Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Can barcodes make fashion more transparent – and will consumers care? ... A global coalition considers offering sustainability data via QR codes. But it's unclear whether the system will change habits
Matthew Williamson at H&M ... QR codes may drive more transparency, but will they change consumer behavior? Photograph: David Levene

The world's largest fashion companies are collaborating to solve a puzzle that has so far eluded every other business sector.

How is it possible to connect people to the wealth of environmental and social data that is now available in a way that changes their purchasing habits?

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), which represents more than a third of the global clothing and footwear market, is considering a Quick Response (QR) code system that will allow consumers to scan clothing labels at the point of purchase using smartphones.

While other companies have been experimenting with this technology, this would represent the first time QR codes have been scaled up across an entire industry in an attempt to drive the sustainability agenda.

Karl-Johan Persson, the CEO of H&M, the world's second largest fast fashion company, tells Guardian Sustainable Business that it is important that companies are able to connect customers to the products they are buying.

'If you could have a clothing label, which we are working on, where you can see the environmental footprint and the social footprint, then you could really inform the customers and they could make a choice to go to the companies that are responsible,' he says.

'The more we can explain the work behind every product and behind every company, the better.'

While there is agreement in principle to make available a simplified version of the information contained within SAC's Higg Index, which standardises the measurement of the environmental and social impacts across the value chain, there remain doubts about whether this will make any difference to people's consumption habits.

Jason Kibbey, executive director of SAC, says there is no point sharing the information 'unless it becomes part of people's decision-making process, and so far other efforts of this kind have not lived up to their promise'.

'In general, companies have milliseconds to make an impression when buyers make purchasing decisions, which means it is very hard to make it work. One has to ask whether consumers will go onto websites and then come back to the shop.

'Where there is a lot of promise is that smartphones are becoming an extension of the brains of millennials, so you can see the possibility of this becoming more seamlessly embedded into their purchasing decisions.'

Kibbey is quick to point out that there is no final agreement yet on when such a system will be introduced and that it is still in the prototype stage.

There are also disagreements among members about when to launch, with some companies wanting to crack on, while others are being more circumspect.

Kibey says those companies, like H&M, which want to move faster, believe the most important first step is to get the information out in a transparent manner and then the marketplace over time will work out how best to use it in creative ways.

While a consensus amongst all brands is unlikely in the short term, Kibbey believes that what may speed up the pace of change is the European Commission's product environmental footprint proposals, which provide principles for communicating sustainability performance, such as transparency, reliability, completeness, comparability and clarity. Kibbey says this will 'force a lot of experimentation'.

Over the past couple of years, QR technology has been tested in the food industry as a way to reinforce sustainability credentials, including being used by several sushi restaurants in the UK and America.

Food giant Nestlé last year put QR codes on its multi-packs of Kit Kat in the UK to give people instant access to information about the nutritional profile and environmental and social impacts of the chocolate bars. It plans to roll out the system across its product portfolio in both emerging and developed markets. Since it's launch last year, more than 26,000 have used the system.

A Nestlé spokesman said: 'We believe consumers are increasingly interested in understanding more about the impact to society and the environment of the product they buy and its nutritional value. That's why we are experimenting with different ways of delivering that information, including the use of QR codes.

'It's still too early to assess whether this is the most effective way to do this. We are always looking at different ways in which digital innovation can give consumers the information they need.'

sparclear 06 March 2014 7:58am

Read through this with every expectation it might help until I saw that the manufacturers themselves are doing the bar coding. What is to stop them telling us more whoppers, then? And what about those of us who are quite happy, thankyou very much, without buying smart phones?

Somehow, I think this is going to be as much use at covering up Capitalism's sins as all the other self-policing and self-labelling measures.

Each level of the supply chain needs its own stern supervision and the people at the top must disinvest themselves of PR varnish at once, knowing that they are responsible for abuses all the way through. The City, too, must understand its collusive role with stocks and shares, pension funds, and unethical investments hidden from ordinary people.

From the hideous environmental damage caused during most fabric production, to the way machinists are employed, to the way Fashion promotes stuff which doesn't last, to the way it gets chucked into landfill, humankind's burden is still awful for the Earth to bear.

Unless the bar code is very widely understood and strictly adhered to by all major retailers, it's not a cure. Nestlé is only 'considering' it. These giants are highly practised and without conscience. They manipulate the markets with the help of top lawyers and accountants. Through the Guardian wouldn't critical analysis from journalists in the Business section be allowed here?