Marks & Spencer hopes to steal a march on its competitors this
month by becoming the first large UK retailer to sell clothing made
from 100 per cent Fairtrade cotton.
UK arrangements to source the cotton have only just become available
through the Fairtrade Foundation, which has worked to set up deals with
farmers in India’s Gujarat region. As a result, the high street chain
will be able to sell only a limited range of socks and T-shirts in 40
stores and on its website until more supplies become available. But it
is giving high-profile publicity to the initiative as part of a new
‘Look Behind the Label ‘campaign that tells customers how its products
are sourced and made.
The 420 Marks & Spencer stores will feature ‘hard-hitting messages
and striking imagery’ about the social and environmental impacts of the
company’s products, backed by advertisements in the UK press and on the
sides of M&S lorries.
The campaign will emphasize M&S’s performance in various areas,
including its salt reduction programme in food products, the removal of
hydrogenated fats and artificial colours from ready meals, the use of
fish from sustainable sources and its ban on animal testing by
suppliers.
The company said the campaign will be ‘the first time we’ve talked
about the lengths to which we go to ensure everything we sell is
produced in a responsible way’ and is partly a response to customers’
requests to know more about sourcing. A YouGov survey commissioned by
M&S found 78 per cent of 2300 members of the public wanted to know
more about the way clothes are made, including conditions in factories
from which they come.
