How Green is My Sneaker?

This is a really interesting article by Christina Binkley published in the Wall Street Journal on July 22, 2010. It's a little long, but worth the read!

How Green Is My Sneaker?

Are your Nikes greener than your Adidas?

There will soon be an answer to this question, if the manufacturers have their way.

A group of roughly 100 well-known apparel brands and retailers have developed a software tool to help them measure the environmental impact of their apparel and footwear, from raw material to garbage dump. Ultimately, the companies hope to display an eco-value on a tag or package, much like the Energy Star rating of appliances.

Greener Jeans

View Interactive

The Eco Index will be rolled out next month at the Outdoor Retailer trade show in Salt Lake City. The idea is to give manufacturers a common way to look at environment and human-rights impacts when designing their products.

Consumers won't immediately be able to see how brands rate. The companies won't say exactly when they'll be ready to go public with the Eco Index, which has been in the works for three years. But eventually, it could help shoppers compare how green garments are.

Sustainability has proven to be a powerful motivator for consumption of everything from Prius vehicles to conflict-free diamonds and Method household cleaners. It's also been shown to be an effective way to lure shoppers to try new products.

Of course, no eco index will convince people to wear unattractive clothes, no matter how green they are. But a high rating might cinch the decision between a pair of Levi's and Wranglers or attract green-minded consumers to other new brands.

Of course, we're still a long way from knowing the Eco Index rating of Jimmy Choos: No luxury companies are involved, according to the brands. Such brands have been slow to get involved with other new retailing trends, from online sales to social media, viewing their appeal as fundamentally different.

But the coalition participating in the index counts a broad swath of the apparel industry. The brands include retail giants like Levi Strauss & Co., Nike Inc. and Target Corp., as well as outdoor-wear makers like Brooks Sports, Adidas AG, Timberland Co., REI, Columbia Sportswear Co. and Patagonia Inc., according to the companies and industry-group committees. Outdoorsy companies have plenty of employees—and customers—who are attuned to environmental issues.

Apparel doesn't sound like a dirty industry, but its manufacturing has huge global consequences. Tanning leather often involves toxic chemicals. Making synthetic fabrics such as polyester uses large amounts of crude oil and other materials that release volatile compounds. Cotton-growing is water-intensive—and cotton is often shipped from the U.S. and Europe to Asia to make thread and fabric, then shipped elsewhere for cutting and elsewhere again for sewing. Some of our clothes have circled the globe twice by the time they arrive in stores.

Increasingly, environmentalists believe we should also count the costs at the other end of clothing's life: the garbage dump. Americans tossed out 12.4 million tons of textiles in 2008—a number that has risen far faster than other sources of trash, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Our consumption habits were a lot more sustainable back in 1960, when we tossed out only 1.8 million tons of textiles.

The Eco Index, which is basically a software tool any apparel maker can use, poses a series of questions to companies on their environmental and labor practices—some of which require answers from the companies' suppliers. It then assigns a score representing a percentage of a perfect score.

The questions cover every step in the life of a product, from raw-material production to manufacturing, shipping, and even disposal. For instance, Levi's gets points for having a recycling program that lets consumers drop off their old jeans at Goodwill, and Timberland earns points for using leather tanneries that have wastewater-purifying systems. Points are lost for using bulky packing material or transporting goods long distances. The Eco Index also includes estimates of how consumers will wash and eventually dispose of their clothes.

Some of the points are awarded for changes with very speculative impacts. Levi's care tags ask consumers to wash in cold water, line-dry and donate to Goodwill. All of that earns Levi's points on the Eco Index. But that doesn't necessarily make Levi's greener than a pair of Wranglers, which can just as easily be dropped off at the Salvation Army.

Participants also say the survey involves a lot of estimates and isn't as detailed as it could be, a result of the many types of brands it covers. The production process for shoes doesn't share many elements with the production of a shirt. All the information is self-reported, and the companies don't have to provide proof.

Energy Star ratings, which were created by the EPA in 1992, are also estimates, but they have become an international standard for rating the energy efficiency of appliances. For the same thing to happen with the Eco Index, it must be made available to shoppers at the point of sale.

Some companies are impatient with the pace of the rollout to the public. "Our industry is flirting with getting this right," says Jeff Swartz, chief executive of Timberland Co., which makes outdoor apparel. Mr. Swartz says he's frustrated that the Eco Index coalition isn't moving faster, so Timberland is already putting its own version of green ratings on its packages and website.

Levi's vice president of social and environmental sustainability, Michael Kobori, says the tool will be available "as soon as we can get everybody to agree" on how to publish and communicate it.

Nike

Nike is one of the sportswear and apparel makers using the Eco Index to measure its products' environmental impact.

This sounds about as easy as herding cats, given the numerous brands involved. It's one thing, many companies say, to use the data internally, but quite another to trumpet it to the world. They want to be sure everyone communicates the data in the same way. For instance, they don't agree on whether the index should be communicated as a single number on a hang tag or in a more detailed manner that might involve directing customers to data on the Web.

"It's got to be uniform in order to be useful," says Rick Ridgeway, vice president of environmental initiatives for Patagonia.

For now, "it's a tool for a company to use to make a better choice," says Amy Roberts, vice president of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association, a Boulder, Colo.-based trade organization that has shepherded the measure's development.

To use the index, companies must pepper their suppliers with questions about materials use, labor standards, and recycling. These suppliers get points or ratings such as "gold," "silver," and bronze." Timberland started seeking out leather tanneries with more sustainable standards, says Betsy Blaisdell, Timberland's senior manager of environmental stewardship. "I now have tanneries fighting over the points needed to get a silver rating," she says.

As part of its participation in the Eco Index, Levi's did a separate internal study of its own practices. As a result, Levi's changed its transportation routes last year to make them more efficient and reduced carbon emissions by 700 metric tons. In addition to the Goodwill agreement, Levi's also cut back on packaging, allowing only three pieces of labeling with the jeans—a back-pocket tag, a size sticker, and a price tag.

Brooks redesigned its shoe boxes after finding that its score wasn't as high as it had hoped. When the shoe boxes earned a score of roughly 40%, footwear operations manager Chase Mueller went to work to improve it.

Among other changes, Brooks got rid of moisture-absorbing silica bags, which turned out to be ineffective, and stopped stuffing the insides of shoes with tissue paper. As an added benefit, the "green" changes reduced the cost of the shoe box by 38%.

In this instance, the index appears to be working. Mr. Mueller is now looking to create a recycling program for Brooks's shoe boxes. "I'd like [the score] to be much higher," he says.

Camp Wedding

I love this!

Video via Wall Street Journal

Yoga pants to the rescue?

How Old Navy Saved a Life
Yoga pants to the rescue.

By GapWeb Daily
June 2, 2010

A four-way recovery stretch fabric. Pure comfort. A great value.

But stopping a bullet? No. That was never part of any quality assurance conversation.

Still, that’s exactly what happened. Old Navy yoga pants are being credited for a dramatic rescue – sparing a woman’s knee from a stray bullet.

And now she’s giving the brand the best word of mouth marketing it could ever ask for.

“All my guardian angels were on my side that day,” said Nicole Flourney, who added that she’d definitely be shopping Old Navy again.

The improbable story unfolded May 19, when Nicole was driving through Oakland, Calif., after having picked up her brother-in-law. It was 10:45 p.m.

The bullet was tucked deep inside this piece of cloth.

A single shot cracked through the night. The bullet punched through the passenger door of Nicole’s 1996 Dodge Magnum. It ricocheted off the radio. Nicole knew something bad had happened because the bullet also shattered glass.

“I didn’t realize that I’d been shot,” she said. “When I applied pressure on the gas pedal, I felt this tinge of pain.”

The bullet, as it turned out, had lodged into her right knee joint. The yoga pants – 93 percent cotton, 7 percent spandex – apparently helped prevent the knee from shattering. Or worse.

Everyone told her that. The police. The paramedics. The doctor on the swing shift.

In fact, later that night, at the hospital, surgery wasn’t even required. The doctor pulled, three times, to extract the bullet, which was lodged into the lucky pants.

Amazing.

“The doctor told me that, if these pants didn’t have 7 percent spandex,” Nicole said, “I would have had a shattered knee.”

For Nicole, a medical assistant in Union City, Calif., luck started the whole thing. She bought two pair of yoga pants at oldnavy.com in January. She began wearing them to work because they were so comfortable.

Imagine, she thought, if she’d been wearing thin, flimsy hospital scrubs that night?

“The whole night, everyone kept saying how amazed they were about the injury,” she said. “They took pictures and were just in awe that these pants literally didn’t allow the bullet through its material.”

It was traumatic, scary, emotional. And, at the end, relieving – even somewhat funny.

“Everyone kept telling me,” she said, “that they’re all going shopping at Old Navy.”

today's headline

Okay, so maybe I put this on off for awhile. I can't believe this has been sitting on my coffee table for over a month already.. Oops!

But this news is too exciting not to share!!

Urban Outfitters to start a wedding brand

By Andrew Maykuth

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Aiming to maintain the growth that led to record 2009 sales and profit, Urban Outfitters Inc. today disclosed plans to start another retail brand next year, this one aimed at the $60 billion wedding industry.

The Philadelphia specialty retailer, whose Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie stores target an upscale clientele, said it planned to launch the as-yet-unnamed bridal business by Valentine's Day 2011, first online and later with a store opening.

"We think this is going to be a meaningful business," Glen T. Senk, chief executive officer, told analysts today while reviewing the company's 2009 earnings, which included record sales of $1.9 billion and record profit of $220 million.

"Anybody we talk to about this goes, 'Wow, that's exciting,' " he said.

The idea for creating a brand aimed at weddings - featuring heirloom gowns, accessories, intimate apparel, decor, and gifts - grew out of the company's existing business, which often catered to brides and their entourages, Senk said.

According to the company's research, matrimony means money: The average wedding costs $45,000 to stage, and the bride alone spends $4,500 on clothing and accessories.

Bridalwear is a niche that suffered badly last year in the economic downturn; many high-end boutiques closed.

But for Urban Outfitters, the new line could represent a happy marriage with its long-term strategy to expand sales and profit by nurturing six to eight "meaningful" brands - while not allowing one brand to grow so large that it loses value. Along with Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, the company operates Free People stores, a Terrain garden center in Glen Mills, and the Leifsdottir wholesale line.

Though the retail industry generally reported strong earnings this year, reflecting a rebound from its 2008 crash, Urban's earnings exceeded analysts' expectations.

Holly Guthrie, an analyst with Boenning & Scattergood Inc., said Urban Outfitters was able to adjust its offerings quickly to the new market conditions.

"They're fast," she said. "They figured it all out."

Sales of $1.9 billion for the year ended Jan. 31 represented a 6 percent increase over 2008. Fourth-quarter sales were up 16 percent, to $589 million. Net income for 2009 rose 10 percent, to $220 million. Quarterly profit of $77.7 million was up 92 percent over the same quarter in 2008.

Despite the snow, Senk said, February sales were also up, indicating that the market for high-end merchandise has been growing.

The company's Internet sales increased from $272 million in 2008 to $324 million last year, 17.7 percent of sales compared with 14.9 percent in 2008, Senk said.

Online sales could amount to more than 30 percent of the company's future business, he said. Urban Outfitters is installing new data-mining software to allow it to target its e-mail-marketing campaigns and to capitalize on its customer base in social networks such as Facebook.

"I don't want to limit how much of our business e-commerce can be," he said.

The company is expanding its European presence and is laying the groundwork to move into the Far East in 2012 or 2013. Senk said he envisioned international sales eventually amounting to 25 percent to 35 percent of the company's business.

Urban Outfitters' stock closed at $34.34 a share today, up 94 cents, or 2.81 percent.

today's headline

Thought this was pretty awesome and groundbreaking for the fashion industry.  I am excited! Read it yourself, and tell me what you think. Bringing Crowd Sourcing to Fashion: Internet startup aims to shake up fashion industry

By Edward Krudy

April 1, 2010

NEW YORK  - An Internet startup called Fashion Stake launching in coming weeks aims to shake up the fashion industry, just as peer-to-peer file sharing changed the music industry.

Fashion Stake will allow customers to directly fund fashion designers by browsing on-line collections and buying a stake in a collection in return for credits to buy clothes. Patrons can also share ideas with designers and vote on collections.

The model, inspired by Internet-based social media networks like Twitter and Facebook, taps into a growing business model called crowd sourcing where entrepreneurs go directly to customers for content, funding, and distribution.

Daniel Gulati, the firm's chief executive and a student at Harvard Business School where the project was born, says creative, high margin industries are moving away from a "gatekeeper" model where executives decide what the public consumes.

"We think this can be a real game changer," he said. "What we're basically doing is redirecting the margin to fans and cutting out the retailer altogether."

Advocates of crowd sourcing say it offers consumers a cheaper, more flexible alternative and frees artists from having to get past big corporations.

New York-based designer Althea Harper says the new model could help her find funding, scarcer after the financial crisis, as well as bypass buyers at retail outlets.

"It's hard getting the retailers to trust in you as a new designer," she said. "I've seen them pick up horrible lines from more established houses just because they've got the reputation."

Olga Vidisheva, a former model and Goldman Sachs equity analyst, who is Gulati's classmate at Harvard, is looking forward to using Fashion Stake.

"You usually don't have access to the starting designers. There's a lot of pain that they go through until they can sign with Saks or Bloomingdales, said Vidisheva, who spends "several thousand" dollars a year on clothes.

Power to the crowd
Recent years have seen a rapid growth in interactive business models and Internet-based social media, or so-called Web 2.0. Global communities centered around services like Facebook and Twitter are millions strong.

Peer-to-peer lending, linking individual lenders with borrowers, has taken off in the U.S. through companies like Prosper, while so-called open innovation companies like NineSigma allow corporations to outsource problems to networks of innovators.

"You can crowd source, you can crowd fund, you can get economies of scale, and you can customize the output to deal with local markets," said Alec Karys, a consultant advising Fashion Stake.

Gulati, a former analyst at investment bank Macquarie, sees creative industries, such as publishing and journalism, with strong fan bases, as a prime target for crowd sourcing. He points to Spot.Us, a website that allows users to select and fund journalistic work that conventional media might overlook.

"Why should we leave it up to just a couple of people to decide what the public wants? Let's actually just go straight to the crowd," he said. "It's a two way conversation between brands and their fans. It's not a one way type of logic anymore."

Harvard Professor Thomas Eisenmann, who studies platform-based businesses that exploit network effects, says the trend toward interactive business models is accelerating.

"You've got a whole bunch of businesses that worked well in Web 1.0, and those businesses either need to add social media - social networking functionality - or they're at risk of getting leapfrogged by newcomers that do this," he said.

However, Eisenmann says crowd funding has limits where curatorial choice is still desirable, for example at certain newspapers and media organizations that people turn to for editorial insight.

"I don't think the old models are going away," he said. "I think you'll see a lot of incumbent players add (network) functionality as an option."