In the retail gazette’s article ‘Fashion retailers work towards green future’, dating from August 19th 2011, the following was quoted (bold font added by Shirahime):
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New Look, the high-street fashion retailer, has an Ethical Trading Initiative Director, in charge of its environmental policies and ensuring that the focus on sustainability remains paramount during the tough economic climate.
Mark Bannister, Ethical and Environment Manager at the retailer, said that in spite of squeezed margins and disappointing sales figures, green solutions are critical to their strategy.
"With difficult challenges in commodity cost increases being driven by rapidly increasing global demand and decreasing sales as a result of lower consumer spending, the long-term economic trend in the retail sector is inevitably towards sustainability," Bannister added.
"At present, we are finding the need to prioritise greener solutions as they offer a greater overall product potential, looking beyond the traditional metric of margins.
Ultimately the transition towards sustainable fashion will be a lengthy process but we are beginning to find that sustainable choices are the most cost effective choice from a holistic product perspective."
