With 2022 comes new beginnings. The new year presents opportunities to start fresh and reinvent your personal style. The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting series of lockdowns sparked a new wave in the fashion industry, catapulting us into a new era where we feel freer to try things we may have been too afraid to do before. As people are more confident expressing themselves in new ways through fashion, we should expect to see some old practices resurfacing and some new, more edgy styles taking the stage. After all, there’s no better way for us to express ourselves than through our clothes.
Furthermore, with the increased attention to sustainability, brands and retailers need to keep up with our ever-changing preferences as consumers. Here are thefashion sustainability practices in 2022.
Sustainable products are becoming increasingly popular in fashion. Products listed withsustainable keywords increased 176% from 2019 to 2021 and 52% yearly. Additionally, footwear made up 7% of new sustainable men’s products and 3% of women’s products. To ensure that their assortment lives up to their customer’s expectations, retailers should identify gaps in competitors’ assortments using market intelligence and fill in those gaps when they plan their own assortments. Market intelligence enables retailers and brands to understand which sustainable items are the most popular and often go out of stock quickly. Additionally, they can discover opportunities for local and global product expansion by using these insights to break into new verticals that are underserved by other sustainable retailers, marketing them to target sustainable shoppers, such as members of Generation Z, effectively.
Sustainability has become a term very commonly used in retailers’ communications to customers, increasing by 84% in customer emails from 2019 to 2021. However, the difficulty arises from labelling the sustainable items in a way that resonates with the target audience. The word “recycled” is the most commonly used keyword in sustainably labelled product listings. Furthermore, research shows that this keyword accounted for 51% of sustainable products in stock in the United States in 2021, significantly increasing from 29% in 2019. Meanwhile, there are other terms than can convey eco-friendly manufacturing details, such as climate-friendly, net-zero, and bio-based. Marketing intelligence can help retailers and brands determine which keywords benefit the competitors and which words they can use to differentiate their products marketed toward eco-conscious shoppers. By using less common language on marketing materials and product detail pages, retailers can educate their customers and demonstrate their sustainability efforts to gain trust and loyalty.
The stigmas associated with secondhand shopping have been debunked in the past few years, with estimates predicting the fashion and apparel resale market to be worth $64 billion or more by 2024. Although past retailers had to worry about the timelines of styles in resale stores and on resale sites, today, these products that seem to be outdated are selling out before they become unfashionable. Th growing popularity of secondhand shopping brings a new perspective on the timeliness of fashion and how it presents unique opportunities for retailers to adjust their strategies in terms of pricing. With products at pre-owned fashion companies selling incredibly fast, retailers selling secondhand products can be more selective with their discounts. They can use market intelligence to track competitor pricing and discover pricing opportunities based on how assortments align with current trends compared to their competition. Other retailers can also use this new customer mindset to their advantage when implementing their marketing strategies. For example, with the current supply chain issues, market intelligence can help retailers review competitors’ assortments and pricing to determine how to set the most profitable price for products that arrived after their designated seasons.
People are jumping on board the “sustainability trend” but its here to stay. This is not a trend, but a movement. Here are 7 ways you can support this movement.
#1 Shop less
The overconsumption of resources is one of the greatest contributors to global climate change. By rethinking your lifestyle and purchasing less, you can do your part in preserving these precious resources.
#2 Buy quality over quantity
When you stop purchasing poor quality garments, you give brands the incentive to improve their product quality. This way, you’ll be able to keep your clothes a lot longer, which is ultimately a good thing for your budget as well as the environment.
#3 Upcycle what you own
If you have old, worn, or damaged clothes, you can opt to upcycle it. Upcycling allows you to transform old clothing into something entirely new without impacting the environment. You use less water and fewer chemicals, lessen your carbon footprint, and don’t contribute to the landfill.
#4 Donate your clothes
Sometimes, we’d like to get rid of clothes not because they’re damaged but because they no longer hold any appeal. If this is the case, instead of throwing them in the bin, donate them instead, whether to a secondhand shop or to a friend.
#5 Thrift shop
Shopping at a thrift shop is not a new concept and is becoming a more popular practice. By secondhand shopping, you conserve resources while you upgrade your wardrobe.
#6 Educate yourself on what you’re buying
Do your due diligence and make sure that the brands you’re buying from are doing their part to support sustainable practices.
#7 Support local shops
By shopping locally, you do more than support your local community. You also help to reduce the need for the transportation of items which, in turn, reduces carbon emissions and air pollution.
Are you looking foreco-friendly fashion trends in Toronto? Search no further than Cassandra Elizabeth. We offer stylish andsustainable trends in fashion.Contact us at 1-705-230-7720 or visit our store at 1030 King Street West Toronto, ON M6KB4 if you’re interested in our services.
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