Survey finds consumers want fashion from sustainably managed forests but find brands lacking

The PEFC or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification has revealed the results of a new consumer survey today that explored consumer awareness, attitudes and expectations towards forest fibre use in fashion collections such as viscose and lyocell.

“Fashion from Sustainable Forests” was conducted in four key markets across Europe — France, Italy, Spain and the UK — and revealed significant gaps between consumer expectations and perceived brand progress.

Though there is an urgent need for the fashion industry to move away from virgin fossil-based synthetics such as polyester, the latter continues to make up around 54 percent of produced fibre worldwide. While man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCFs) are gaining popularity and the MMCF market is predicted to grow from 6 billion to 10 billion tonnes over the next 15 years, the industry needs to ensure that they are sourced from sustainably managed forests.

In view of the EU's deforestation regulation (EUDR), which will be enforced from early next year onwards, recent research reveals that only 12 percent of brands currently publish time-bound measurable commitments to deforestation. The survey revealed three key areas that brands should consider adopting when sourcing MMCF for their collections.

Sustainability 

Almost three fourth (74 percent) of consumers believe that it is crucial for brands to ensure that their garments come from sustainably managed forests and about the same amount (76 percent) would be concerned if forest-derived fibres in their clothes had a negative environmental impact such as deforestation, biodiversity loss and climate change.

The same amount (76 percent) of those surveyed believe it is important that brands know the origin of forest-derived fibres used in their collections, with Italian consumers ranking this point highest with 90 percent stating that it is important that brands know the origin of forest fibres in their collections.

Brand transparency

Only one fourth (25 percent) of respondents believe that fashion brands are effectively addressing their concerns about the environmental impact of clothing made from forest-derived fibres. Over three quarters (78 percent) also believe that they need to increase their sustainability efforts and responsible sourcing of forest-derived fibres for their collections.

Furthermore, only 13 percent of those surveyed felt that brands give enough sustainability information regarding forest-derived fibres such as viscose or lyocell on clothing labels in store and only 18 percent believe that there is sufficient information online. Consumers in the UK showed the lowest satisfaction here (16 percent) while French consumers showed the highest (38 percent).

Certifications

Over half of the surveyed consumers (59 percent) said they would be willing to pay a premium for clothing made from certified sustainable materials with 43 percent stating being willing to pay 10 percent or more.

While shopping for clothes, 59 percent of consumers stated that they seek out sustainability labels (always or sometimes) and 71 percent said that they would like to see certifications confirming that forest fibres had been sourced from sustainably managed forests. Almost two thirds (64 percent) also stated that they would be likely to purchase clothing with certification labels and over 60 percent confirmed that the presence of a sustainability label on clothing positively influenced their purchasing decisions.

How brands can address consumer expectations

In closing, the PEFC listed steps that brands can take to increase their transparency and credible communication with consumers and to strengthen their sustainability targets and progress:

• Review their current sourcing policies for MMCF materials and make sure to commit to sourcing only from sustainably managed forests and set a roadmap to get there.
• Communicate these sourcing and sustainability requirements to the supply chain and signal the priority on implementing third-party verification, such as through PEFC, which would enable credible and verified progress tracking and communication to consumers.
• Start providing information to consumers on their website about collections containing MMCF fibres, highlighting transparency about aspirational targets on MMCF sourcing, and current progress.
• Work towards having substantiated claims at the garment level (on labels or online) to demonstrate that MMCFs originate from certified sustainably managed forests.