracked in the index covered two key areas: corporate transparency (sub-areas: policies and governance), and supply chain transparency (sub-areas: traceability, audits, and negative impact reporting). Sub-areas are defined as: policies refer to the social and environmental standards the business adheres to. Governance refers to the level of visibility of top management and the responsibility they hold. Traceability refers to the visibility of suppliers and production networks. Audits refer to the information on the producer's last audits, corrective plans, and remediations. Negative impact reporting covers mapping the social and environmental impacts of the business. The purpose of the Index is to provide a snapshot, and a condensed summary of ratings in the form of cumulative, and area-specific scores for each fashion brand. The Index also provides direct links to corporate pages, and reports of brands examined which represent a great tools to explore information. On the Fashion Revolution website you can also find many useful resources for further exploration. For example, they frequently update their blog, garment workers diaries section that includes stories of garment workers, and podcast which includes a series of discussions on the most significant topics related to the fashion transparency (e.g., transparency issues, regulations, supply chain traceability etc.)

Environmental Pillar: Planet

The basic principles of sustainability in the environmental perspective concern the effective management of physical finite resources so that they are conserved for the future. All biosystems are regarded as having finite resources and finite capacity, and hence sustainable human activity must operate at a level that does not threaten the health of those systems. Even at the most basic level, these concerns suggest a need to address several critical business problems, such as the impacts of industrialization on biodiversity, the continued use of non-renewable resources, such as oil, steel, and coal as well as the production of damaging environmental pollutants like greenhouse gases and CFCs from industrial plants and consumer products. At a more fundamental level though, these concerns also raise the problem of economic growth itself, and the vexed question of whether future generations can really have the same living standards as us without a reversal of the trend towards ever more production and consumption. Key environmental issues include but are not limited to: climate change, global warming, GHG emissions, Water problems, Decline of Natural Capital, Toxins in the Environment, and Air Pollution.

Fashion Transparency Index: Why does fashion brand transparency matter?

The fashion industry generates enormous profits across world markets, despite the journeys made by clothing remain largely unseen. Retailers promote and sell apparel brands, but they rarely produce goods placed on the retail shelves. Instead, they cooperate with farms that grow fibers, with numerous facilities that dye yarns or weave or knit the raw materials into fabrics, and hundreds of factories that cut, sew and assemble the garments. A call for increased transparency among fashion brands has emerged during recent decades as a reaction to supply chain complexity, where information about the origin of garments has become impossible to obtain. The opaqueness of the fashion supply chain was particularly brought into question after the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed 1,134 garment workers. After this tragedy, major fashion retailers could not determine whether they were sourcing from that factory despite their brand labels being found in the rubble. As a response, groups of stakeholders including consumer-led initiatives in developed countries, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and the media more intensively criticized retailers for their lack of insight into, and their responsibility for how and where clothing production takes place.

Unilever

Unilever is another company that has worked hard to make sustainability part of its corporate identity. Since 2010 the company has set targets for energy, water use, and community impact in areas where they operate. CEO Paul Polman said he would double the company's revenue while halving its environmental impact in just 10 years, which shows that sustainability doesn't necessarily have to come at the expense of profits.

Connecting purpose and profit: Social Enterprises that nailed their branding

What Is a Social Enterprise? A social enterprise can be defined as a business with a specific social purpose. Social enterprises seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment, and the profits are principally used to fund social programs. Here you can find excellent examples of two social enterprises in our industry. Please explore their website and marketing materials in their entirety. Akola Akola is a jewelry brand handcrafted by women in Uganda using local, high-quality materials such as upcycled cow horns, hand-rolled beads, and natural raffia.

IKEA

When it comes to putting sustainability first, IKEA is one of the best around. Their whole operation, from the supply chain to the consumer, has been given careful consideration. Almost half of its wood is sourced from sustainable forests, while all of its cotton comes from sustainable farms. The stores themselves are equipped with solar panels, and they have plans to be completely powered by renewable by 2022 and even export the extra energy they create. Since 2014, their marketing campaigns on TV, radio, and print have focused on how the different ways they embody sustainability, and their customers are well aware of their impact.

Social Pillar: People

While sustainable development is intended to encompass three pillars, over the past 20 years it has often been compartmentalized as an environmental issue. Added to this, and potentially more limiting for the sustainable development agenda is the reigning orientation of development as purely economic growth. Although most frequently assumed to be about the environment, sustainability at its most basic is a social problem. After all, individuals and communities lacking the resources to meet basic needs don't have the luxury of applying long-term thinking to solve immediate, life-threatening issues. Key to addressing such social issues as hunger and violence are having an understanding of how these issues impact different social groups. Some of the most critical social issues include the following: equity, human rights, and social justice. How do brands integrate social pillars into branding? Fashion brands that are emphasizing the importance of workers' rights, fair wages, equality, anti-discrimination, or giving back to the community are great examples of how we can integrate social sustainability into marketing practice.

An environmental enterprise can be defined as

a business with a specific environmental purpose. Environmental enterprises seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to the environment, and the profits are principally used to fund environmental programs. Here we will review two excellent examples of environmental enterprises in our industry.

United by Blue

was founded in the US in 2010, driven by the idea of associating the sale of each product with a concrete environmental action. Their purpose is clear, for every garment sold, United By Blue removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized and hosted cleanups. The brand representatives believe that business not only has the ability to be a part of environmental solutions, but also a moral responsibility to address them. The company earned B Corp certification in 2011.