Sustainable Marketing Econ-Friendly Fashion - Assignment Example

Sustainable Marketing in Fashion Sector of the Table of Contents Sustainable Marketing in the Fashion Sector 3 About the Company 3 Marketing Strategies 4 Sustainable Fashion Sector 5 Solution to Sustainability Crisis 7 Sustainable Fashion from Niche to Mainstream 8 The Future of Sustainable Fashion 10 References 11 Sustainable Marketing in the Fashion Sector Sustainable marketing is based on the idea of sustainable development. This means a development that not only meets the needs of the world but also takes care of the fact that the later generations don’t face any problems in meeting their own needs. It is a continuous process which involves three components namely; economic, environmental and social development All these components are given equal importance, but this however is not possible, therefore, sustainable development often deals in tradeoffs trying to bring a balance among the three components in a responsible way (Marketing and suitability 2015). Sustainable Marketing is a process which involves promoting products that are environmental friendly and safe at the retail level, which helps the company to reach its sustainability goals. Companies that follow sustainable marketing have a commitment to bring about sustainability in their production and supply chain processes also. This type of marketing also helps the companies to bridge the gap between the company’s profitability and its corporate social responsibility. The capital investment required in this type of marketing is huge, as the company has to spend a lot in the research and development of the product so that they have effect the environment in appositive way. (Hethom & Ulasewicz, 2015). For example, there is a company that wants to manufacture sustainable cosmetics. The company will use fewer chemicals and more of natural ingredients, for this the company will have to spend a lot on the innovation of the product. It will make the investment because the company thinks that the customers will buy the products because of its innovation and additional features. This will also help the company to enhance its brand image as they can portray to the stakeholder that they are a responsible company and they care for the society and also for the future generations. In this way, business analysts consider sustainable marketing to have a triple bottom line which means that the company’s success is evaluated by its social, economic and environment success rather than its profitability. About the Company Shopskunkfunk is an online store that sells apparels exclusively in USA and Canada. They specialize in environmental friendly apparels. Right from the thread used by them to the packaging done all are sustainable in nature. Many of their clothes are reversible for example, a skirt which can be won as a shirt as well (Shopskunkfunk, 2015). The Company and Sustainability The company uses environmental friendly fibers like recycled polyester, organic cotton, lyocell etc. These are all made in an environment friendly way and as such causes lesser damage to the environment. They use ships to transport their products so that no air pollution is created. They use bio plastic bags made of corn or rice cellulose. The company tried to use recycled paper as much as possible. (University of Wisconsin, 2015) Marketing Strategies Developing sustainable marketing strategies is a challenge for the marketers. It involves the same marketing activities like market research, that enables them to meet the customer requirement when compared to its rival firms. The strategy here is to identify the markets that will cause development in that particular market because of sustainability (Harrie, 2011). Sustainability and PLC Traditionally, it is believed that a product goes through 4 stages in its entire life cycle, based on its volume of sale and the revenue it gets for the company which is mainly, introduction of the product in the market, growth of the product, maturity and then decline of the product. In the modern world, it is important to consider the social impacts of the product. Life cycle thinking (LCT) can be used to evaluate the impacts of sustainability of the product. There are 5 steps in LCT i.e. extraction of raw materials, manufacturing of the product, transportation of the product, use of the product and then finally, the disposal of the product (Harrie, 2011). Nike for example has developed a 5 step ecological process for their sports footwear which includes the following: 1. Research and design: Here, they aim to design the products in such a way that there is no use of hazardous materials. 2. Manufacturing: Here, they use their ‘Regrind” technology which helps them utilize excess mould rubber. 3. Retail: The box size of the shoe has been reduced from 18 to 2 and is made by 100% consumer recycled corrugated card board. 4. Consumers: Nike has introduced a scheme called ‘The Reuses A- Shoe’ which has kept more than 7.5 million post customer and defective shoes out of landfills (UNEP, 2012). 5. Recycle: Recycled shoe material is used into sports surfaces for example tennis courts. (UNEP, 2012). Sustainable Fashion Sector The fashion industry is said to be highly unsustainable as it uses a lot of earth’s resources and in some cases it also exploits cheap labor. The decreasing profit margins and fierce competition have contributed to the downfall of both costs and social and environment standards. This industry has a high potential for sustainable marketing as people will always need clothes and they would like to express themselves by the clothes they wear. As this industry does extensive and powerful marketing it has trend setting powers that can make sustainable desirable. In fashion sustainability, social, economic and environment impacts are there at every stage and there are many ways in which these impacts can be reduced (Jeanne & Henesey, 2005). The industry has various stages of production and sometimes all the different stages take place in different countries thus making the supply chain of this industry complex in nature. Retailers can buy the clothes either directly from the suppliers, agents or vendors thus, keeping track of the item becomes very difficult. Retailers have great power in bringing sustainability in the fashion industry as they are on top of the supply chain and also because they are intermediaries between the manufacturers and the final consumer (Delloite, 2013). These days a number of companies are trying to focus more on sustainable fiber. Levi Strauss for example, has changed its brand completely by bringing sustainability into everything from its procurement of raw materials for the garments to after sale. The company has used plastic bottles to make its denim jeans (Schiender, Kalis, &Martinre-Alier, 2010). The fashion industry can learn a lot from the food industry. As more consumers are becoming health conscious, there has been a huge increase in demand for organic food, thus driving up performance of each company which in turn helps the society. This drive can also be brought to the fashion industry (Marketing and Sustainability, 2015). Barriers to Sustainable Fashion Endeavoring sustainability in fashion is not an easy task. Successful implementation of sustainable fashion requires breaking the prevalent mindset of the people within the company and also among the consumers (Chhabra, 2009). Sustainable Supply Chain The key challenge is bringing sustainability in the entire supply chain. The supply chain of this industry is fragmented and is very complex in nature which results in disconnection of the suppliers and consumers. The companies have to create a market for sustainable fashion which is presently very small, it can be done by educating people about the way a garment is made and how it is effecting the environment (Briyo, 2008). Downward Price Pressure This means that the consumers are getting used to garments of low quality which are cheaper in price. Due to this, it becomes difficult to bring sustainability in the fashion industry as consumers hunt for cheap clothes and producers aim for higher profit margins. This makes it difficult for the companies to take a step towards sustainability (Seriog, & Muller, 2008). Constant Change in the Fashion Industry There is a constant change in the fashion industry, which in turn gives rise to wastage. The trends change at a very fast pace going against the concept of longevity. Fashion changes every season. People usually do not wear a piece of clothing for a long time these days as it quickly goes out of fashion. They do not care about the quality much, therefore making it difficult for the companies to initiate sustainability (Muthu, 2015). The Competence Gap The fashion industry does not make full utilization of technology As a result of which the producers cannot break the tradition and create a model where sustainability is the core value. The creative people in the industry need to collaborate more with the technical specialists on sustainable fashion (Flitcher & Tham, 2014) Solution to Sustainability Crisis Many companies these days are innovating more and more to make their products eco friendly. For example, companies are continuously trying to use materials that are more environmental friendly they are constantly exploring substitute for cotton. The fashion industry is the second largest polluting industry in the world after crude and petroleum therefore; steps have to be taken to reduce the environmental pollution. Companies today have realized that they cannot go on exploiting the earth’s natural resources for their own greed. For this, a lot of companies are taking huge initiative to produce in an eco friendly way (Gwilt & Rissanen, 2011). Companies have introduced the policy of buy back in which they take back the used clothes to either repair them or to make something completely new out of it in order to reduce wastage. Companies even facilitate the sale of second hand clothes. The main challenge for companies is to produce garments using zero new materials and to reuse the old fabric as much as possible, for this, some companies adapt post consumer waste which means that they make use of the clothes that the consumers throw after utilizing it as well as is pre-consumer waste such as parts of fabrics used by the renowned designers across the globe. Supply chain of the fashion industry is very fragmented and is not very transparent, for this, a lot of new ideas have been proposed to bring transparency in the system, it has been proposed to unite the entire supply chain in under one roof (Norman& MAcdonals, 2005). For example, the IOU project is involved in meeting the demands of the customers who are inquisitive about from where their clothes With the help of social network, they can trace the piece from where it is weaved to the place where it’s designed in Europe in the end the customer can complete the process by uploading the final picture of the product. This helps in maintaining full transparency in the system (BSR, 2012). Fashion designers play a major role in the fashion industry. They have a role to play in every step of the process from developing new sustainable materials, designing, changes in consumption pattern etc. The fashion schools these days are taking sustainable development in fashion quite seriously and therefore, are training the designers in a way so that they can bring about a change in this industry. (Lowel Centre for Sustainable Production, 2015) The use of technology can help to bring a sustainable development in this industry for example in the process of manufacturing, packaging and transportation to ensure that minimum harm is done on the environment. An example of this could be Kuyichi which is an NGO; it has introduced organic cotton in the clothing industry. The NGO has started its own brand and has focused on jeans made of organic cotton (McKenzie-Mohr, 2000). Sustainable Fashion from Niche to Mainstream The first strategy is to design a product which is good and liked by the people. It is essential that the collection you are launching is trendy and fashionable and it should be designed keeping in mind the latest fashion trends. Shopskunksfunk should focus on its design. They should design the clothes keeping in mind the target market. It is seen that they cater to both women and men. They have apparels as well as accessories for both. If the designs are liked by the people, they are more likely to sell. Usually, environmental friendly brands do not focus much on designs (Fletcher, 2014). The company should understand the market well in which it is operating. They should know which type of audience they are catering to. Mostly, companies promoting eco friendly products focus more on the material and fabric rather than the designs liked by the target market (Kinoti, 2011). Pricing of the product has to be kept in such a way that it is affordable by the masses. For this, the company has to invest in the research and development of the materials. Shopspunksfunk has to keep on innovating so that they can develop more cost efficient materials which in turn will help the company in cutting down its retail price, thereby making it more affordable to the masses (Mitchell, Wooliscroft & Higham, 2010). The company should try and connect with the target market by informing them about the advantages of using eco friendly garments. The company should tell the people through their advertising campaigns on how the fashion industry is causing harm to our planet and how it can be corrected if we use sustainable development in fashion industry (Murphy, 2005) There should be transparency on the side of suppliers which means that the manufacturers should be extremely clear about how they are processing and procuring the raw materials and what exactly are they doing to call their product eco friendly (United Nations Environment Program, 2012). The distribution system should be such that the brand is easily available in the markets. Not only it should have its own brand showrooms or online stores, the product should be also made available in supermarkets and other such stores, which are easily accessible to the masses. It should also be made available on websites like Amazon.com, etc. (University of Manchester, 2010). The formula is simple newer fashion trends should be followed and the products should reach the retailers within 10-15 days of the launch of the product. It should make an attempt to keep on adding new stocks almost every week for the growing number of customers who visit the store or browse. As we see that the brand is trying to enter into new countries, the brand must ensure that the clothes designed should be according to the taste of the people of the country and also the climate of that particular country should be kept in mind. For example, the climate of the US is comparatively cooler than the climate of Africa; this differentiating factor has to be kept in mind while designing for the particular country (Simatupang.& Sridharan, 2002). The company should take the help of globalization and should set up its manufacturing units in the Asian countries which will give them a cost advantage as the cost of labor is less in India and China as compare to that in the US and other developed countries. To make the brand available and affordable to the masses, it should select a local brand ambassador for the different countries the brand wants to market its goods in. The brand ambassador should be chosen with great care. The person should be such that he or she is able to connect with the target market of that particular country (Jeannet & Henesey, 2005). This will help the company to make its products popular among the masses. The brand should take the help of word of mouth and the company being focused on sustainable development should leverage it in building public relations effectively. As the company has an online website for the sale of its product, digital marketing and social media marketing should be used by the company. With the increase in the number of people accessing the internet and social media digital marketing will be a very cost effective way of reaching out to people. To gain brand loyalty, the company should keep its customers engaged with the brand, it should innovate newer ways for customer activation and customer engagement programs (Weinberg, 2009). As the company’s focus is on sustainable products, it should create a positive image for its brand; the advertisements should be designed in such a way that the target customers find the clothes desirable and it should be priced in a way that the customers can convert the desire into demand and are able to purchase the product. The Future of Sustainable Fashion The fashion industry changes every season. People wear clothes according to the seasons and latest trends. The two most common material used in this industry is cotton which requires excessive cultivation and labor and the other is polyester which is a man made fabric, but it is made of reserves of oil and gas which is now depleting gradually (Belz & Peattie, 2012) . This impacts the environment in major way and has lead the manufacturers and designers to use organic cotton and recycled polyester. In the next 15 years, it is expected that population of the planet will increase by another 1 billion and if we continue to use our natural resources the way we are using, our next generations will not have anything left to fulfill their needs (Belz & Peattie, 2012). Major changes are going to take place and the world has to start preparing itself for major resource shortage and we have to start from now (Forum for the Future, 2015).Changes in demographics, rising consumption, growing demand, ever increasing prices of raw materials and other such issues has already started impacting the businesses all round the globe. Every aspect of business will get affected eventually. No form of business can escape these impacts; every industry has to go through these changes (Mckelvey & Munslow, 2009). Fashion industry on a large scale presents major obstacles and challenges but brands have to power to make sustainability desirable to its target market. Outsourcing is no longer an option for the brands because; if the conditions in which the labor is working gets highlighted then the brand will fall into deep trouble. Consumers will demand change in a large scale, they will want the company to change the way it is manufacturing goods. 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