Sustainability and CSR: Why it Matters to Consumers and How to Sell it
This session was featured in The S&S Virtual Experience (Feb 2021)
Sustainability and CSR is increasingly moving to the forefront of consumers minds. David Shultz, of Commonsku and PromoCares, leads a panel of suppliers and distributors to discuss the increase in demand for sustainable products and how you can incorporate them into conversations with your clients.
Featured Panelists:
- David Shultz – VP of Supplier Partnerships at Commonsku
- Denise Taschereau – Co-Founder of Fairware
- Meg Erber – Account Manager at S&S Activewear
- Rachel Newman – VP/GM American Casualwear at Hanesbrands Inc.
CLICK HERE to see the other videos from our virtual event.
Session Takeaways:
More corporations and schools are starting to ask for sustainability metrics on apparel.
Denise Taschereau , co-Founder of Fairware, says that she’s starting to see more conventional corporations ask for background data on apparel.
“We’ve seen, in the last two to three years…what we would call more conventional companies coming to us and asking us for some pretty deep sustainability, metrics or information.”
– Denise Taschereau , co-Founder of Fairware
Tech companies, universities and even those in the food industry are starting to map their carbon footprint as a company, all the way through their own operations, into their vendors operations and into the suppliers operations.
Because of this, they’re starting to ask more questions about products like where is the cotton being sourced from, where is the country of origin, and some are even going as far as asking for suppliers to submit reports on their carbon footprint, before committing to buying their products.
There’s plenty of sustainable options for your clients.
The days when there were only a few sustainable apparel options to choose from are long gone. Gen. Z and Millennials are becoming more and more environmentally conscious and that’s shifted the focus of many manufacturers worldwide. That’s led to an increase in the availability of environmentally friendly and sustainably made apparel out in the marketplace. Here’s a quick look at some of the brands, who carry them:
They aren’t just the hottest brand in the sports world. They’re also one of the most sustainable and proactive brands trying to make a difference in how we think about manufacturing apparel. By 2024, their goal is to use ONLY 100% recycled polyester in all of their products, and about 50% of their whole line uses recycled poly now.
Hanes / ComfortWash / Champion / Alternative
All the brands under the Hanesbrands Inc. umbrella are manufactured in some of the most sustainable facilities in the world. For example, they have onsite waste-water management plants in the regions that they’re located in, which put any water they’ve used back into the systems even cleaner then when they arrived. Efforts like these have helped HanesBrands earn their 10th Consecutive U.S. EPA Energy, Star Partner Of The Year Award, for environmental excellence. Between these 3 brands, there are lots of eco-friendly options available, within their collections.
They’re also really active in their local communities. Over the past decade, Hanes has helped to lead efforts on support the work of homeless shelters throughout the country, providing them with clean socks and underwear, and more recently, around one million masks have gone to them as well.
Yes, one of the most popular go-to brands in the industry is extremely sustainable. In fact, the Wall Street Journal recently added Gildan to their top 100 list of most sustainable companies in the world. One of the biggest initiatives they’ve had on this front is their use of Biomass to power their manufacturing operations. Gildan also works hard at developing and supporting the local communities they are a part of. They even have programs in some of their manufacturing locations that include subsidized meals, free transportation and free onsite medical clinics.
They’ve recently been making some strides with sustainability in their manufacturing processes. For example, they use eco-friendly dyes to lessen the environmental impact of the dying process and they’ve found ways to greatly reduced their overall water consumption.
