Are people willing to pay more for sustainability credentials?

Consumers are increasingly looking for transparency of responsible practices in the clothing products they buy, but are they willing to pay more for it?

A new study titled Willingness to pay for naturally and sustainably produced clothing: A case study of Australian consumers, found cotton is the fibre of choice when buyers are looking for credibility beyond basic fair-trade certification.

In an effort to understand consumer behaviour, CRDC-supported researcher, Dr Sorada Tapsuwan, and colleagues at Swinburne University and CSIRO Agriculture and Food undertook to find out if consumers will pay more for more sustainably and naturally produced garments.

Australians are the world’s biggest consumer of textiles per capita, buying an average of 56 new clothing items a year, compared to 53 items per year in the US, 33 in the UK and 30 in China. We are also very large producers of textile waste, with more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing ending up in landfill each year.

“Consumer waste and ethical considerations are gaining prominence in the textile industry, as are market regulations around how cotton and other textiles are produced,” Sorada says.

“However, a consumer’s motivation to purchase textiles is multifaceted, with price, quality, and verification of product attributes playing significant roles in their decision-making process.”

The study surveyed over 500 Australian consumers on their willingness to pay for naturally and sustainably produced clothing. It examined different market segments and estimated how much extra consumers were prepared to pay for different features of a ‘smart’ casual t-shirt.

People prefer cotton

Cotton was the most preferred fibre, followed by viscose and hemp. Just over half (57 percent) were prepared to pay extra for a t-shirt that was made from natural fibre or its derivatives (including cotton, hemp, or viscose) compared to polyester, and had an organic, non-GMO or pesticide-free certification as compared to a basic fair-trade certification. The respondents who were prepared to pay more for features were more concerned about sustainability and ‘doing the right thing’ for the environment, and were more fashion-forward than the remaining 43 percent who were not prepared to pay any extra.

“In terms of communicating with these buyers, or the target market segment, the 57 percent of the population that are more likely going to buy natural fibre care about what other people think they should do, feel a strong moral obligation to behave sustainably, and were less modest about how ‘fashion-forward’ they are,” Sorada said.

“People were also prepared to pay more if the t-shirt had a sustainability certification beyond a basic fair-trade certification.

“Furthermore, while switching to natural fibres is important to consumers, buying clothes from recycled fibre is not as important.

“Lastly, their willingness to pay for sustainability features was relatively greater than their willingness to pay for better fabric features, including well-placed seams, moisture wicking, and wrinkle-free properties.”

This research can be used to inform the cotton industry’s Sustainability Framework PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. and the Cotton Industry Strategic Roadmap by helping identify environmental, social and economic topics that are important to consumers. Cotton Australia, the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) and CRDC are collaborating to develop the Roadmap, which will help the industry remain competitive in a changing fashion and textiles market.

Mapping cotton’s future

The Roadmap covers five key topic areas – traceability, industry data, sustainably-certified cotton/myBMP, human rights, and Australian cotton marketing – which are being addressed following broad consultation with growers and the industry. Following feedback from the industry about where Australian cotton would like to be on these topics, Cotton Australia, ACSA and CRDC are now working out how we’ll get there, who’s responsible and how any new initiatives may be funded.

Sorada’s research is also useful for the Australian Fashion Council Roadmap to Circularity.

“We can help inform some of the citizen behaviour change and help encourage responsible practices around clothing so we can aim messages that are about enhancing people’s sense of responsibility, communicating norms around what they ought to do, and start communicating with people who are more fashion conscious first,” Sorada said.

“We can use these surveys in future research to track preferences or behaviour change, to look at how market share will change eventually in terms of natural fibre.

“We can use it to look at incentives to reduce disposal or retain clothing for longer and understand our market segments better.

“Lastly, we can also help track how Australians are doing in terms of the different areas of circularity and use this information to improve life cycle analysis, material flow analysis, and validate previous statistics as to whether Australians really do buy 56 items per year.”

For more

Dr Sorada Tapsuwan

[email protected]

This article appears courtesy of the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC). It was published in the (Spring 2024) edition of CRDC’s Spotlight magazine: www.crdc.com.au/spotlight

Will consumers pay more for sustainability

Industry sustainability advisor Chris Cosgrove says the research can be used to encourage a higher proportion of sustainably produced natural fibres to be used in the textile and apparel industry.

“The finding that Australian consumers buy over 50 items of clothing per year is truly surprising, and it shows why a lot of organisations around the world are looking at how to encourage less frequent purchases of more sustainably produced clothing,” Chris said.

“The other finding that is important is over half the consumers surveyed prioritised sustainability.

“If the cotton industry and individual growers can give brands and the Australian Fashion Council Roadmap to Circularity more evidence that cotton is far more sustainable than polyester, it allows those fashion-forward consumers to be targeted more effectively to purchase less clothing made from more natural fibres.

“This makes the Strategic Roadmap for the Australian Cotton Industry – which includes traceability, data and sustainability certification – incredibly important to give textile buyers the evidence they need.

“It also makes the collective work of Australia’s cotton growers equally important to show consumer expectations around greenhouse gases, biodiversity, water quality, human rights, and other sustainability topics are being met.”

Chris also cautioned cotton growers against assuming ‘willingness to pay’ in a survey translates into consumers paying more at the cash register. 

“It’s very common for survey respondents to overstate their willingness for ‘virtuous’ things, like paying more for sustainable products or reducing drinks per week or increasing exercise,” he said.

“So growers shouldn’t think most consumers will actually pay more for sustainably-branded cotton.

“What it does clearly show though is that sustainability traits are important to the majority of consumers, and if individual growers or the industry as a whole can give evidence of meeting them, a sale is more likely to be made – especially at the premium end of the market.”

Are people willing to pay more for sustainability credentials?