More Than 90% of Consumers Think Brands Are Guilty of Greenwashing
Consumers are more cognizant of sustainability than ever, and they’re also suspicious of fashion brands who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to going green. That’s the finding of a new study from customer engagement platform PicoNext.
PicoNext surveyed more than 1,000 online consumers in the United States and Europe on their attitudes about sustainability and transparency for its report, Digital Product Passports: Unlocking Sustainability Transparency. Among those respondents, 71 percent said that sustainability is important to them, but 91 percent believe that at least some brands engage in greenwashing—claiming sustainability in their marketing when they aren’t actually using environmentally friendly practices. It’s a problem that’s tripped up some of the biggest brands around, including H&M and Nike.
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The report also found that 67 percent of consumers would be more likely to purchase a product if they had more information about its sustainability.
Recyclability ranks first among attributes consumers want to know about when purchasing a product, with 56.1 percent saying that factor helps sway them to buy. Other information consumers consider includes the sustainability of materials (44.4 percent), anti-child labor statements (39.6 percent) and waste reduction efforts (39.0 percent).
“Our global survey data reveal that increased transparency is key to bridging the gap between what brands are saying about sustainability and what they are actually doing,” said Dave Dickson, PicoNext founder.
Transparency has become critical in convincing consumers of the authenticity of a brand’s sustainability efforts. PicoNext found that having access to sustainability information about a brand’s products and practices was important to consumers for a number of reasons, including verifying authenticity of a product (34.7 percent), verifying sustainability claims (33.7 percent) and locating recycling services (33.7 percent).
Many brands have attempted to bring more transparency to their environmental efforts via sustainability reports, but a significant number of consumers find those reports difficult to parse. PicoNext’s report found that 40.3 percent of consumers think sustainability reports are too complex to understand. In addition, 38.4 percent think sustainability reports are too long, while 36.3 percent have a hard time finding them in the first place. More than half (55 percent) said that being able to access a sustainability report via a QR code would make them more likely to read it.
The study also looked at the benefits of digital product passports, an emerging format for distributing transparency data pioneered by the European Union. The tool is accessible to consumers via a QR code and provides information on a product’s entire value chain, including raw materials, production, recycling, etc. PicoNext’s survey found that easily accessible, detailed product information such as this would instill trust in a brand for 73 percent of consumers, and it would make 67 percent more likely to make a purchase.
“By surfacing transparency data using a digital product passport, brands can show the actual impact of their sustainability efforts, resulting in authentic connections with Gen Z and Millennial consumers,” Dickson said.
Digital product passports are more than just a helpful tool—they’re also poised to be a requirement for many companies. Impending regulations such as the U.S. Digital Care Label and the EU’s Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles will soon require the technology for product compliance.
Several major fashion brands have already adopted digital product passports, including Coach, which has used the technology to increase product value for its Coachtopia line of circular products. And last month, Burton Snowboards—a Vermont-based outdoor apparel and accessory brand—teamed up with Avery Dennison to include digital ID technology with its products.
