September 2, 2020
The kids clothing business currently undergoes a massive shift. In difficult times, just like the current, it becomes even more clear that one of the most important things in life are health and providing a safe place and planet for children. As especially parents care about their children’s future, they aim to provide a safe and healthy environment for their little ones. That makes the trend of sustainable kids clothing unstoppable.
But which trends really revolutionize the sustainability in kids wear and where is the industry trying to trick us?
Sustainable efforts are trending and start to become a real driver of purchasing decisions in the fashion industry. Google-searches for the terms ‘eco-friendly clothing’ or ‘sustainable fashion’ have almost tripled in the last 3 years.
Even though the 2019 G7 summit presented a set of shared environmental-sustainability objectives in its Fashion Pact, a McKinsey analysis shows that among mass-market apparel brands, only 1 percent of new garment product lines launched in 2019 were tagged as ‘sustainable’.
This shows how much still must be done to provide proof of true ethical and sustainable sourcing. It is necessary to build strategic partnerships with all suppliers in order to offer a transparent and traceable overview of the products’ developments. Transparency in the process is a positive development, but a new way of sourcing is even better.
According to the McKinsey Apparel CPO Survey 2019, only half of the survey respondents believe that suppliers are on track to reach a reduction of GHG emission of -30% by 2030.
Learn more about problems when sourcing sustainably.
While retailers still need to figure out how to make their sourcing and ecological footprint more sustainable, some parents have already started to take matters into their own hands. More and more parents refrain from buying fast fashion or cheaply produced clothes by mass-market retailers. The market experiences a re-introduction of the “old normal”. Undisputed number one: The cloth diaper. They are perceived and advertised as the healthier, the financial- and environmental-friendly choice.
Cloth diapers do, for example, not contain chemicals such as Dioxin, which are used in disposable diapers for bleaching purposes.
But is a return to re-usable muslin diapers as sustainable as it seems? Fact is: the plastic that is used in disposable diapers is biodegrading in landfills, along with the human waste.
A UK-study found out that the carbon dioxide equivalent of cloth diapers in comparison with disposable diapers only results in a carbon reduction under certain circumstances. A condition includes that cloth diapers would have to be laundered in a sustainable way (e.g. electricity from renewable energy; items dried outdoors or washed with other items).
To summarize: Whereas minimizing waste in landfills is an extremely positive development, the usage of reusables itself is unfortunately not the easy solution but depends on the correct usage of the reusables.
The “new normal”, especially in children apparel, is a shift towards alternative and more plant-based fabrics. Synthetics and animal components, such as sheep wool or even leather, are on the decline. Sustainably oriented parents buy clothing made of linen, bamboo plants or simply cotton.
Cotton, as the most popular plant-based material, has a variety of advantages, such as being hypoallergic. However, just because it is a natural fiber, does not mean it is organic. There is, for example, a huge difference between regular cotton and organic cotton. Amongst other things, regular cotton contains chemicals and its extraction is not as sustainable (e.g. high water usage) as the organic alternative.
The problem: The customer is often not informed about the circumstances of the material extraction.
Apart from cotton, there are plenty of new innovative fabrics gaining ground.
Did you know that leather imitates can be imitated by pineapple leaves, mushroom skins, coconuts, cork oak tree barks or soybeans nowadays? Eco-friendly alternatives to animal components as well as synthetics – the trend of new plant-based materials is booming.
With that being said, outdated cleaning habits, especially over-washing, also affects the environment – we, as a society, face numerous challenges in the next years.
The changes towards to more sustainable kids clothing, also brings new business opportunities to smaller local shops. As they are in the market for the market, they are closer to their customers. The more personal relationship enables smaller businesses to interact with their buyers directly, which builds a trust that larger corporations could not even dream of.
Due to the closer relationship, local businesses have the opportunity to engage with their customers more and start offering toy repair shops or knitting and sewing courses for new parents as additional services. This is a win-win-situation for both the local shops as well as the parents. Parents acquire new skills, save money as they knit or sew own kids clothing and can engage with other parents in the area. The shops have a new source of income and the interaction with the customers strengthens the customer relationship.
Parents begin to think circular. Minimizing waste and saving money as well as the planet are key. And baby clothing is a real culprit: kids on average move up 7 sizes in their first couple of years. Saving the hundreds of thousands of tons of clothing from ending up in landfill is now possible with secondhand exchange platforms. The business is booming as the shops have developed innovative ways of doing secondhand business. Old outworn secondhand-pieces are replaced by much-loved designer clothing as well as ethically produced organic clothes. Both product groups are often too expensive to buy and hence a rental system has been introduced in the recent years.
Apart from one-time-purchasing options, the clothing (and toy) rental shops offer subscription box services. Parents are now able to rent a selection of baby items which they can return once the babies outgrow them. Rental models can extend the lifespan of clothes by up to 400%.
A lot of new ideas and innovations are trending in the sustainable kids clothing business. Are they all as sustainable as they sound? Some, such as second-hand and rental models or patching and sewing clothes are certainly sustainable. Other things, have to be looked at twice: Some materials, such as cotton, seem to be sustainable just because it is non-plastic. The chemicals and high water usage needed for farming, however, is only a sustainable illusion. Important to look at are the circumstances of the sourcing – whether it is material sourcing or (regular cotton vs. organic cotton) or the way the supply chain and production of the garments is done.
Fact is: Parents want change and do good for both their kids and the planet. Large retailers realize this trend and it is their turn to make real changes in their approach to sustainable kids clothing. But this will certainly have a price. One question remains in all this: Are parents also willing to pay for more sustainable kids wear?
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