Distribution Network
Content
Marks & Spencer hopes to steal a march on its competitors this
month by becoming the first large UK retailer to sell clothing made
from 100 per cent Fairtrade cotton.
UK arrangements to source the cotton have only just become available through the Fairtrade Foundation, which has worked to set up deals with farmers in India’s Gujarat region. As a result, the high street chain will be able to sell only a limited range of socks and T-shirts in 40 stores and on its website until more supplies become available. But it is giving high-profile publicity to the initiative as part of a new ‘Look Behind the Label ‘campaign that tells customers how its products are sourced and made.
The 420 Marks & Spencer stores will feature ‘hard-hitting messages and striking imagery’ about the social and environmental impacts of the company’s products, backed by advertisements in the UK press and on the sides of M&S lorries.
The campaign will emphasize M&S’s performance in various areas, including its salt reduction programme in food products, the removal of hydrogenated fats and artificial colours from ready meals, the use of fish from sustainable sources and its ban on animal testing by suppliers.
The company said the campaign will be ‘the first time we’ve talked about the lengths to which we go to ensure everything we sell is produced in a responsible way’ and is partly a response to customers’ requests to know more about sourcing. A YouGov survey commissioned by M&S found 78 per cent of 2300 members of the public wanted to know more about the way clothes are made, including conditions in factories from which they come.
UK arrangements to source the cotton have only just become available through the Fairtrade Foundation, which has worked to set up deals with farmers in India’s Gujarat region. As a result, the high street chain will be able to sell only a limited range of socks and T-shirts in 40 stores and on its website until more supplies become available. But it is giving high-profile publicity to the initiative as part of a new ‘Look Behind the Label ‘campaign that tells customers how its products are sourced and made.
The 420 Marks & Spencer stores will feature ‘hard-hitting messages and striking imagery’ about the social and environmental impacts of the company’s products, backed by advertisements in the UK press and on the sides of M&S lorries.
The campaign will emphasize M&S’s performance in various areas, including its salt reduction programme in food products, the removal of hydrogenated fats and artificial colours from ready meals, the use of fish from sustainable sources and its ban on animal testing by suppliers.
The company said the campaign will be ‘the first time we’ve talked about the lengths to which we go to ensure everything we sell is produced in a responsible way’ and is partly a response to customers’ requests to know more about sourcing. A YouGov survey commissioned by M&S found 78 per cent of 2300 members of the public wanted to know more about the way clothes are made, including conditions in factories from which they come.
Super Featured
No
Featured
No