Fashion Revolution recently commissioned a survey of 5,000 people aged 16-75 in the five largest European markets, including Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, to find out how supply chain transparency and sustainability impacts consumers’ purchasing decisions when shopping for clothing, accessories and shoes.
The purpose of the survey was to discover exactly what information consumers would like fashion brands to share when it comes to social and environmental impacts and to better understand what role consumers think that governments and laws should play in ensuring clothing is sustainably produced.
Find out the results of what happened when Fashion Revolution asked what consumers want from brands and leave your thoughts in a comment below too!
More people (39%) said that buying clothes made by workers paid a fair, living wage was important than any other topic surveyed, including: environmental protection (37%), safe working conditions (31%), animal welfare (30%), local production (10%) and use of recycled materials (6%).
The majority of people think it is important for fashion brands to reduce their long-term impacts on the world by addressing global poverty, climate change, environmental protection and gender inequality.
72% of people said that fashion brands should do more to improve the lives of women making their clothes, shoes and accessories.
The majority of consumers think that the government should be holding fashion brands to account for social and environmental impacts
68% of people agreed that the government has a role to play in ensuring that clothing (including shoes and accessories) is sustainably produced.
The majority of consumers also agreed that fashion brands should be required by law to:
- respect the human rights of everybody involved in making their products (77%)
- protect the environment at every stage of making their products (75%)
- provide information about the social impacts of their business (68%)
- provide information about the environmental impacts of their business (72%)
- say if they are paying the workers who make their products a fair, living wage (72%)
The majority of consumers want to know more about the clothes they buy:
- 67% of people would like fashion brands to tell them where the materials used in their products come from;
- 59% would like to know how their clothes are manufactured;
- 61% of people are interested in learning about what fashion brands are doing to minimise their impacts on the environment and to protect their workers’ human rights;
- 59% of people are interested in learning what fashion brands do to improve the lives of people in the societies where they manufacture their products.
When choosing a fashion brand to buy, consumers said it is important for brands to:
- publish how products are sustainable on the packaging (72%)
- explain what products are made from on the packaging (77%)
- make it clear where they source materials, ingredients and components from and who manufactured the product (77%)
- share detailed information about wages and working conditions for people in its global supply chain (66%)
- provide information about how they apply socially responsible practices (70%)
- provide information about how they apply environmentally responsible practices (74%)
80% of consumers think that fashion brands should publish the factories used to manufacture their clothes & 77% of consumers think that fashion brands should publish which suppliers they use to source the materials used in their clothing.
Read the entire survey report below and let me know your thoughts too!
Disclaimer: I am not at all an expert on the big business of fast fashion however I am a concerned consumer who has chosen to learn & share as much as I can through my own personal experiences & the wealth of resources available online.
My ambition to inform & influence others to step away from unethically (& immorally) produced products is the driving force that motivates me to continue providing fabulous free eco-fashion/accessory/décor tutorials, ethical outfit inspiration and helpful thrifting tips on my Confessions of a Refashionista as well as contributing & sharing my creative skills throughout the online maker world.
Find all of my ethical fashion articles here then check out my E-courses right over here:
and transform your entire wardrobe for pennies with my groovy CoaR tutorial E-book collections right here:
