How does Reformation show innovation in their business Model?

Over 90% of young people agree or strongly agree that humans are responsible for climate change (@WEFORUM, 2018). Inga Sibiya from Faithful to Nature states that ‘Millennials are perceived to be irresponsible, narcissistic and lazy yet recent polls show that 76% of them care about the environment and follow an eco-friendly lifestyle.’ This change in values and beliefs have conceived a strong influence over products and services consumed by the millennials. Such examples could be; food, clothes, accessories, IT products, etc. The strong encouragement comes from a moral and social matter, brands that are ignorant of environmental disasters, animal cruelty and pollution issues are shamed and ignored when purchasing products. The view is then encouraged to family and friends, and this creates a bandwagon effect and soon the products that once were important and on trend become looked down upon or slander into unimportance.

WEFORUM, 2018

An example of this is when H&M were accused of burning 12 tonnes of unsold but usable clothes, this problem is strongly ethical as well as impacting the environment in a terrible way. The clothes could have gone to poorer countries, where kids are unclothed or too poor to buy new clothes. But other than this, the burning of the clothes impacts the pollution greatly. Kids even as young as 15, are refusing to purchase the clothes in disgust and outrage over how a popular brand is treating the environment. This lead to H&M increasing sales and promotion of products and even lead to them launching a 2018 sustainability report (Farmbrough, 2018).

Although, these seem like small unnoticeable changes industries and companies are well aware and are even updating their products and promotion towards the new cohort. One company that strongly boosts environmental positivity are Reformation.

Reformation is an online brand that creates their clothes from sustainable and efficient materials like linen made from flax, TENCAL Modal, Viscose, TENCEL™ Lyocell and Deadstock & Vintage. Their mission statement reads, “The fabric is the magic and We make our pieces from super sustainable materials, rescued deadstock fabrics, and repurposed vintage clothing. As we grow, our goal is to push harder to create more sustainable fabric options. Remanufactured clothing can save more than 13,000 pounds of CO2 emissions a year. Also, it’s super cute.”

Reformation Site Page

This company is pushing towards a more efficient clothes production, which reduces the risk of hurting the environment, they promise trendy and cute clothes that are made from reusable materials. This is the step towards the new future. By innovating their products in a more environment sustainable way will lead them to new markets and more customer involvement. Whether this is from celebration of the brand or pushing of the brand through social media and word- of-mouth. They are making a difference and the other industries are starting to notice.

Reference list:

Farmbrough, H. (2018). H&M Is Pushing Sustainability Hard, But Not Everyone Is Convinced. [online] Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2018/04/14/hm-is-pushing-sustainability-hard-but-not-everyone-is-convinced/#7b7e37697ebd (Accessed 6 Sep. 2018).

Sparks, A. (2016). Are Millennials more eco-friendly than previous generations?. [online] EcoIdeaz. http://www.ecoideaz.com/expert-corner/are-millennials-more-eco-friendly-than-previous-generations (Accessed 6 Sep. 2018).

Thereformation.com. (2018). Our stuff - Reformation. [online] https://www.thereformation.com/pages/our-stuff (Accessed 6 Sep. 2018).

@WEFORUM, K. (2018). An insight into millennials’ vision of the world. [online] Shaperssurvey. http://www.shaperssurvey2017.org/ (Accessed 6 Sep. 2018).