The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced new guidelines for fashion brands when it comes to making sustainable claims about garments and these are set to impact retailers’ influencer strategies for 2025.
The UK regulator wants businesses to be clearer about their criteria for giving collections eco branding. This includes detailing minimum requirements for achieving sustainable status and whether green credentials are only relevant to specific elements of a product or its lifecycle.
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Influencer marketing has played a key role in driving consumer interest for fashion brands in 2024. CORQ data analysis of H1’s best performing adverts found 29% were produced by the industry. This makes sense – for fast fashion, trend-led styling is imperative for driving purchases and brands in this segment were early adopters of utilising influencer channels.
However, with these new guidelines, retailers will have to think carefully about who they work with to market sustainable collections. The CMA is asking for full transparency on environmental claims so that consumers can make informed decisions. In this scenario, fashion brands should consider developing creator content that educates and explains this for their target market.
This will be a shift for many retailers, as styling content tends to engage audiences the most. With this in mind, a key priority must be specifically creating new rosters for this work. Developing explanatory content with these creators will ensure eco claims can be substantiated and offer consumers a clear reference point before buying.
These creators needn’t be sustainability experts, but rather people who have an understanding of how the fashion industry works. Thanks to a rise in combative campaigns in 2024 – Greenpeace’s influencer adverts targeting Dove are a good example of this – it is unlikely eco-focused creators could work with fashion brands without facing an audience backlash.
However, smart shoppers who strive to buy well can create an authoritative context. Their audiences are following to learn – whether that’s about new collections and brands or adapting garments from previous seasons to be relevant now.
For any fashion marketer planning sustainable launches in 2025, this is a key piece of work for Q4. The requirement to substantiate eco-claims is one that’s here to stay and ensuring your brand can celebrate progress in this area requires a different kind of communicator.
By Sara McCorquodale, CEO and founder of CORQ.
