Asos PLC and Primark have both come out with pledges to make their clothing more sustainable, as competition among fast-fashion retailers has reached boiling point this year.
The environmental, social and governance (ESG) reputations of rivals Boohoo Group PLC and Chinese newcomer Shein are not the best, so the more established UK pair seemed to be looking to gain ground in an area that is important to some – but by no means all – of their predominantly young customer base.
Asos, one of the first online-only clothing retailers, said it would improve its environmental impact and worker rights, with targets for cutting waste and carbon emissions to be linked to management pay in future.
The fourth-largest company on AIM set out a four-part plan to improve sustainability, including becoming carbon neutral in its direct operations by 2025 and achieving net-zero across its value chain by 2030; shifting towards the circular-economy with an aim of ensuring 100% of its own-brand products and packaging are made from "more sustainable or recycled materials" by 2030.
Asos also looked to improve its social and governance chops, promising to publish a detailed human rights report annually from 2023 and to ensure all external brands are signed up to its transparency pledge and the ethical trade policy by 2025, while also increasing "diversity, equity and inclusion" across every aspect of the business, with a pledge to ensure at least 50% female representation and over 15% ethnic minority representation at every leadership level by 2030.
Primark, meanwhile, which is part of FTSE 100-listed conglomerate Associated British Foods PLC (LSE:ABF), promised to make all its clothing from recycled or "more sustainably sourced" materials by 2030, compared to its current production levels that are nearer 25%.
Giving more detail on the environmental side, Primark said it aimed to become "a circular and more sustainable" business, strengthening the durability of its clothes by 2025, making them "recyclable by design" by 2027; halving carbon emissions across the value chain by 2030, eliminating single-use plastics and all non-clothing waste by 2027, while training cotton farmers to use more regenerative agriculture practices by 2030.
On the social side the company promised to "protect and improve the livelihoods and resilience of the people who make our clothes", "pursue" a living wage for workers in the supply chain, "strengthen the position" of women across the supply chain through skills training and "addressing their barriers to progression" by 2030; and by the same year, ensure access to effective grievance processes for workers in the supply chain and widen access to help for mental and physical wellbeing.
Greenpeace welcomed the announcements, but warned the term 'sustainable' can cover a wide range of practices, adding that some of Primark's measures "don't appear to be 'sustainable' enough".
"For example, Primark's sustainable cotton programme still uses pesticides and fertilisers which damage biodiversity, ecosystems and the climate," said Greenpeace Germany's Viola Wohlgemuth, adding that the clothes companies should commit to using only organic cotton and stopping the use of polyester as it is made from fossil fuels and can release microplastics when washed.
Paul Marchant, chief executive of Primark, said it was important to the company that it's clothes remain affordable.
"We believe that sustainability shouldn't be priced at a premium that only a minority can afford," he said, adding that the chain is "committed to work in partnership with the industry to drive real change at scale".