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Costco advertises its Kirkland Albacore Tuna as “dolphin safe,” seeking to appeal to environmentally conscious and animal-loving consumers. Only this …
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Sustainable fashion is all the rage, and now fine jewelry may be getting in on the trend. Prada—the ultra-fancy, trend-setting Italian luxury clothing brand—has just launched a brand new jewelry line, featuring 48 pieces made entirely of recycled gold and ethically sourced pavé diamonds. Prada spent three years sourcing materials to meet its environmental and ethical standards before the launch. Some of the gold comes from discarded electronics, some from old jewelry. The diamonds are mined, which doesn’t sound very green, but Prada says they meet the Responsible Jewelry Council’s Chain of Custody environmental and humanitarian Code of Practices. Prada also says that its suppliers have been subjected to audits by the company itself, as well as by third-party inspectors from the Responsible Jewelry Council. What’s behind Prada’s venture into jewelry that doesn’t just look pretty, but is also better for the Earth? This choice to go green appears spurred in part by consumer demand—and in part by a mission to lead the way in the jewelry industry. Whether others will follow suit is an open question. The success of this collection is not. According to Timothy Iwata, Prada’s jewelry director, portions of the collection have sold out, and “we can’t keep up with the demand for the moment.”
Sources: Laura Rysman, “Prada Focuses on Sustainability in ‘Disruptive’ Fine Jewelry Debut,” The New York Times, November 21, 2022
14 Saturday Jan 2023
For years, we’ve been hearing about how consumers are prioritizing sustainability in the products they spend their hard-earned money on—and companies are adapting to meet that demand.
But should we halt that production line, maybe? A new report finds that consumers care more about durability than they do sustainability. According to surveys of 7,500 consumers around the world, only 16 percent of shoppers said sustainability was one of their top three deciding factors. Even fewer, 12 percent, listed ethical sourcing of their products in the top three.
What did the consumers say they care about? Quality and price were the top factors, with 22 percent of respondents saying those were their primary concerns. (If you like country-by-country breakdowns: U.K. consumers were the most cost-conscious, with 28 percent saying it was the number one factor, while Chinese shoppers cared the least about price—just 6 percent said it was their top consideration.)
Here’s where things get even more interesting: Almost half of respondents said that durability is one of their top five shopping considerations. Forty-three percent of the shoppers said that when buying clothing, transparency is important to their purchasing decisions.
After quality, cost, and durability—the top three concerns—shoppers ranked availability, design, convenience, “makes me feel good,” brand reputation, and then sustainability, as the factors they cared about the most. Then came brand reputation, “makes me look good” (coming in surprisingly low in the rankings), ethical origins/sourcing, ethical worker conditions, and, finally, opinions of friends/others.
The report describes the shoppers’ responses as sending “mixed signals”—a fair observation—but also presenting an opportunity “for businesses to shape the future of sustainability by putting a greater focus on product durability.”
Discussion Questions:
Sources: Tom Ryan, “Is Durability a More Sustainable Selling Point Than Sustainability?” RetailWire, November 16, 2022; “The Missing Billions: The Real Cost of Supply Chain Waste,” rfid.averydennison.com, November 10, 2022
Photo by Lindsey Hogue on Unsplash
03 Tuesday Jan 2023
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More and more brands are incorporating environmental concerns into their business models, in response to consumer demand and also because …
21 Friday Oct 2022
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Sephora scores high marks for selling customers high-end makeup. But it earns much lower marks for allegedly selling customers’ data, …