|
Surveys
We conducted an
online survey of interest in and likelihood of buying ethical
clothing (October 2002 – January 2003). More than a 1000 people
from the UK and abroad have completed the questionnaire. The
results are very similar to PR week and ICM’s ethical survey
(October 2002).
Please see the ICM web site for more information.
The key findings
are detailed below. A complete
set of results is also available to view.
If you would like
to take part in any future surveys, please subscribe
to our newsletter
Key findings:
-
Not surprisingly,
about 71% who completed this survey are women,
of whom 48% are aged 26 - 35. It seems that our first
collection of clothing will clearly be for women!
-
All types
of people did this survey from students to bankers to
journalists. Almost half of all respondents live in London.
The most frequently read newspapers are Guardian and Times.
-
We asked what
criteria an item of clothing would need to have to be
considered ethical.
87% felt that it had to guarantee that no child
labour is involved in its production. This was followed
closely by almost 81% who also believed that no
sweatshop manufacturers are acceptable. The third
major factor (68%) is that the community producing
the clothing directly benefits.
-
There are
many other factors that respondents said that contribute
to ‘ethical’ clothing:
-
Some interesting
issues were also raised: “the problem with no child
labour is if you take a country where children routinely
work from say 10 years old, is that bad? I am not sure,
if they combined it with school etc and it generates income
for their village...it’s a hard one that but certainly
long hours and oppressive conditions for children are
out!”
-
The good news
is that more than 75% are concerned about production
and would buy ‘ethically produced’ clothing. However,
they are not willing to compromise on quality, style or
fashion. 77% want comparable quality, approximately
65% would like similar style and price to High
Street stores.
-
We asked some
attitudinal questions:
-
84% agreed
that ‘if the clothes are stylish, I would rather buy
ones that are ethically produced’.
-
75% agreed
with ‘as long as I am not paying more, I would rather
buy something that is ethically made’.
-
About
53% agreed with ‘there are certain brands that I would
never buy from for social, economic and political
reasons’.
-
Regarding
current attitudes and practices to ‘ethical’ products,
58% purchase Fair Trade products or / and buy for political,
social or economic reasons e.g. dolphin friendly tuna.
For more information,
please contact
|
