Pure London has released a study, conducted by ITE Group, about Sustainability in The Retail Industry. As sustainability has rocketed up the retail agenda in recent years as brands and retailers come under mounting pressure to reduce their impact on the environment, ITE asked 1896 national and independent retailers to take part. The study found that:

• 66% of the retail industry believes it will take three years or more to become truly sustainable. 
• 73% of retailers have made sustainability changes in their operations. 
• Retailers want to increase their sustainable products by a third by the end of 2020. 

The study went on to explore the impacts of this and concluded that it was estimated that to make products sustainable retailers would have to increase prices by 19% on average. In contrast, it is estimated that customers would only be willing to pay 9% more for these sustainable products. 

• 20% believed the failure of suppliers to act sustainably or transparently was the biggest challenge facing the industry. 
• Returning to traditional skillsets such as sewing and re-building the British manufacturing industry has been commented on for achieving genuine sustainability and safeguarding future generations. 
• After the UK government's rejection of all recommendations made the Environmental Audit Committee report into fast fashion it has been suggested that there need to be stringent regulations to clean up the industry including stricter labelling. 
• It was suggested that companies should be putting activism, recycling, upcycling, re-use, natural, and sustainable materials at the heart of the business. 

When asked about the most important reason for sustainable behaviour:

• 80% of retail businesses stated it was the future of the planet, above brand image.
• 6% economic prosperity. 
• 6% increased business productivity. 
• Reduced costs.
• Greater regulatory compliance. 

For more information and the full report visit purelondon.com.