Sustainability in the Apparel & Footwear Industry
Apparel and footwear companies vary widely in their product offerings and their degree of vertical integration. Most rely on contract manufacturers rather than making finished goods themselves, and their production has steadily shifted to lower-cost regions, in particular China and South/Southeast Asia. While apparel and footwear companies are accustomed to scrutiny about social practices in their supply chains, stakeholders are now beginning to pay more attention to their environmental performance and supplier standards.
Sustainability Drivers
A select group of apparel and footwear companies have worked to integrate sustainability by pursuing operational eco-efficiencies and using materials and processes with lower environmental impacts. Although these sustainability leaders have raised the bar for competitors, consumer demand for green products is still relatively low. To date, pressure from environmental groups has focused primarily on the environmental effects of raw material production—in particular, cotton and leather. Major retailers such as Walmart are also pushing the industry to create more sustainable products, adopt cleaner business practices, and improve supply chain standards. The most successful companies will improve the environmental performance of their direct operations and supply chain, while offering their customers more sustainable products that don’t compromise on cost, quality, or style.
Challenges and Opportunities
Apparel and footwear companies need to anticipate future challenges by considering questions such as:
- How can we mitigate upstream impacts from our raw materials and suppliers without increasing our costs?
- How can we work collectively as an industry to raise standards and improve supplier performance?
- How can we innovate in product and process design to improve our environmental performance and attract new customers?
- How can we communicate our progress and leverage our sustainability-related activities to build stronger brands and closer relationships with customers?
Viridis has worked closely with leading apparel and footwear companies to address these and other questions.
Case Study
A global apparel manufacturer and long-term client initially turned to Viridis to assess its environmental footprint and provide strategic recommendations for its nascent environmental program. While interested in the cost savings offered by eco-efficiencies in its manufacturing and feeling the need to respond to retail customers on sustainability issues, the company was uncertain how quickly to move or how deeply to invest in environmental strategy. Viridis worked with the client over a three year period, starting with a comprehensive environmental diagnostic — including an assessment of the company’s impacts across its operations, a life cycle analysis for a typical product, and recommendations for an energy and carbon management program and external communications/reporting. We later helped shape and supported the expanding environmental program by advising on environmental management best practices and industry leadership opportunities.
When the company decided to “go public” in 2010 by rolling out environmentally themed advertising and comprehensive communications, their programs and practices were highly credible and of leadership quality. Viridis worked with the client and its PR and Web team to develop a detailed communications strategy and action plan. We subsequently played a core role in the development of the environmental website, including site structure, content creation, definition of reporting metrics, and fact checking. Our client currently leads its peers on energy-efficiency, has received widespread accolades for its environmental communications, and has energized its employees to think green.