Primark boosts sustainability cred with eco jeans launch

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 12, 2019

Consumers are increasingly eco-focused and with fast fashion frequently being criticised for its eco footprint, it’s always interesting to see the moves such retailers are making to boost their sustainability credentials. 

Primark, which has frequently been in the firing line in years gone by, has today launched its first jeans made entirely from sustainable cotton with a debut across the UK and Europe.

It’s a big move for the retailer and one that’s likely to appeal to the mass of its Gen Z and Millennial customers who survey after survey show are extremely susceptible to marketing messages around eco-consciousness and other ethical issues.

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The materials that go into the jeans are being sourced through the retail giant’s Sustainable Cotton Programme, which has a wide-ranging aim of reducing the use of chemical pesticides, cutting the huge amounts of water that the industry uses to make its products, and also boosting the incomes of the farmers who grow the cotton in the first place.

The company already has a track record with sustainable cotton having launched pyjamas using an eco version of the fibre back in 2017. It said it has sold more than 11 million pairs of them since then. But cotton isn’t its only focus and other eco launches have included the recent debut of tops and leggings made from recycled polyester.

Yet the denim introduction is the most significant move given the widely publicised impact of denim production on the environment and also its place in so many women’s wardrobes. 

The firm’s new skinny jeans range (available in three different washes at £13/€17 each) is another step in the company’s goal of eventually using only sustainable cotton.

The company first launched the cotton programme in India during 2013, later extending it to Pakistan with 28,000 farmers now included. It’s working with sustainable cotton enterprise CottonConnect, as well as local charities in the two countries.