That Pressure You Feel is a Sales Opportunity

One good result from surviving the pandemic is that suppliers and distributors will never look at their relationships with end-users in quite the same way they did before. Heroes and villains are both emerging on the other side, with product responsibility experiences that either made their relationship stronger — or not.

Looking ahead, change is inevitable. As your clients’ buyers more frequently are from Gen Z, the drumbeat for responsible sourcing will only get louder. They will bring the sensibilities of their generation to work with them. According to research released last month quantifying brand preferences from investment firm Piper Sandler, "Gen Z is unique in that they actually appear to care more about social justice & the environment versus former generations."

According to a Moody's Investors Service report also released last month, fashion brands and apparel companies risk their reputation and sales if they don't address the environmental impact of their businesses, but they'll need to balance the cost increases and risk credit quality when they do. And for those of us in the promo products industry, that means you’ll need to do the same working with your suppliers. The apparel industry faces increasing pressure from consumers and regulators to decarbonize their production, reduce waste, and increase sourcing transparency, the Moody's research noted. Scarcity of raw materials like water and cotton is on the horizon already, along with higher production and supply chain costs lingering from the pandemic.

"Changing behavior among environmentally conscious and socially aware consumers will put more competitive pressure on global fashion brands to adapt to sustainability measures," Moody's Assistant Vice President Guillaume Leglise said. "Longer term, environmental and social factors will put the apparel industry's profitability at risk."

The apparel industry is the second largest user of water globally (agriculture is number one) and produces eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Garment dyeing and textiles finishing are responsible for 20 percent of global industrial water pollution. Moody's cites experts who estimate that apparel's environmental damage will worsen by 2030, tripling by 2050.

Suppliers like PCNA (Trimark, Leed’s, Bullet, JournalBooks, and ETS Express) have begun to aggressively make responsible sourcing and end-of-life-cycle destruction a part of marketing messages. In an interview with PPAI Media, PCNA announced that, along with its distributors, its collective efforts in 2020 were responsible for saving almost one million bottles and 150,000 pounds of cotton from entering landfills. In addition, through its partnership with 1% for the Planet, the company says it has planted more than 75,000 trees and provided clean water to over 7,000 individuals as a direct result of eco-product sales.

“We wouldn’t be a leader in this industry if it wasn’t for the support of our amazing customers,” Liz Haesler, PCNA’s CMO, told PPAI. “It’s important that we show how their support is making a difference in this world. Because of the impact this industry has been able to make through the overwhelming support of our eco-friendly items, other sustainable brands are anxious to get into the promo market. We can bring brands like tentree and EKOBO to the promotional products market because of our amazing distributor partners who have created this demand by showing how important sustainability and the ability to give back is to them and their customers.”

Over the last year or so, we’ve been keeping our eye on SwagCycle, a startup focused on responsibly managing the end-of-life cycle of branded merchandise. SwagCycle, part of the Grossman Marketing Group, works with a network of partners to help companies repurpose or recycle items in a responsible, ethical, and affordable way. In the first quarter of 2021, they have already kept nearly 175,000 items out of landfills while facilitating nearly a half million dollars of donations to charitable causes.

The amount of waste in the United States right now is staggering: 85 percent of clothing and textiles are thrown in the trash, only 15 percent are donated or recycled. In the past 20 years, the amount of unwanted clothing Americans throw away each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons- that’s a gaudy 80 pounds per person! Ninety-five percent of these materials are suitable for reuse and recycling.

You can do something about this right now. While it would be great if your suppliers would get on board, you can make a difference on your own. SwagCycle suggests that by keeping used clothing and other textiles out of landfills, we can limit the negative impacts of what we wear, reduce the need to create more landfill space, help provide affordable clothing to those in need, and encourage more sustainable systems for managing textile waste. They have even put together these tips for keeping your used clothing and textiles out of the trash. We all have the power to change things right now in each of our corners of the world- which betters all the other corners at the same time!