Consumer attitudes towards sustainability in the fashion industry
Sustainability has never been a more pertinent topic as the natural environment continues to suffer due to the actions of humans around the globe. Issues such as deforestation, pollution, desertification and global warming are all threatening to change our global climate and will make the world a much less habitable place for future generations.
This is why it is so important to pursue sustainability in as many ways as possible, making every aspect of our lives as sustainable as it can possibly be. While the efforts of individuals can make a big difference, it is larger organizations, corporations and governments that have the ability to make the biggest impact.
At jewellerybox, we are keen to maintain and improve our sustainability standards to ensure we leave as little impact on the environment as possible. We’re also eager to empower our customers to make sustainable choices when shopping with us, which led to the development of our very own range of recycled jewellery.
As the topic of sustainability is only growing in importance, we wanted to get our customers’ views on how well the fashion industry is tackling these issues, and how important it is to them as consumers.
How does the public view sustainable fashion?
In this section, we will investigate how our customers view the topic of sustainability in the fashion industry, and how much they consider it when deciding on what fashion items to purchase.
Q – What does the word ‘sustainability’ make you think about a clothing/fashion retailer?
| Response | Count | Percent |
| Recycled raw materials (e.g. Recycled Cotton) | 1000 | 77.6% |
| Long-lasting, well-made products to avoid waste | 890 | 69.21% |
| Products made locally / from locally sourced materials | 664 | 51.63% |
| A repair/reuse program, where you can send items back for, repair, recycling or reuse | 502 | 39.04% |
| A company whose operations are powered by renewable energy | 494 | 38.41% |
| A carbon neutral business | 473 | 36.78% |
| ‘Greenwashing’, where companies say they are ‘green’ without really doing anything | 174 | 13.53% |
We asked our customers what the word “sustainability” makes them think of in relation to fashion retailers. The most common association, with 77.76% of respondents agreeing, was that recycled raw materials would be used to make any new garments or accessories.
The second most common response, with 69.21% of respondents agreeing, was that products from a sustainable fashion retailer would be better-made and longer lasting, thereby negating the waste of the fast fashion industry.
The third most common response, resonating with 51.63% of respondents, was that products from a sustainable fashion retailer would either be made locally or made from materials sourced locally to the site of manufacture.
Q – How important is sustainability to you when purchasing clothing and accessories?
| Importance of Sustainability | *Count | Percent |
| 1 – Least Important | 21 | 1.63% |
| 2 – Less Important | 75 | 5.83% |
| 3 – Somewhat Important | 525 | 40.82% |
| 4 – More Important | 548 | 42.61% |
| 5 – Most Important | 117 | 9.10% |
With this question, we assessed just how important our customers placed on sustainability when purchasing clothing, accessories and fashion items. Respondents were given the choice to rate this importance on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least important and 5 being the most.
We found that the most common response to this, with 42.61% of answers, was a rating of 4. This means that customers most often found sustainability to be an influencing factor in their purchase, though it was not often the main consideration.
The second most popular answer was a rating of 3 which garnered 40.82% of responses, indicating that consumers were aware of the issue of sustainability and did consider it in their purchases, though it likely wouldn’t have wildly changed their choices. As many as 9.10% gave sustainability a rating of 5, suggesting that it was a primary deciding factor for almost 1 in 10 people. In contrast, only 1.63% of respondents replied with a score of 1, showing that very few people give no thought to sustainability when purchasing clothing and accessories.
How does the importance of sustainability change with age?
| Age Bracket | 1 – Least Important | 2 – Less Important | 3 – Somewhat Important | 4 – More Important | 5 – Most Important |
| Under 18 | 0% | 6.56% | 49.18% | 40.98% | 3.28% |
| 19-26 | 0% | 4.41% | 45.81% | 42.73% | 7.05% |
| 27-34 | 3.39% | 8.47% | 36.72% | 44.07% | 7.34% |
| 35-44 | 1.93% | 6.11% | 46.95% | 37.94% | 7.07% |
| 45-54 | 1.98% | 4.37% | 37.70% | 45.63% | 10.32% |
| 55-64 | 1.80% | 6.59% | 32.93% | 46.71% | 11.98% |
| 65+ | 1.14% | 5.68% | 34.09% | 38.64% | 20.45% |
Here, we’ve broken down the responses to the question of the importance of sustainability when purchasing fashion items so that we can see how different age groups answered.
The oldest age bracket of those aged over 65 has by far the highest proportion of respondents giving sustainability a rating of 5, meaning that it is very important to this age group. In fact, it seems that older people are much more likely to consider sustainability the most important factor when purchasing fashion items, the percentage rising for each age bracket other than 35-44 year-olds, which was slightly lower than the 27-34 age group.
People in the 27-34, 45-54, 55-64 and 65+ age groups were most likely to give sustainability an importance rating of 4, showing that while sustainability appears to be most sought-after by older generations, it does have a cross-generational appeal that sees people of all ages letting it guide or influence their shopping habits.
Meanwhile, all other age groups were most likely to give sustainability an importance rating of 3, indicating that it is important to them but other factors such as cost and quality might play a larger or equal role in determining their choice of purchase.
Q – Which of these sustainability initiatives have you heard of?
| Initiative Name | Count | Percent |
| Fair Trade Certified | 1068 | 83.05% |
| Climate Neutral | 472 | 36.70% |
| None of these | 165 | 12.83% |
| 1% For The Planet | 141 | 10.96% |
| BCORP | 140 | 10.89% |
| Carbon Disclosure Project | 129 | 10.03% |
| Future Fit Business Benchmark | 62 | 4.82% |
| Carbon Net Zero | 1 | 0.08% |
| GOTS certified | 1 | 0.08% |
The most recognised sustainability initiative in our study was the Fair Trade Certified accreditation, which as many as 83.05% of respondents were aware of. However, the numbers sharply drop for the other initiatives mentioned, with second place Climate Neutral only being recognised by 36.7% of our survey audience.
The third most common answer was that the respondent was not aware of any of the initiatives listed, with 12.83% choosing this answer. This is closely followed by several initiatives such as 1% For The Planet, BCORP and the Carbon Disclosure Project, all of which were recognised by just over 10% of those surveyed.
Q – Would you trust a company’s commitment to sustainability more if they have been accredited by one of the organisations above?
| Response | Count | Percent |
| Yes | 514 | 39.97% |
| Maybe | 509 | 39.58% |
| No | 263 | 20.45% |
This question revealed that accreditation by one of the aforementioned sustainability initiatives would only make around 40% of respondents trust a brand or company’s commitment to sustainability more than they otherwise would have.
While this represents a large portion of consumers, that still leaves approximately 60% of people not convinced of the value of these sustainability initiatives. In fact, almost the exact same number of people who thought such accreditation made them trust a company on matters of sustainability was not sure of its value, revealing that these initiatives need to do a lot more to convince consumers of their worth.
A further 20% of those surveyed felt that these initiatives did not increase their trust at all, suggesting that large sections of the public are sceptical of the value of such schemes.
BCORP certification – what is it and are people aware?
Q – Without Googling, what do you think BCORP is?
| Count | Percentage | |
| Total Respondents | 1286 | 100% |
| Total Answers | 190 | 14.77% |
| Total Correct | 89 | 6.92% |
When asked to explain what they thought a BCORP was, only 6.92% were able to give an answer that was broadly correct or displayed prior knowledge of what a BCORP was. However, it is highly probable that multiple correct answers were purely the result of guesswork based on the nature of the survey, so the true number could be even lower.
So, what is BCORP?
B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors ranging from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
In order to achieve certification, a company must demonstrate high social and environmental performance via a B Impact Assessment, as well as make a legal commitment to change its corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. They must also exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available.
Q – Are you aware of any companies that have achieved BCORP status?
| Response | Count | Percentage |
| No | 1179 | 91.68% |
| Yes | 107 | 8.32% |
As many as 91.68% of those surveyed were not aware of any companies that had achieved BCORP status, suggesting that either the scheme is not widely recognised by the public, or that the companies achieving this accreditation are either obscure or unknown or that they are not advertising their BCORP status to their customers.
Q – If yes, please list the BCORP companies that you were aware of.
| Company | Count |
| The Body Shop | 41 |
| BrewDog | 12 |
| Patagonia | 11 |
| Ben & Jerry’s | 9 |
| Innocent Drinks | 7 |
| TOMS | 5 |
| Aesop | 4 |
| The Beeswax Wrap Company | 2 |
| House of Baukjen | 2 |
| Beautycounter | 2 |
| Bookshop.org | 2 |
| DAME. | 2 |
| Ella’s Kitchen | 2 |
| Ethique | 2 |
| Jude’s | 2 |
| Tony’s Chocolonely | 2 |
Here we can see the companies that were most commonly correctly identified as having achieved BCORP accreditation. Only those that were identified more than once have been included in this table.
The Body Shop is the company that is most commonly correctly identified as having BCORP status, with as many as 41 respondents listing it in their answers. The Body Shop is widely known for its commitment to sustainability and ethical practices, such as not using animal testing for any of its products.
BrewDog was the second most commonly identified BCORP company, being listed 12 times by those surveyed, while Patagonia took third place with 11 mentions. Other high-scoring well-known brands include Ben & Jerry’s, which was identified 9 times, as well as innocent Drinks which was mentioned 7 times.
Q – Even if they didn’t come to mind in the previous question, were you aware that the following companies are BCORPS?
| Response | Count | Percent |
| None of these | 919 | 71.46% |
| The Body Shop | 319 | 24.81% |
| Innocent Drinks | 116 | 9.02% |
| Brewdog | 101 | 7.85% |
| Patagonia | 61 | 4.74% |
| Sipsmith Gin | 44 | 3.42% |
| Aesop | 35 | 2.72% |
When presented with a list of companies, the vast majority of 71.46% did not recognise any of them as BCORPs, revealing that there is a lot more that BCORPS and B-Labs can do to broaden recognition of the initiative among consumers.
The Body Shop was once again the most widely recognised as a BCORP company, with almost a quarter (24.81%) of respondents claiming to know that it had BCORP status. This was then followed by Innocent Drinks with 9.02% of people recognising its BCORP accreditation, while BrewDog took third place with 7.85%.
Q – Based on the companies above that have achieved BCORP status, how much does BCORP align with your values?
| Response | Count | Percentage |
| 3 – Moderate Alignment | 569 | 44.25% |
| 4 – Considerable Alignment | 330 | 25.66% |
| 5 – Total Alignment | 145 | 11.28% |
| 1 – No Alignment | 136 | 10.58% |
| 2 – Partial Alignment | 106 | 8.24% |
The most common answer given by people in our survey was that they had a moderate alignment with the values of BCORP, based on the companies listed as having achieved accreditation. This was the case for the 44.25% of respondents who rated their alignment as a 3 out of 5.
The next most popular answer was a rating of 4, which represented a considerable alignment with the values of BCORP based on the listed companies. 25.66% of respondents chose this answer, while 11.28% of those surveyed selected option 5 which represented a total alignment of values. Taken together, this shows that over a third of respondents had a positive association with the values of BCORP companies.
Conversely, options 1 and 2, which represented lower levels of alignment with the values of BCORP companies, only accounted for a combined 18.82% of those surveyed, indicating a clear preference for BCORP values in consumers when shopping for fashion items.
How do the values of BCORPs resonate with different age groups?
| Age Group | 1 – No Alignment | 2 – Partial Alignment | 3 – Moderate Alignment | 4 – Considerable Alignment | 5 – Total Alignment |
| Under 18 | 1.64% | 4.92% | 42.62% | 37.70% | 13.11% |
| 19-26 | 6.61% | 9.25% | 39.21% | 28.19% | 16.74% |
| 27-34 | 8.47% | 9.60% | 41.81% | 31.07% | 9.04% |
| 35-44 | 12.54% | 9.00% | 53.70% | 18.65% | 6.11% |
| 45-54 | 9.92% | 4.76% | 48.02% | 24.21% | 13.10% |
| 55-64 | 12.57% | 10.18% | 40.72% | 26.95% | 9.58% |
| 65+ | 22.73% | 9.09% | 27.27% | 23.86% | 17.05% |
The most commonly chosen answer in every age group was option 3, which represented a moderate alignment with BCORP values. Additionally, each age group saw more people choosing answers 4 and 5, which represented greater alignment with BCORP values, than people choosing answers 1 and 2. This shows that there is a preference for the values of sustainability, governance and transparency no matter the age group.
However, there are some notable differences between age brackets, the simplest of which is whether more people selected option 1 or option 5 at opposite ends of the scale. The youngest 3 age groups, up to the age of 34, as well as the 45-54 bracket, all had more people choosing option 5 than option 1. The opposite is true for every other age group. This suggests that younger generations are generally more aligned with BCORP values than older people.
Q – What do you see as the least sustainable / most environmentally damaging practices a company like jewellerybox does? (Choose up to 2)
| Least sustainable practices | Count | Percent |
| Shipping items abroad by plane | 687 | 53.42% |
| Importing products and raw materials from other countries by ship | 505 | 39.27% |
| Using mined gold and silver | 380 | 29.55% |
| Shipping items within the UK by road using petrol/diesel vehicles | 238 | 18.51% |
| Unwanted/damaged/wrong sized products being returned | 197 | 15.32% |
| Using plastic packaging | 7 | 0.54% |
| Wastefulness/promoting consumerism | 4 | 0.31% |
- Shipping items abroad by plane
Chosen by 53.47% of those surveyed
According to those surveyed, the most environmentally damaging practice that companies like jewellerybox take part in is shipping items abroad by plane, which was chosen by over half (53.42%) of respondents. Many companies ship small items by air rather than by land or sea as it is often the quickest and cheapest form of delivery, though larger items that weigh more are usually moved by other means.
In a world where global temperatures continue to rise due to pollution and CO2 emissions, it is understandable that CO2 intensive practices like air shipping would be at the forefront of customers’ minds.
- Importing products and raw materials from other countries by ship
Chosen by 39.27% of those surveyed
The second most frequently chosen practice for unsustainability was the importing of raw materials from other countries by ship, having been selected by 39.27% of respondents. As supply chains have developed over the years and transportation has become easier between countries and continents, it has become common practice to import materials from different parts of the world when manufacturing just about any product.
Unfortunately, this means more emissions than would otherwise be necessary but is often the only way to keep production costs down so that consumers can afford to purchase the end product. Depending on the product, many companies are trying to source more materials locally, though this is not always a possibility.
- Using mined gold and silver
Chosen by 29.55% of those surveyed
The use of mined gold and silver was the third most common choice among the listed unsustainable practices, being chosen by 29.55% of those surveyed. Precious metals such as gold and silver are extracted from the earth via large mines that can have devastating consequences for the local environment, as well as producing large amounts of CO2 pollution. Mining is also a dangerous profession that can leave workers with medical issues long after they stop working underground, such as respiratory problems and a higher risk of many forms of cancer.
The good news is that it is increasingly common to reuse precious metals such as gold and silver, recycling them into new pieces of jewellery that boast contemporary designs and excellent quality. jewellerybox has been particularly active in this area, producing an entire range of jewellery made from recycled metals.
Methodology
All data was taken from a survey of 1286 jewellerybox customers. In sections where the data is split by age category, only 1283 customers’ answers were included as 3 did not reveal their ages.