Seven ways UK retailers are making real progress on sustainability
With next week’s COP27 putting the climate emergency in the spotlight, Retail Week recognises retailers and brands already driving measurable progress, including eBay, Ikea, Decathlon and Lush
Most retailers operating in today’s environment have aspirations for sustainable business, yet fewer are turning those aspirations into real-life applications that generate results. The businesses doing so are investing beyond setting targets and green incentives to achieve measurable change and successfully manage performance.
On October 6, Retail Week brought together several of these retailers at our Sustainability Summit in London to find out how they are realising their plans and what is feasible at a time when trading has never been tougher or more ROI-critical.
Such was the demand for insight into this area that seats were quickly snapped up – with 60 brands including Kingfisher, Asos and L’Occitane attending – and a waiting list opened, highlighting that sustainability is at the top of retail agendas.
Guests came together to hear leaders from Ikea, Fairtrade, Decathlon, Lush, Fanfare Label, Olio, Pura, WGSN, eBay and more.
As COP27 – the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – kicks off on November 6 in Egypt to unite countries and businesses to help tackle the climate emergency, we look at the lessons to be learned from brands already working to make progress on sustainability.
Innovating for purpose and people is a central theme at Retail Week's Innovation Summit on November 22. Get your free retailer ticket here now to join us at the Museum of London.
FANFARE LABEL
Investing in certification and a ‘cost-to-wear’ mindset
Launched in January 2019, Fanfare Label is an independent sustainable fashion brand focused on circularity; it reduces waste by either rescuing materials from landfill or using certified sustainable fabrics. Its founder Esther Knight, a former buyer for fashion brands including Vivienne Westwood, says two ways in which the business is making progress is by focusing on certification and by educating customers – through marketing messaging – that clothes “aren’t disposable”.
“Certification has come in so handy,” she says. “As a small brand, it’s really hard to audit a full supply chain so we source items [and work with partners] that are certified. We don’t simply just label items as organic cotton, for instance, but we’ll also label it with the Fairtrade Foundation certification so that our customers know that the supply chain has been investigated.
“We also do a lot of recycling and use the global recycling stamp across our products. These are simple ways to help improve consumer confidence and change messaging so that shoppers are more informed.”
“We’re also making sure we’re adding value for our customers, that not only [are our items] high-quality, but also that we design with the end of life in mind. We want customers to wear products that they can repurpose, rent out or recycle; it’s about encouraging more of a cost-to-wear mindset. This way, you can drive ROI by adding value even with an increased price [Fanfare Label clothing starts at £49 for wool trousers and ranges up to £299 for a utility suit].”
DECATHLON
Measuring performance against planet-based KPIs
Sustainability is front of mind for sportswear brand Decathlon, which now operates 1,700 stores in 59 countries. Back in January, the brand launched its first rental fashion collection via Hirestreet to, according to its rental manager Sharon Poulter, “reduce our impact on the planet”. It expanded this service in August with another rental service for sports products.
Director of sustainability Chris Allen says the business has two main areas of focus when it comes to its sustainability strategy: “What can we do today to immediately start reducing our impact? … And what can customers and colleagues across the shopfloor do to minimise their impact?”
Up until December 2021, Decathlon had never recycled its shop merchandise but it has now rebranded and redistributed its fixtures and fittings across its store network, while 60-70% of its plastic hangers are recycled. For Allen, driving ROI from sustainability is essential for progress and hinges on all staff having buy-in.
“A lot of the investments we’ve made are behind the scenes and consumers aren’t necessarily aware of what we’re doing. However, internally we’ve got a triple bottom line in terms of what we look at in measuring ROI,” he says. Triple bottom line is an accounting framework measuring a business’ success across three parts: social, environmental and economic.
“All of our leaders measure performance on a triple bottom line and from next year, all of our colleagues will be measured against planet-based KPIs. For instance, they’ll be targeted on how much each store recycles – we have repair centres in our stores so the idea is to have 0% product wastage – and store managers will have that in their KPIs.”
Amy Vickers of sustainability data measurement platform Altruistiq agrees. “Identifying your business’ sustainability impact is a priority area for driving business growth,” she says. “Accuracy in data measurement and management is paramount to representing a company’s true emissions.”
IKEA
Leading a 400-strong team to recover and recycle items
Ikea is one of the world’s largest furniture retailers, with around 465 stores across 63 markets – 20 of those in the UK. The retailer has garnered a reputation for its sustainability efforts and has made its strategy to be ‘People & Planet Positive’ publicly available. It has a set of ambitions for 2030, which include enabling “1 billion people to live a better life within the boundaries of our planet”, to become climate-positive and regenerate its resources, and to “contribute to a fair and equal society”.
Greg Lucas, Ikea UK & Ireland sustainability manager, says that “as a purpose-led business … Ikea is focused on being affordable, accessible and transforming to planet-positive”. This extends to how it uses energy – Lucas says 100% of its store units now use renewable electricity – but also includes rolling out upcycling classes in stores and its social efforts – it is building 200 social houses in Dublin – and goes beyond that to investments in circularity.
“We look at community and how we can develop a fair and equal society. An example of this is in our circular hubs [areas online and in store where customers can buy secondhand Ikea products] and our recovery teams. We employ more than 400 people across the UK whose job it is to recover value from our products and minimise what goes to waste so that it can be resold. They develop an infrastructure of spare parts and are helping us develop a circular economy while testing new business models as well.”
LUSH
Curating a sustainable store strategy
Beauty brand Lush is famed for its commitment to animal welfare and environmental values, with ethical products that are 100% vegetarian and 80% vegan. Lush has long been a voice in calling for sustainability; in the past, it has shut stores and trading in support of global climate strikes and back in 2019 it opened its first UK plastic-free store in Manchester.
Lush net zero and zero waste coordinator Anna Dyet says its store operations are core to its sustainability strategy, both in terms of how the stores are run and the products on offer.
“We look at the infrastructure of our stores and how they are built,” she says. “For instance, over the last decade, we have made sure our flooring is cradle-to-cradle certified and we have developed lighting with different companies that can ensure they are made from 60% recyclable materials. We’re also using renewable energy in all of our stores where it’s possible.
“We’re then looking at the products and services we offer to consumers, from sustainable products to reducing our packaging. This includes our Bring it Back packaging recycling scheme, which allows customers to return their packaging [and receive 50p towards their in-store purchase at the same time].”
EBAY UK
Influencing for impact
Online marketplace eBay UK now sells two items of pre-loved clothing every second. The business is doubling down on circularity by building an “ecosystem” with charities such as the British Heart Foundation, which has its own shop on the website, and retailers such as Joules to “work with them on circular business models” via its eBay outlet, alongside supporting smaller pre-loved sellers.
In May, eBay UK made headlines when it partnered with ITV to become the fashion partner for reality show Love Island, replacing ISawItFirst. Lucy Peacock, eBay UK’s head of pre-loved, says the tie-up has helped to shift mindsets.
“We did the Love Island partnership as our mantra was: how can we really change customer behaviours and get people to think differently about secondhand?” she says. “Between May and August 2022, when the partnership was live, we saw 7,000% growth in people searching for pre-loved fashion on the eBay platform, which was phenomenal. Even on Google, there was 800% growth in people searching for eBay pre-loved.
“We’ve also recently got the results back from an opinion poll and it found that seven in 10 people who watched Love Island now have a more positive perception of secondhand, and 47% would now be open to shopping secondhand. Influencers are a great medium for us all [across retail] to change perceptions.”
PRIMARK
Doubling down on sustainable cotton and circular thinking
One of the biggest fashion retailers in the UK, with around 200 stores, Primark has come under scrutiny in the past for its sustainability credentials. Two years ago, Lynne Walker was appointed as director of Primark Cares, the retailer’s sustainability arm focused on product, planet and people, with a role to “reset the business”.
Primark Cares launched publicly in September 2021 and in that time Walker and her team have made a series of commitments, such as manufacturing products that are more sustainable and producing garments that last longer, a public commitment to a 50% reduction in its carbon emissions and a reduction in single-use plastics (“We use 500-600 million plastic hangers a year,” admits Walker).
For Walker, the emphasis is on “putting our head above the parapet to drive change”. Two areas in which Primark is making tangible improvements are with its fabrics and in promoting awareness of circularity.
“We’re really invested in sustainable cotton; 39% of our garments are now made with sustainable cotton, up from 25% a year ago,” says Walker. “This is incredible progress when you think about moving an industry forward.
“What we’re grappling with now is how do you move thinking to a circular economy? We have take-back boxes in our store, but the challenge is how do we get customers to actually bring it back and to get them to understand what we mean when we say circular by design?
“We’ve been running repair workshops with a fashion lecturer and that has now translated into quite a big repair programme; if an item is £5 we still want it to be repaired and reused. [From this work] we’ve seen that our consumers are now thinking differently about how they repair and maintain items. We are still grappling with it, though, and there’s so much more to do.”
PURA
Becoming part of the B-Corp movement
Stocked by retailers such as Asda and Costco, Pura is a baby care brand specialising in plant-based, plastic-free baby wipes, and eco-label nappies. Three months ago, the business secured B-Corp status, an achievement its sustainability director Matt Moreland says has completely “transformed” the company from when it started in June 2020.
To secure B-Corp certification, retailers and brands must meet certain standards including demonstrating a high social and environmental performance, making a legal commitment by changing corporate governance structure so as to be accountable to all stakeholders, and exhibiting transparency by allowing performance measured against standards to be publicly available.
“What B-Corp does is it holds a mirror up to your business to look at it properly and be really honest about what you’re doing,” says Moreland.
“We’ve evolved over the last two years to become the business we are now and we’re on a journey to become a force for good, albeit at the beginning. It’s really worthwhile doing and, even if you’re not focused on that in your strategy, it is worth taking the B Impact Assessment to understand where your highs and lows are.”
Ultimately, honesty is everything
The retailers and brands speaking at the Sustainability Summit were all keen to reinforce that everyone in the industry is on a journey – some at more nascent stages than others. However, all agreed that transparency is key if real progress is to be achieved.
Esther Knight says: “It’s really important to be honest and just say: ‘Look, we’re not here yet.’ Sustainability [and circularity] is a relatively new concept for us all and it takes a lot of infrastructure to completely revolutionise your supply chain. Consumers will understand that if you’re open with them.”
Innovation Summit
Investing in sustainability to deliver positive actions for people and the planet is a focus topic at Retail Week’s Innovation Summit on November 22. Book your free pass here.
Taking place at the Museum of London with free tickets for retailers and brands, the Innovation Summit will equip attendees with unmissable insights on where, when and how to invest.
Featuring speakers from Kingfisher, Lego, Levi’s and The Very Group, the Innovation Summit offers a jam-packed day of powerful debates, hard-hitting panel sessions, inspiring fireside chats and lively roundtable discussions.
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