Blog 6: Money, Money, Money: Does price reflect sustainability?

Hi Conscious Consumers 🪴.

Let's talk money  👀. 

Now, maybe you aren't as financially restrained as me, a full-time student and a full-time mum but can you still afford to buy sustainable clothes. I have being researching pricing and understanding why sustainable clothes are priced at a premium rate so let me share this with you! Remember, my mailbox is always open so any questions, fire them my way! 🥰

                                        The Marketing Mix - 7P's 

Reader notes: In National 5 and even higher business you would have learned about the 4P's - Price, Product, Promotion and Place well...it's now got even more P's to add. People, the physical environment and the process are all important too. So please remember these whilst at university! (P.S. Remember people are always at the heart of the business). 

Price

Price is one of the most important elements to the marketing mix (Išoraitė, 2016). Kolter and Armstrong (2012) define price as the amount of money that exchanged for a product, or service. By having correct pricing strategies in place, companies can create competitive advantage from competitors (Dibb et al, 2019). 

Watch this to understand price more. 

So back to sustainability? 

Looking at very sustainable clothing items, they are always sold at a premium. For example, brands that are known as eco-friendly such as Patagonia, Eileen Fisher and Unformed are better for the planet but are unaffordable for many consumers. 

Can i really afford £120 for an eco-friendly fleece or £134.99 for a t-shirt? 

Absolutely not, especially for myself as i am no longer the priority within my household and my clothing budget is tight. 

But why are they so highly priced in the first place? What's really is the difference between a £120 fleece and a £15.99 from Shein. 

They look the same right? 

Is the high premium price turning money conscious consumers away? 

Yes, it is shown on a weekly basis that people want to stop their fast-fashion addiction but cannot afford to due to the friendly alternatives being so much more expensive (Kachroo-Levine, 2015). 

So, what's the reason for these items to be so high priced in the first place? 

• Ethical Sourcing and Fair labour costs - Sustainable fashion brands like unfolded, prioritise ethical sourcing materials and ensure fair wages for their garment workers (Perry, Wood and Fernie, 2014). Therefore, need to increase the cost of their products to successfully implement this. 

• High-Quality Materials - Eco-friendly materials, are not cheap. Organic cotton, recycled fabrics and sustainable synethics all come at a high cost but they do offer better quality and are more durable, therefore, should last longer than your £15.99 jumper from Shein (Truna et al., 2023). 

• Eco-Friendly Technology is £££ - Investing in technology to reduce environmental footprint to expensive and it can just keep building. Adopting sustainable practices such as using renewable energy and reducing water consumption all adds up but it does protect the environment in the long run (Biekša, Zonienė and Valiulė, 2021). 

• Legal Factors - To become an eco-friendly company, they are many legal factors and certificates that involve rigorous audits and traceability efforts. Companies that have successfully completed this may receive certifications from reputable organisations such as Fair-trade. 

So, it's up to you. Is paying the extra £105 worth it for a jumper? 

I think so. 

Maybe, we just need to budget better. 

Hope this helps! 

Heather 

 

 References - 

Biekša, K., Zonienė, A. and Valiulė, V. (2021) Sustainable Investment—A Solution to Reduce Environmental Footprint. Energies. Vol.14 (11), p.3104.

 

Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W. M. and Ferrell, O. C. (2019) Marketing Concepts and Strategies. 8th ed. Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom: Cengage Learning, Emea.

 

Išoraitė, M. (2016) MARKETING MIX THEORETICAL ASPECTS. International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH. [Online] Vol.4 (6), pp.25–37. Available: https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v4.i6.2016.2633.

 

Kachroo-Levine, M. (2015) When You Want To Quit Fast Fashion, But Can’t Afford To [Online]. The Financial Diet. Available: https://thefinancialdiet.com/when-you-want-to-quit-fast-fashion-but-cant-afford-to/ [Accessed 12 Apr 2024].

 

Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 14th Edition, Pearson Education Limited, Essex, England.

 

Perry, P., Wood, S. and Fernie, J. (2014) Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol.130 (3), pp.737–752.

 

Truna, U., Harding-Rolls, G., Banegas, X., Urbancic, N. and Nguyen, A. (2023) Synthetics Anonymous Fashion Brands’ addiction to fossil fuels