Sustainable fashion brand
Participation: Leng Yun Fashion 7 group friends
Time: August 6, 2022
Manor: Rene-Beijing-Sustainable fashion brand manager
▼ Discussion on Leng Yun's fashion circle is a discussion and summary on industry issues. These sharing belongs to the crystallization of collective wisdom. (They do not represent Leng Yun’s personal views). I hope that this method can benefit more people in the industry!
Fashion industry has caused about 10% of the world's carbon emissions and 20% of the wastewater emissions, making it one of the most polluted industries in the world. However, the complex supply chains, outdated business models and overconsumption in the fashion industry have made the pollution problem even more serious. Therefore, innovative and creative thinking is urgently needed to deal with systemic problems, reduce industry impact, and thus create a more sustainable business model that benefits the planet and mankind, and promote economic growth.
｜one｜
Which sustainable fashion brands do you know? Have you purchased them?
Born owner:
I will answer this question first. I bought EVERLANE. I basically bought it on NET-A-PORTER, and there is a Net-sustain category.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
There is a sports product brand in the UK called TALA, which is taking a sustainable route.
Born owner:
The domestic brands are developing sustainable fashion, and I know about Remade Clothing Bank and Zhihe. There is also the ALL BIRDS sports shoe brand, with an average price of 1,200 yuan per pair. But I think their design is too ugly and I haven't bought it yet.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
I don’t know much about sustainable brands, but I know Zhihe.
Born owner:
I have never bought Zhihe. I went to Zhihe before and saw a plaid shirt for autumn and winter for 4,500 yuan, and I thought it was really expensive.
What factors do you think are sustainable fashion specifically include?
Yunyou Noon:
The material is green, and the carbon emissions are environmentally friendly.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
such as biodegradable fabric.
Born owner:
There are also natural planting, biodegradable materials, production and discharge of pollutants and environmental protection.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
In our industry, we just look at whether there are recyclable marks and sustainable recyclable certification marks. For example, Oeko-tex.
Born owner:
is, such as Nordic White Swan certification.
There is another concept called "long-term" design, which is to design the most durable clothing. But for the fashion industry that pursues rapid growth and freshness, this requirement is contrary to the strategies of many brands and the desires of consumers, so few companies do so.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
continues to follow the principle of planned abolition system.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
But the design often needs to go against the rules, so how can it achieve "long-term effect"?
Born owner:
This is indeed a contradiction. I think consumers will have more two-level differentiation, and some will be high-quality, and these products will be very high-end and durable, but not high-frequency consumption; some will be in a practical and tasteful direction.
Now there are recycled polyester fabric made of plastic bottles. Have you heard of it?
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
has it, UQlo is useful.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
I have only seen it on the show.
Born owner:
Domestic BOTTLELOOP is in this field, and we are also selecting such suppliers. But later I found that a company in the United States was even more powerful and made the entire process of plastics traceable.
(Picture source: REPREVE brand introduction)
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
You can pay attention to Uniqlo's product brochure, there are free product brochures in the store. I know that American company is working with them.
Born owner:
Last week, I talked to a person in the circle about why plastic-made recycled polyester is more expensive. The raw materials for making T-shirts with this type of fabric is about 30% more expensive than that of ordinary people. The reason why they are expensive is not how expensive the technology research and development is, but that the plastic bottle cleaning process consumes a lot of labor.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
Indeed, the recycling process is also very costly.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
But it is also harmful to wear a plastic bottle itself.
Born owner:
Take Taiwan, as an example. Locals will empty, clean and fold plastic bottles, sort them, and finally exchange them for points, exchange them for eggs, milk, etc. At present, our mainland region does not have these awareness and recycling closed loops.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
The problem is that the mainland is not short of clothes. What to do if you don’t know what to do if you don’t have the inventory or the recycling of old clothes? The public doesn’t understand why they still need to recycle materials?
Yunyou Noon:
Japan is indeed very environmentally friendly. Although I have never seen it, I have heard many people say it.
Born owner:
So in the process, cleaning is a problem, manually pour out the liquid in the bottle and then clean it.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
is also well done in Germany garbage classification. In addition to the expensive recycling process, certification is also really expensive. Third-party authorized certification agencies such as SGS, BV, UL, ITS, etc. are all foreign institutions, and the certification cost is very high after the entire certification process.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
hope that one day the national standard can become the American standard and European standard, and become an internationally recognized implementation standard like the high-speed rail standard. If the cost may not be reduced a little. I have followed all these, and the preparation of the materials is very complicated. At present, the national standard has not been established. It is also plastic recycling, and there is still a gap in implementation and standards at home and abroad.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
All domestic plastics are made into non-clothing.
Born owner:
For brands with a sense of social responsibility, they will definitely give priority to transparent ones. But if it is for marketing, there may be similar brands.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
So Sprite gave up on the green bottle. In fact, it is not only plastic recycling, but also down recycling, nylon recycling, etc. organic cotton is also a sustainable concept. For example, our Xinjiang Color Cotton Group's color cotton is also environmentally friendly.
Born owner:
We recently saw recycled fiber made of textile rags in Japan, which is very soft.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
Colored cotton has the main problem at present that the colors are still relatively few.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
cotton types are natural colors and beige.
Born owner:
Cotton planting is also very wastewater.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
My previous customers have used recycled fiber, and the softness has also been processed in the later stage.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
recycled fiber is still very environmentally friendly.
Born owner:
(Picture source: Creative Denmark, publishing agency for Sustainable Fashion White Paper)
share a information, which is the concept of in the entire product life cycle evaluation.
(Picture source: Creative Denmark, publishing agency for the "Sustainable Fashion White Paper")
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
Nordic environmental design is indeed ahead.
｜2｜
How to achieve commercial success in a sustainable fashion brand?
1. Do you have a conflict between sustainability and marketing and sales?
Born owner:
Actually, I think minimalist style is in line with the concept of "long-term" design.What is your impression of the Zhihe brand? Do sustainable fashion brands must promote themselves as sustainable fashion brands?
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
Zhihe's concept is a design that conforms to the modern aesthetic concept of the unity of man and nature.
Born owner:
vigorously promotes the point of sustainable fashion, and sets high prices. Will you buy it?
YunyouNoon:
I think people who understand will, but people who don’t understand will not care whether it is sustainable. As long as the clothes are good-looking and affordable, they will buy them.
Born owner:
pair, you still have to return to "good-looking". Whoever you want to look good is the brand positioning.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
How do you position it? Those who care about high quality customers?
YunyouNoon:
The high-end market only accounts for a small number of markets after all. If the brand is looking for quantity, I think it should be more down-to-earth.
Born owner:
Our brand is positioned as a middle-class person, and we are a group of people with high consumption power and both life and commuting attributes.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
Then how do you make these people accept the concept of "sustainability"?
Born owner:
So we don’t focus on the concept of sustainability. What we want to pass on is the form of a streamlined wardrobe, Buy less wear more.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
But it means "high quality"?
Born owner:
From the perspective of product development, we will set a three-year plan, such as what you buy in the next season and what you bought in the last season can match each other. In this way, if we become our long-term consumers, we will gradually build a wardrobe with taste, texture and strong matching attributes.
"High quality" is something that the brand must maintain since the beginning. But we discuss "high quality" more from the color, shape and quality, and not from the sustainability itself.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
This idea is good.
YunyouNoon:
However, high-end customers are also very cost-effective. It is possible that a high-end customer is worth 10 low-end customers.
Born owner:
Continuously output creativity for consumers in private domains during the operation process. So what kind of people are suitable for what kind of business, the business they want to do must be in the circle of competence. Do you know of any good sustainable brands marketing cases?
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
MUJI, how sustainable it looks!
Born owner:
EVERLANE is also a good brand, focusing on transparent supply chain costs, but is neglected in marketing and has poor performance and has withdrawn from China.
(Picture source: EVERLANE official website)
Born owner:
MUJI's cotton and linen products are counted, but regarding sustainability, what is the most impressive label it outputs? What is Uniqlo's marketing point?
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
Simple and comfortable.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
conforms to the classic design of the public.
Born owner:
Sustainable fashion brand Everlane's thoughts on withdrawing from China
I have written a thought on withdrawing this brand before. Interested partners can take a look. There are hundreds of messages in the comment section of this article, most of which talk about slow delivery.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
EVERLANE failure is due to slow reaction and the size segment does not meet the Asian body shape.
2. What are the opportunities for domestic sustainable fashion?
Born owner:
What are the opportunities for domestic sustainable fashion?
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
and other first- and second-tier cities in China have begun to popularize garbage classification, which is the starting point of sustainable development.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
Opportunity points for improving the quality of the whole people.
Born owner:
China's sustainable fashion is still in the starting point stage, from establishing standards, certification agencies, to working hard to achieve carbon emission tracking in the supply chain, etc., there is a lot of work to be done.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
I have seen clothes made of broken hair from barber shops before.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
The four famous embroidery in China are all hair embroidery , the ancients are the most environmentally friendly. When I was working on Taikang Road, Shanghai, there was Miao Embroidery Studio downstairs, and they also used their hair. Many ancient people's craftsmanship are actually very environmentally friendly, such as Xiangyunsha .
There is a designer using Dongbu to make a package.
domestic treasure! The Dong cloth bags that were launched on Paris Fashion Week are so beautiful!
Born owner:
I have also been studying the Dong cloth of Dong ethnic group recently.
(Image source: Baidu "Dongbu" keyword search)
I have read a report released by a RISE laboratory before. 78% of people aged 25-35 are more willing to buy products with sustainability-related products.
｜Three｜
How to do the marketing creativity of sustainable fashion brands?
Born owner:
Have you seen sustainable brand promotion content on Xiaohongshu?
YunyouNoon:
I rarely read Xiaohongshu.
Born owner:
When you buy clothes, go to Taobao?
YunyouNoon:
is almost the same. Sometimes when you encounter offline big-name promotions, it is really cost-effective.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
There are such cases on Xiaohongshu. Some brands just started to settle in last year, including some big Vs selling goods.
Born owner:
What are the big Vs that have sustainable fashion brands?
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
Some catwalk models will be a sustainable concept.
Born owner:
How much money do you spend on buying clothes a year?
Yunyou Noon:
up to 2,000 yuan.
Born owner:
controls well, and gradually the wardrobe has become more streamlined. The last topic of the discussion tonight may not be very in-depth. There are not many brands that you know, and there may be fewer more in-depth marketing methods and creativity.
Yunyou Noon:
, are the marketing methods of different brands very similar? Or are they each have their own characteristics?
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
Different brands have different main directions, marketing content has its own characteristics, and marketing methods are convergent.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
Some cosmetics brands are sustainable in marketing, such as recyclable bottles, such as L'Occitane . There is also a lipstick tube to replace.
Born owner:
Guerlain is the same. The used perfume bottle is taken to reinstall it with Sephora , and it seems that you can get a 20% discount.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
UQLO, HM can take clean old clothes, and there will be discount coupons when doing activities.
Born owner:
Flying Ant Recycling points can be redeemed, Xianyu makes a second-hand resale. There are also many fish to clean and resell affordable brand clothing.
Yunyou Xiao Sa:
wine bottle recycling.
Yunyou Zhou Jun:
There are also mini programs on Alipay , and recycling clothes can increase sesame points.
YunyouNoon:
These are pretty good, after all, most people have the urge to do good deeds.
Mansion owner summary
1. What sustainable fashion brands do you know?
Everyone’s understanding of sustainability tags: recycling materials (such as plastic bottles, old fabrics), easy degradation, basic design, long-term design. The general attitude towards sustainable products: they need to look good, but they will not choose to buy because the price is too high.
Sustainable fashion brands: Zhihe, ALL BIRDS, DUIWEI CLOSET, NIKE environmental protection series, EVERLANE, Uniqlo.
2. How can sustainable fashion brands achieve commercial success?
1. Do you have a conflict between sustainability and marketing and sales?
has gained more and more attention to sustainable fashion, and consumers are gradually consciously identifying it.However, for sustainable marketing, the brand side is still very weak. There are few organizations, media or self-media that can popularize sustainable fashion and continuously update international trends, and there are not many channels for everyone to understand.
2. What are the opportunities for sustainable fashion in China?
China's sustainable fashion is still at a very early starting point. Standard establishment, certification agencies, fashion brands, and revitalizing traditional handicrafts have opportunities. We will strive to achieve carbon emission tracking in the supply chain and can draw inspiration from ancient Chinese traditional crafts.
3. How to do the marketing creativity of sustainable fashion brands?
There are several sustainable marketing methods:
1. Place cards in the product;
2. Celebrity endorsement;
3. Cross-border joint branding.
Text sorting: Zhang Huaikai
Text editing: Chen Chang
Art editor: Li Ning
Art editor: Li Ning
