How to sell sustainable fashion, sustainably

This article is part of our Vogue Business membership package. To enjoy unlimited access to our weekly Sustainability Edit, which contains Member-only reporting and analysis, sign up for membership here. Would you ever buy a garment without seeing a photo of it first? Last week, Swedish brand Asket invited its customers to do just that in a three-day “experiment” that saw its e-commerce website wiped of product imagery. Photography showing the fit and style of Asket’s 42-piece permanent collection was replaced with simple, short text: “Garments so uncompromisingly timeless you already know what they look like”. Co-founder August Bard Bringéus says the stunt was intended to test just how timeless the garments really are, but the campaign also cast a light on e-commerce product pages, calling into question what information customers need to make more informed, sustainable choices. The lessons were mixed. “To some extent, people bought fewer items — either because they paid more attention and realised they didn’t need to buy as much, or because they weren’t as comfortable buying a lot; our customers tend to buy rarely but in bulk,” says Bard Bringéus. “It’s possible that people who bought would have seen the product imagery recently and have been mulling these purchases for a while. It’s also possible that, without imagery, people spend more time reading product descriptions and reviews. Only time will tell how the returns rate compares.” The stunt hasn’t come without sacrifice. Asket’s direct-to-consumer website accounts for 90 per cent of its total sales. While traffic jumped 25 per cent during the three days of the experiment, sales were down 54 per cent on the week before. Surprisingly, as many as 410 people still shopped without product imagery, buying 1,013 products between them. Of these, 44 per cent were first-time customers. “We knew this would be challenging in terms of conversion rates and sales, but we are not a short-term business, so we allow ourselves to do these things,” says Bard Bringéus. “It is a universal truth that the more information you have, the easier it is to make more informed — and therefore sustainable — decisions. It was never our intention to remove imagery permanently.” Troubleshooting overconsumption E-commerce product pages have the potential to help address fashion’s existential problems of overproduction and overconsumption, where brands have an opportunity to encourage slower consumption, and customers have a chance to see how brands are trying to improve production. Andrea Cheong, content creator and author of Why Don’t I Have Anything to Wear?, has gained a sizable following with videos debunking the quality of clothing. Her five-step ‘Mindful Monday Method’ aims to guide followers in shopping better for their mental health and the planet. It includes a wardrobe audit, setting a budget that accounts for the emotional urge to overconsume, figuring out your fashion values, and setting guardrails around materials and quality. Putting this into practice when shopping online can pose a challenge, says Cheong, because brands often exclude the necessary information — both visible and written. “I always look for the weight of the fabric, especially for knitwear or things that can be sheer, like summer shirts. But even the most loyal customers won’t know off the top of their heads what 140 GSM linen versus 100 GSM silk feels like, so you need images that show this too,” she says. “The fabric composition is also important, but e-commerce websites often stop at satin, poplin or fleece. These are weaves, not the actual materials, which can be misleading. Maybe you assume it’s silk satin, but it’s actually polyester satin or viscose satin.” The information gap on product pages means shopping online often requires a degree of detective work. “You need to see how the product fits, and I prefer videos for this because we know that pinning clothes at the back is a common practice in e-commerce. Generally, e-commerce models tend to fit standard sizes, so if the fit isn’t right on them, that’s a risky purchase,” says Cheong. “I also zoom in to see the quality of the craftsmanship. For example, if knitwear panels are joined evenly, if a skirt is properly lined or if the stitching is wonky.” Brands should avoid overly editorialised or filtered images, she adds, as this can make it harder for customers to see the reality of a garment. A successful product page is one that helps customers select the right product, minimising waste, says Rebecca Morter, founder of London-based multi-brand retailer Lone Design Club (LDC), which hosts pop-ups to help direct-to-consumer brands reap the benefits of physical retail. This means helping people find the right size, as fit is a consistent driver of high returns. For LDC, the most effective way to weed out returns has been via adding an automated support prompt to its e-commerce site that flags when people add the same product to their basket in multiple sizes. Likewise, Bard Bringéus says Asket uses a proprietary machine learning-based size finder to help customers narrow down their choices. “First and foremost, we want to make sure that our customers buy the garments they actually need, so they have to understand exactly what it is they are buying,” he says. Useful information over data dumps It might be tempting to crowd product pages with lots of information in a bid to be transparent with customers, but leaving them to weed through unfiltered data dumps isn’t helpful either, says Morter. “People don’t want greenwashing rubbish or overly detailed descriptions of why we have vetted a brand as more sustainable. They want a couple of tangible key points that back up why a brand is better so they can feel comfortable buying into that brand.” The information that customers deem useful is shifting, agrees brand consultant and writer Harling Ross Anton, who shares shopping tips and curates products — often secondhand — through her Substack newsletter Gumshoe. Rather than just factual information, people want to know about the experience of wearing the garment. “I’d love to know about all the details that make something worth buying and treasuring for years. Highlight the materials, construction methods and the artisans behind the product. Is it made of a gorgeous, heavy cotton that never wrinkles? Is there a silk lining that isn’t visible from the outside but makes it an absolute pleasure to wear? Are there any handmade aspects? Is it the one thing that every employee at your company has in multiple colours because it’s that good?” The baseline for product pages is shifting Product pages can’t just focus on customers’ practical and aesthetic considerations. There is a lengthening list of regulatory requirements for them to follow, says Jocelyn Wilkinson, partner and associate director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Her advice for including sustainability information on product pages mirrors regulators’ advice for avoiding greenwashing: keep it clear and skip vague language, lead with science-based facts and exclude any claims you can’t back up with evidence. In order to do this, brands need to invest in “very unsexy” back-end data management systems upfront rather than trying to reverse engineer the infrastructure needed to comply with incoming regulations, says Wilkinson. Of the 40-plus incoming regulations BCG has been studying, at least six require specific product information. In France, there is the Anti-Waste and Circular Economy (AGEC) Law and the Climate and Resilience Law. And across the European Union, there are regulations around substantiating green claims, consumer empowerment, ecodesign and digital product passports. “Brands need to take a blended approach to achieve success here, because all of their online, bricks and mortar and wholesale sales will undoubtedly touch on many more regulations,” says Wilkinson. “If brands underinvest in this, they risk fines, legal proceedings and reputational damage.” When populating product pages with key sustainability information, it’s important that brands add context or risk confusing customers further. Cheong points to carbon footprint measurements as an example of the latter: “How has that been calculated? If you are claiming to have saved carbon emissions, is that from raw materials, factories, transport?” she asks. “The absence of truly useful information makes this seem like greenwashing, similar to the total lack of information we previously faced.” Sign up to receive the Vogue Business newsletter for the latest luxury news and insights, plus exclusive membership discounts. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

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