At the end of July, the US Department of Commerce reported that the United
States experienced the sharpest economic contraction in its modern history.
Amidst this seismic disruption, few would expect fashion brands and retailers to
be spending money on sustainability programs.
A recent survey from the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol
found otherwise. Just over half of the 138 company executives in sustainability
roles surveyed have noticed a rise in demand for environmentally sustainable
products.
Brands are taking notice of customers’ changing demands and taking action to
strengthen their sustainability initiatives. 43 percent of respondents said the COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on their future sustainability commitments.
It’s natural that conscious consumers are more cautious with their spending —
they will want to be thrifty while also ensuring they are giving their money to
retailers with whom they share values, especially in an unstable time.
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Hear how Mars and its Ben's Original brand are working with Delta Harvest to greatly reduce water use in rice cultivation while improving crop yields, at the SB Regenerative Ag Summit — Thursday, Oct. 17, at SB'24 San Diego.
These companies are noticing this shift in purchasing decisions — and are
justifiably concerned that customers will leave if they don’t improve their tune
on sustainability. On average, respondents said that nearly half of their
customers would go to a competitor if their business didn’t meet its
sustainability goals.
“I agree that we can expect customers to be more deliberate in their purchases
and perhaps even more price sensitive than they were before the pandemic.
They’re going to be holding brands to a higher standard and be especially
mindful of where they’re spending their money,” said Tara Luckman, the
former head of sustainable sourcing at ASOS, and an advisor to the US Cotton
Trust Protocol. “What this means for brands is that sustainability — and really
evidencing what we are doing — will be front and center.”
Demonstrating sustainability commitments
The recent launch of the U.S. Cotton Trust
Protocol
— a system that measures key sustainability metrics on US cotton farms —
provides brands with data to prove they are meeting their commitments in areas
such as greenhouse gases, water usage and soil carbon.
In response to the growing demand for apparel brands to demonstrate their
environmental credentials, the environmental performance of Trust Protocol
cotton is measured and analyzed at field level. The
FieldPrint analysis — devised by
Trust Protocol data partner Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable
Agriculture — illustrates in graphic form the
progress of Trust Protocol growers.
“Brands will be able to see farm-level data on how US farmers are improving
their yields, minimize water and chemical inputs, and leaving healthy soil for
future seasons and generations,” said Andrew Jordan, Former VP of Technical
Services for the National Cotton Council, and U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol sustainability data advisor. "The data that it provides is really something brand new — it both allows brands and retailers to demonstrate their commitments to their science-based sustainability goals and allows us to walk with US cotton growers on a road of continuous improvement.”
The Trust Protocol can provide full traceability from the farm to the laydown.
The United States requires a unique identification number be assigned to every
bale of cotton. That Permanent Bale Identification (PBI) provides
retailers and brands with the ability to trace US cotton throughout the supply
chain.
“The COVID-19 crisis, and resulting industry shutdown, has given us an opportunity to reimagine and
reinvent our business processes and services,” Luckman said. “This is the time
for us all to re-examine how to source more responsibly and to integrate new
data into sustainability strategies.”
As fashion brands and retailers find the silver lining in COVID-19 and
strengthen their sustainability commitments, the Trust Protocol can help them
demonstrate those sourcing and supply chain commitments to meet customer demand.
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U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol
Published Sep 10, 2020 11am EDT / 8am PDT / 4pm BST / 5pm CEST