Fashion shoppers put price above sustainability amid cost of living crisis

New research from Nosto suggests that 57% of consumers want fashion shopping to be more sustainable. But with living costs rising, 61% will prioritise price. 55% agree that sustainable fashion is often too expensive.

The company surveyed just over 2,000 US and UK consumers.

E-commerce delivery windows have tended to get shorter in recent years (with next day and same day delivery options becoming popular).

But 54% of Nosto’s respondents said they’d now be happy to have slower deliveries for fashion purchases if it allowed companies to cut the number of truck/van journeys (reducing carbon emissions while also cutting retailers’ delivery costs).

58%, meanwhile, indicated that they now try to keep clothes for longer to protect the environment, and 60% agreed that one way fashion e-commerce brands could be more sustainable is to offer repair services.

In fact, 42% said they have thrown away fashion items they would have liked to keep because they could not get them repaired.

49% agreed that product returns are bad for the environment on the basis that they waste fuel, packaging and other resources. But charging shoppers for returns (as some fashion brands are now doing) was rated the least popular way to address the problem.

Alternative tactics that would help were: make it easy for shoppers to query items online such as through live chats (64%); display user-generated content (UGC) images and videos of other customers wearing their purchases to show what they look like on real people (61%); and offer virtual try-on tools to help shoppers visualise how they would look in outfits (59%).

Despite the pressure on people’s wallets, there remains a sizeable chunk (39% of survey respondents) who say they would in fact consider paying more for sustainably made versions of the same clothes.

However, a lack of transparency surrounding sustainable fashion and mistrust about what brands say about it remain major stumbling blocks.

55% of those in the poll stated that working out what fashion items are sustainably made was confusing.

57% of women and 50% of men said when they shop online, they don’t know how to identify if an item of clothing is sustainable or not.  54% don’t completely trust the claims some brands make about their commitment in this area anyway.

64% said one way that retailers can make online fashion shopping more sustainable is simply to provide clearer information to make it is easier to find products that are made in environmentally friendly ways.

Another tactic that 57% agreed would help is if retailers could allow shoppers to personalise their online shopping experiences so that they are only shown sustainable/environmentally friendly fashions/clothes.

“The sustainability of the fashion industry is critical to our planet’s health, so it’s refreshing to see evidence that shoppers are willing to change their behaviour and play their part alongside retailers,” says Guy Little, Head of Brand Marketing at Nosto.

“Though it’s unsurprising that the current economic situation is causing consumers to rethink their priorities and put price ahead of sustainability.”

“But this research gives promising suggestions on how brands can help consumers embrace sustainability within fashion. Encouraging slower deliveries and reducing product returns are both opportunities to be more environmentally friendly without requiring customers to spend more.”

He adds: “One of the key challenges for retailers, especially as we head into the peak shopping period, is the impact of returns, both financially and environmentally.”

“What we can see from this data is that there are tactics available, such as using post-purchase user-generated images, that retailers can embrace to help reduce return rates and alleviate that pressure.”

“Elsewhere, more than half of shoppers struggle to even identify sustainable products - personalisation can help retailers ensure that environmentally conscious shoppers are seeing the most sustainable items every time they shop online.”