June 01, 2020
European Fashion Site Sets Sustainability Standards
Zalando’s move is another sign of the retail world’s growing emphasis on sustainability and social impact – a phenomenon that’s growing in, and influencing, the promo products space, too.
Zalando SE, Europe’s largest online-only fashion retailer, has announced that brands will have to meet standards on sustainability and social impact in order to sell on its platform.
By 2023, all of the fashion brands selling on Berlin, Germany-headquartered Zalando’s platform will have to submit supply chain information and prove they are meeting sustainability and social impact requirements the company has established.
To measure compliance, Zalando will be evaluating brands using the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Brand Retail Module (Higg BRM). Brands that fail to make the grade must commit to implementing improvements or they will be barred from selling on the site. Some 2,000 brands currently sell on Zalando.
“Zalando’s decision to require its partner brands to use the Higg BRM will serve as a catalyst for bringing the industry together towards a standard system for sustainability measurement,” Amina Razvi, executive director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, recently said. “This is how we can implement and achieve lasting change.”
The Higg BRM is a mechanism for evaluating how well a brand is doing on key issues like human rights, carbon dioxide emissions, and living wages within its supply chain. “Standardizing sustainability in this way means that all brands will be comparable, which will cut down on confusing messages about ethics and eco-friendliness,” Euro News reported.
Heading into 2020, promotional products executives predicted that matters surrounding sustainability and social impact would grow in importance this year and through the decade at both retail and in the ad specialty space. “We will likely see sustainability as an increasingly important issue for many companies,” Jonathan Isaacson, CEO of Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070), told Counselor.
The Zalando initiative appears to be further evidence of that – a sign that, even amid the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic, the long-term focus on sustainability remains. That’s something both suppliers and distributors will have to address in their own products and operations in order to keep end-buyers happy, executives say.
In recent years, more promo firms have focused on conducting operations – and producing products – that are more sustainable. Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900), for instance, began powering its headquarters with the largest business solar array in Maine. In September 2019, Top 40 supplier S&S Activewear (asi/84358) opened a LEED-certified distribution center packed with earth-friendlier features. Meanwhile, Grossman Marketing Group (asi/215205), a $35 million distributor, recently launched SwagCycle, a startup initiative that recycles or donates no-longer-wanted branded merchandise. Last autumn, Redwood Classics Apparel (asi/81627) began using a biodegradable ink to print on garments.
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