Customers are and will be less and less loyal. To get and keep them for a longer time, traders need to add emotional connections. Brand image and loyalty are built on basic assets such as proximity to the store, a wide selection, low prices, and quality. To attract customers for a longer period, it is necessary to add an emotional connection. Are Shoppers Loyal to Their Brands?  Loyalty-based factors previously offered by most retailers now need to add experience and interest. The right price can be a key factor between buying a brand and switching to a competing brand. Of the five attributes studied (price, service, assortment, features, and…

In 2015, the United Nations set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals for all member states, creating a global call to action and pushing the cruciality of environmental, social and cultural initiatives for the betterment of our world.  The Sustainable Development Goals build upon decades of UN work. Beginning with the Brundtland Report in the 1980s, which outlined fundamental components for sustainable development, and which remains the backbone of the organisation’s work on sustainable development.  These 17 comprehensive goals feature 230 indicators, by which progress can be measured, with the aim of fulfilling many of them by 2030. Each year, states come together to report on their progress towards achieving their…

Mindless consumption is the biggest problem for the sustainable and ethical fashion movement. And whilst this movement has made great advances the statistics still look worrying. The Global Fashion Agenda has predicted that by 2030 global apparel consumption will rise by 63%. This is shocking given our climate crisis. But there is still time to change this, and it’s easier than you think. What is mindless consumption? Put simply, mindless consumption is when you buy something without thought. In the past decade this type of damaging consumption has increased drastically due to fast fashion. Clothing has been produced at much quicker and cheaper rates making it easy to put a…

Modern Slavery is a heinous and often hidden crime. It includes slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking. The impact can be devastating for the victims. Modern slavery can be found within companies supply chains. Although you would think slave labour is in the past it still very much alive all around us! We also expect slave labour to occur elsewhere than the UK. However, unfortunately this is not the case. In 2016, 3,805 potential victims were identified and referred in the UK. In the year to March 2017 the police in England and Wales recorded 2,255 modern slavery crimes. However, many more crimes and victims go undetected.…

The most polluting sector wants to make a real change: Fashion bigs make a pact to protect the environment On the eve of the G7 summit in Biarritz, French President Macron reunited representatives of 32 world-leading companies in the fashion and textile sector in order to announce the “Fashion Pact”. https://thefashionpact.org/?lang=en Therefore, the fashion world undertakes to create a coalition giving life to an unprecedented experience. The pact includes luxury and sports brands along with suppliers and retailers, already involved in environmental commitments. Fashion Pact’s aim is to improve and strengthen cooperation between private companies and national states. Based on the principles promoted by the Science-Based Target (SBT1) initiative, the…

In 2020, you may be surprised to learn that modern slavery is no longer an issue of the past. Even more surprising is I’m not talking about third world countries or countries that lack workers’ rights laws. This is happening right now in the UK. Earlier this month, Andrew Bridgen MP raised the concern to parliament that there are currently a feared 10,000 garment workers in Leicester trapped in conditions that can only be described as modern slavery. Working against their will for as little as £3 an hour, we ask, how has this happened? Unethical business owners are trapping workers in illegal conditions by trafficking them from other European…

The story so far For years, storytelling has been used as a device for brands to communicate their values and connect emotionally with audiences. Luxury fashion brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Dior have used storytelling to communicate their label’s heritage, values and ideologies. Green marketing has been adopted by companies across many sectors since the 1990s but the market is over saturated. Mass “greenwashing” has meant that attempts to convey sustainable values now come across as disingenuous. With it’s ability to forge emotional reports with audiences, does storytelling hold the key to the success of sustainable fashion? The ugly truth You may think that this doesn’t apply…

What price are we willing to pay for the clothes that live on our bodies? How much is too much and is our vision of “affordable” askew due to a constant influx of things we don’t need? Sustainable fashion is often viewed as inaccessible due to high price points, but when we look at the cost per wear (CPW) we understand the value a bit more.  “Cost per wear” refers to how many uses (or “wears”) you can get per item of clothing, so the more wears, the better. We also should factor in the cost of paying a living wage to all the workers that make our clothes. In…