Recently updated on July 4th, 2019 at 04:46 pm
Sourcing and working with the right manufacturer in China is a time-consuming and daunting task especially finding the perfect ethical manufacturers who have integrated economic, social and environmental issues into their business practice.
Supply chains used to be quite opaque with fashion brands fearing of losing their competitive edges once the names of their suppliers are revealed to the public, sustainability was simply a loophole as brands didn’t see immediate monetary returns from investing in sustainability.
Nowadays more and more well-established fashion brands come to realize the social responsibility in their environmental sustainability strategies. Sustainability programs have been launched like creating sustainability positions in the company, developing ethical products and services, publishing sustainability reports, etc. Promising startups are also building their businesses with environmental and social issues as priorities, creating more durable, recyclable and environmental friendly products.
Consumers’ growing awareness of ethical fashion brands
Consumers especially millennial are more risk-averse when it comes to spending money. When they spend, there’s an emerging pattern favoring ethical slow fashion brands. They prefer to spend money on ethical fashion brands that apply ethical clothing manufacturing practices into their operations.
A report by Neilsen revealed that 66% of consumers were willing to spend more on a product if it’s from an ethical fashion brand, and 73% of millennial had the same view.
Sustainable manufacturing goes down to every facet of the business operation, but fundamentally, it involves three major aspects: people, product and environment, each has to be taken into consideration for a true sustainability strategy.
People
Ethical clothing manufacturers attach great importance to the welfare of their employees. They invest in clean, modern facilities, fair wages, helping to ensure they are well treated from both skill and social perspective.
Product
Natural, recyclable materials are used to make products in ethical facilities. Green manufacturers are taking a holistic approach towards materials, you can not tag yourself as truly ethical just because workers are well taken care of, but the cotton you use are from farmers who are being deplored.
Environment
Manufacturing is a resource heavy operation and has an extensive impact. More and more sustainable fashion producers in China are seeking ways to reduce the impact via a series of measures like using green energy resources, recycle their waste products, treating the effluent, etc.
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