As climate change has created some irreversible changes in today’s world, many fields including the business sector have taken significant sustainable actions toward this global issue. Business sustainability, which is defined as the comprehensive term corporate sustainability, refers to economic and social development that is built by a company's strategy and actions to minimize the drawbacks to the environment and society. Since corporate sustainability has never been more important than it is today, in order to engage stakeholders and align with principles, companies are pursuing sustainability more actively compared to the past decade.
According to a survey conducted by McKinsey, 70% of the respondents reported that their companies have formal administration of sustainability which shows an increase considering this value was 56% in 2014. The reasons for this increase in sustainability within the business sector are both financial and ethical.
Nowadays, in order to analyze an organization’s ethical impact and sustainability practices, several investors use environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics such as greenhouse gas emissions, water and energy usage, carbon footprint, employee turnover rates, and reported HR violations. Previous research by McKinsey shows that companies with strong ESG ratings have a lower cost of loan and equity and that promoting sustainability can boost a company's bottom line while winning over the public. There is a significant correlation between social and environmental progress and financial gain meaning that doing unharmful and ethical business gives you a company that is financially doing well.
Research shows that 84% of business leaders strongly agreed that achieving environmental sustainability goals and global economic development at the same time was feasible. This data clearly shows that many businesses have taken into account the benefits of sustainability.
While there is an obvious positive impact on the financial part, these practices have also been crucial for the company-customer relationships. According to Capgemini, companies that implement sustainability programs report higher customer loyalty (77%) and report higher sales (63% ) as a result.
One of the business fields affected by sustainable developments is the fashion industry. Since the fashion industry produces 10% of annual global carbon emissions while making our everyday clothes, consumers and the industry have become more aware of the serious cost of damage to the environment. This is where today’s increasingly popular term “sustainable fashion” rises.
Sustainable fashion refers to clothes that are created by using natural and organic materials and consumed in a sustainable way while protecting both the environment and those producing garments. Over the past decade, significant actions have been taken in the sustainable fashion.
Recently, the term "regenerative" has begun to become a popular term in the fashion industry. Many global fashion brands have started to use regenerative agriculture techniques to reduce the negative impact of fashion production on the environment in line with the increasing needs and demands for environmentally friendly fashion. Given that most of the clothes produced come directly from nature, a large part of it from organic soils, the need for regenerative agricultural practices, such as integrating animal husbandry and growing various crops, is obvious.
Maggie Marilyn, a New Zealand-based brand, has worked with the world's first climate-positive cotton farming Good Earth Cotton, and a climate-positive merino wool farm, Lake Hawea Station. UGG, which is another brand that puts an emphasis on the importance of regenerative agricultural practices, introduced its second carbon-neutral Icon-Impact collection for 2022 Spring/Summer.
Consequently, as corporate sustainability continues to develop and more global fashion brands start using new practices in sustainable fashion, it is important that all consumers around the world provide support and also find more opportunities to buy these innovative products.