Reconomy reveals the fashion world’s biggest sustainable giants

Reconomy has revealed the world’s largest businesses bidding to be named as the most sustainable company. The company has produced an algorithm which measures the strength of a business’ ethical messaging on social media and its individual business strategy.

The waste management service has compared 157 of the world’s biggest organisations across 13 industries. Using Corporate Knights’ leaderboard and YouGov’s ranking of the most publicly perceived companies, each firm was analysed to reveal how many mentions of ‘sustainable’ related key terms were included in their business strategy and on social media across various industries including fashion. Key terms included ‘sustainability’, ‘renewables’, and ‘green energy’.

The data was used to create a ranking based on the most mentions of sustainability, the results of which had interesting results. Fashion house Burberry mentions sustainability the most throughout its social media and business strategy out of all businesses within the fashion sector. Sustainable keywords were mentioned 165 times across Burberry’s public and professional platforms.

Between different sectors, the focus on sustainable initiatives varied. For example, in the fashion sector, the key term ‘equal’ was prominent. This reflects occupational health and safety, and equal labour objectives of fashion and retail sustainable strategies. British charity WRAP states that 350,000 tonnes of textile are thrown in landfills every year in the UK.

Furthermore, between 2012 and 2016, the fashion sector increased its carbon emissions by 9.2%. However, the amount of clothing waste from UK households dropped by 50,000 tonnes in the same period. This points to higher quality products which last longer, therefore avoiding landfill. Organisations that lead with the most sustainable key term mentions in the fashion sector after Burberry include Hugo Boss (116 mentions) and Ralph Lauren (111 mentions).

Tony Munro, Marketing Director of Reconomy, said: “Organisations are looking towards sustainability to produce a reformed focus for their businesses. The research reveals more than which companies are leading the way in terms of ethical management, it proves that all industries are pointing to a future where sustainability is a priority for all operations.

“This is being achieved through ethical production, smarter waste management, and understanding the long-term effects that businesses can have on the environment. Customers are demanding sustainability and ethical practices, and the best businesses are listening.”

Across all sectors, ‘equal’ was mentioned 1042 times across all companies researched and ‘waste’ was mentioned 638 times.

Munro added: “All sectors and industries have a part to play in creating a sustainable future for both their customers and the wider public. However, companies must also recognise how their products will be used by consumers and how they will be disposed of. For the fashion sector, recycling and ethical waste practices must be used to ensure environmental standards for their future business survival.”

For more information, visit https://www.reconomy.com/sustainable-giants/