Welcome to Twin&Chic Sustainability Journal one more Thursday!
In this fourth installment of our Sustainability Journal our "Guest Editor" will talk to us about environmental awareness from the great fashion platform Zalando.
SARA DÍEZ
VP of Women's Category at Zalando
Sara is currently VP of Women's Category at Zalando. Previously, Sara has also been part of the Inditex (Zara) and Nike teams where she developed her career as Head of Buying and Category Sr Business Director respectively. An expert in sustainable fashion, digital platforms and business transformation, Sara has more than 20 years of experience in the sector.
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We hope you enjoy our fourth post.
Thank you for being part of the change, together we work for a better future.
#futureisforourchildren
In recent years we have been able to see a clear paradigm shift in terms of environmental awareness it means. This movement, especially driven by the younger generations, has gone from being a “secondary” issue to being one of the main topics of social, political and business conversation. We all remember how the movement Friday's for Future became one of the most massive social mobilizations in history from many countries and in the headlines of the main media outlets worldwide. Without going any further, last week the German Constitutional Court issued a ruling that forces the German Government to substantially modify the climate law approved in 2019 claiming that “ not having objectives of reduction of polluting emissions “Beyond 2030 it harms young people compared to the elderly.”
In the specific case of Zalando , we want to be part of the solution and work to be a Sustainable fashion platform with a net positive impact for people and the planet , as we explain in our sustainability strategy do.MORE that we presented more than a year ago. This means that we must give back to society and the environment more than we use. And we are happy to see that our customers want to walk this path with us and I refer to the data: In 2020, the sale of more sustainable products represented around 16% of the company's GMV , up from 7% in 2019. And, in fact, we have raised our 2023 target from 20% GMV to 25% of more sustainable products.
But, despite this increase in the purchase of sustainable products, in the presentation of our report “It Takes Two: How the industry and consumers can close the attitude-behavior gap when it comes to sustainability in fashion” , we could see that there is a clear gap between the attitude and disposition of the consumer towards sustainable fashion and their behavior when making purchasing decisions. Specifically, the final results show that, although many consumers strive to translate their sustainability priorities into purchasing decisions, this is not always reflected in their actions. And this is where the key figure of the industry comes in: It is necessary that we present sustainable options in a more attractive, realistic and accessible way to the consumer.
For this reason, at Zalando we have launched a series of proposals to reduce this difference collaboratively between the industry and the consumer. Among these measures are both clear recommendations on how to reduce this disparity and expand our second-hand offering to seven additional markets to those until now we were present. But, in addition, we have also introduced a new experience on the platform, thanks to which Customers can browse according to the values that matter to them , being able to filter by fashion items that respond to:
- Water conservation
- The well-being of workers
- Reuse of materials
- animal welfare
- Reducing emissions
- Extending the life of fashion items
But this does not end here, we will continue working on our role as a platform of allowing ourselves, our brands and our clients to choose more sustainable options and inspire collaborative action and long-term change.
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