How online fashion retailers showcase their sustainable values

Benjamin Wall, author of "Amazon: Managing extraordinary success in 5-D value"

A review of dozens of companies around the world selling sustainable value revealed many prominent examples from the fashion industry, spurred in response to the industry's much-criticized context for non-practical sustainable. Many garments are sewn in slums; both chemical dyes in clothing as well as pesticides for growing cotton seep into and damage groundwater; and many animals die for bringing their fur, skin or skin to fashion items. Some brands present a very different image.

Three examples of an entrepreneurial vision connecting the product directly to people and the planet, each in Europe, America and Asia, illustrate how retailers can market themselves by committing to sustainability.

In the vision of SKOTFashion in Holland (www.skotfashion.com), a passion for clothing meets a passion for sustainability. When presenting high quality and therefore sustainable products, transparency is key: the savings in water and chemicals toxic to the planet are quantified for each item of clothing, and the distribution of the selling price in materials, labor, transportation, sales tax and gross profit of affected individuals are also reported.

The Reformation (thereformation.com) headquartered in Los Angeles uses the most durable fabrics to create effortless silhouettes perfectly suited to celebrate the female figure. It goes further in transparency by detailing the savings in carbon dioxide, water and waste for each product, as well as detailed reports on its own material standards as well as on the 46 production sites across the world that the brand uses, all selected according to many criteria belonging to people and to the planet.

The use of recycled textile waste from quality producers in ten different materials, including a collection combining waste from military uniforms and bridal clothing, is the hallmark of R Collective (thercollective.com) in Hong Kong. Their products thus reduce the carbon footprint by 60% for the planet while highlighting the creator, the manufacturer and the seamstress for specific collections.

Transparency allows consumers to shape the future

The key value offered to customers by these sustainably born companies is the transparent impact of individual choice. Customers derive value from the direct link between the product they buy and the advantages for a designer, a seamstress, a factory, a raw material, a production process, a specific entrepreneurial vision, etc.

High transparency and clear choice of this type, as well as detailed product descriptions and reviews, are only possible online; physical stores can never offer this volume of interconnected information.

These e-commerce retailers are using the potential of the Internet so that their customers can choose the most beneficial product for themselves while targeting the benefits of the dollars they spend for people and the planet. Customers see that their choices are making a real difference in shaping a sustainable world they value.

Systematic sustainable value from e-commerce leaders

The big guns in online retailing have taken great steps to systematically integrate sustainability into their operations and supply chains and have adjusted their views of distribution to include sustainability. They reduce waste and emissions, run recycling programs, promote supplier diversity and modern working conditions, implement supplier standards from industry associations, etc. Consumers at these retailers can rest assured that lasting value is systematically generated.

However, only small steps have been taken towards the direct connection of the product to people and the planet. In the United States, for example, Amazon Elements is approaching the type of transparency described above for raw materials and the company that supplies baby wipes, vitamin supplements, and whey protein powder.

Walmart allows suppliers to present their own product information in the online store to establish their own connections: e.g. an organic olive oil producer describes the close relationship between local farmers and his own master craftsmen while announcing his organic certification. Target publishes its global list of factories.

The clients of these companies do not have the direct link with which they themselves can directly direct the types of companies they wish to see thrive.

Ikea is a large-scale online retailer close to the direct transparency of sustainable businesses born. The furniture and household goods retailer offers several product guides with details on hundreds of products for a more sustainable life. For example, the designer of a bamboo lamp explains how the waste of materials in the production of the product is reduced while the benefits of bamboo as a material are highlighted. But the overall transparency for the producer or the costs are not reported.

Five steps to start creating transparent sustainable value

Established e-commerce businesses can evolve towards a direct connection of lasting value between the product and people and the planet via an evolving plan. The following steps mix those taken by younger and older retailers:

1. Review the supply chain: estimate the current status and future potential of the most important suppliers and processes regarding performance on key criteria for people and the planet. Keep it high level; details are not important at this stage.
2. Review market conditions: Review the certifications and other standards currently on the affected markets. Identify, locate and define in parallel the specific requests for sustainable value emanating from the target client groups of the company. Focus groups are useful for them.
3. Develop the vision of sustainable value for people and the planet: in cross-functional workshops define the goals and objectives relating to sustainable value for the whole company and for the most important product categories; in iterative workshops, adjust the vision of the company to integrate sustainable objectives as well as convert objectives into quantified targets for the most appropriate parameters.
4. Engage with suppliers and with its own processes to define and quantify objectives: starting with the low hanging fruit, work constantly to achieve ever more objectives by redesigning the products according to redefined requirements; work with suppliers to identify or innovate new materials; reorganize supply chain processes, etc .; always emphasizing win-win benefits for all.
5. Design processes and website for direct connection: specify the necessary information of the supply chain and the processes to collect it. Website redesign to present information in an attractive way.

The advantage of this type of transformation is that it can be done in stages. E-commerce companies can start by selecting high priority products and manual processes, then move step by step towards covering the entire product range and implementing scalable processes.

During these step changes, ideas and experiences will be brought together to help make more substantive decisions. Businesses will assess the need to switch suppliers and seek new sources of supply, as well as the value chain activities to be outsourced and identified.

The future lies in the direct connection of sustainable value

A successful retail has always generated value by clearly associating a specific purchase with benefits for the individual consumer. The forecast for this contribution is that this direct connection will continue to be the formula for success in the future.

Online retailers are best positioned to deliver value by directly linking the benefits of each product to the benefits for people and the planet. This direct connection today has an anchor in fashion, is also appearing in food and cosmetics, and will soon spread to other product categories.

Benjamin Wall is the author of "Amazon: Managing extraordinary success in 5-D value".

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