Marketers Hope Mainstream America is Ready for Organic Clothing

Mainstream marketers are betting even average consumers are ready to make an earth-friendly fashion statement by buying organic clothing which, according to a MediaPost article (via Environmental Leader), is more expensive and less practical.

H&M has been expanding its use of the fabric and has worked it into the spring collection. Gap recently introduced its Organic Cotton T-shirt for men in more than 500 stores. Timberland is also pushing organic T-shirts linked to Earth Day, and Nike, which blends organic cotton with non-organic, continues to be among the leading consumers of organic cotton.

The question is, does mainstream America care? In a survey, Cotton Inc. found that four out of 10 respondents “freely admitted to having no idea what the terms ’sustainable agriculture’ and ‘renewable’ mean.” And while marketers are making more of an effort to communicate the idea of sustainability to customers, shoppers are less interested. Since 2000, the number of consumers who find environmental friendliness an important aspect of an apparel purchase decision has dropped from 34 percent to 22 percent.