PASS THE BATON is a new type of recycle shop with two locations, in the center of Tokyo. It cherishes the emotional bound that both, previous and new owner have with the item, fostered by a carefully curated setting.
Mistra Future Fashion (MFF) is a 4-year research project (2011-2015), funded by the Swedish government via Mistra, the Foundation of Strategic Environmental Research.
MFF has a very holistic approach that has the goal of supporting the industry to re-think their business models, design and industrial processes and promote consumer behaviour change.
Last week I had the opportunity to speak at Sustainable Brands Istanbul about the risks and opportunities related to sustainability for textile and fashion businesses. Turkey is a key global producers of textile and garments and the export of these products account for roughly 20% of the country’s overall exports.
It’s not news that there exist many, many labels out there that hope to convey low-risk or sustainability credentials to consumers (B2C) and/or buyers (B2B).
Some of these are indeed so specialised, or hidden within the larger context, that indeed few people have seen or taken note of it.
One such label is the Greenguard certification, which is focused entirely onto remedying negative health impacts in interior spaces: from furniture, to interior textiles, air filters, adhesives, flooring and floor finishes etc.
This article has was submitted to and appeared in edited form at the European Business Ethics Network annual conference, Lille...
In the 1990s, Nike was caught in a sweatshop scandal showing poor working conditions in its suppliers’ Asian factories. Not...
“Show me there is demand, and we’ll be happy to cater to it.” is the most frequently received answer when asking CEOs of consumer goods companies, fashion and apparel in particular, as to why they are not producing better, more sustainable (ecological and ethical) products.
This new report, combines – to the best of our knowledge – all available data about the increasingly popular consumer demand for more responsible products in EU countries.
Recently, my colleague Ilaria Pasquinelli and I had the opportunity to participate in a, generally speaking, consumer facing product showcase and trade show.
For the purpose of this research, we built an interactive task which required the visitors to cut off one of their garment labels (i.e. the washing instructions), and then pin it to a map attached to a cork board according to 2 dimensions:
– ‘Made in‘: Where the garment was manufactured.
– ‘Made from‘: What the primary material the garment was made of.
Parents complain about the prices of school uniforms. Yet - are they also considering that too cheap a price may actually ... get them school uniforms for their children, made by children of that same age?
One of the challenges of sustainable fashion is the wording used to define it. We commonly associate adjectives like “sustainable”, “green”, “eco”, “responsible”, “conscious”, “ethical” with the word “fashion”. The question is: are certain words more popular than others? Or are some others nowadays outdated? How do consumer talk about sustainable fashion? And the industry?
Dutch design is defined as “minimalist, experimental, innovative, quirky, and humorous”. This sophisticated and open-minded taste, typically northern European, is consistent across product design, architecture and fashion. This article looks at the landscape in the Amsterdam specifically.
With the end of the year upon us, we tend to think of the past year and what the upcoming one holds for us.
With H&M recently announcing the launch of a new clothes takes-back and recycling scheme – accepting clothes from any brand, and in any condition – starting from January 2013 at stores in 48 countries, I am prompted to look at other interesting consumer engagement campaigns we have seen in the past few months and years.
The Sharing Economy’s monetary value is currently worth £301bn globally. It is expected to grow by at least 15% over the next 5 years. Thanks to the wedding dresses and suits, the concept of sharing has never quite disappeared entirely from the fashion market. And now is the time where it emerges with more strength than ever.
In a recently published consumer study 52% percent of U.K., U.S. and Canadian consumers believe that businesses’ alignments with social...
Understanding cross-border diversity in consumer behaviour, advertising, sales and marketing management is a widely studied topic of international marketing. Cultural difference matter particularly in business negotiations, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing research. One of the most frequent approaches differentiates between high-context and low-context cultures, which impacts directly on the quality and quantity of information businesses are willing to share.
There is no doubt that Greenpeace makes an important point in what they are saying, and always has done so ever since they published their first Detox report:
The lack of transparency in supply chains is a massive problem, and – evidently now – is increasingly become both a strategic as well as operational risk for the brands.
t is fairly old news, but merits repeating nevertheless: our current economy, at the verge of collapse as it is, is egocentric, and at the same time understates costs while overstating benefits.
In other words, it promotes a type of behaviour that is degeneratively competitive: the ‘me’ wants, needs, more of whatever it may be, while anything and everything else is losing out. No matter how high the cost for the bigger picture – society and the planet, that is – may be.
The RSA brought together a group of thinkers and practitioners who have each been exploring ways to bring the principles of 'slow' to their life and work – whether in finance, culture or fashion. A brief summary, and some key insights.
"Overdressed" is the American equivalent to Lucy Siegle's 2011 book 'To Die For'. But this book is 'nearer to the people', and the voice more illustrative, if not to say purposely blunt. A review.
Can marketing be ethical? Far too many times I am asked this question or come across people who strongly believe that marketing simply cannot. Actually, still today, for many, marketing is evil. I think that this conviction is the result of two main factors.
