ST. LOUIS — May 25, 2021 — A new Stifel survey indicates that consumers believe it’s important for companies to act sustainably and most are willing to pay a premium for brands that demonstrate ethical business practices, environmental care, and social responsibility. Based on this insight, Stifel is also introducing the “Stifel Sustainable Lifestyle Brands Index,” which ranks brands based on consumer perception of corporate sustainability practices.

Stifel, working with Morning Consult,surveyed 4,756 U.S. active/casual lifestyle brand consumers ages 18-55 and found:

• 83 percent believe it’s important for brands to act sustainably (39 percent consider it “very important”).
• 71 percent report caring more now about buying sustainable products than a year ago, and 58 percent intend to buy fewer products for the sake of sustainability.
• Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) consider sustainability factors when choosing between brands.
• More than two-thirds (67 percent) are willing to pay more for brands with leading sustainability practices, and half (52 percent) regularly opt for more expensive products because they are more sustainable.
• Some of the top sustainability priorities respondents consider “very important” include giving workers fair pay and benefits (60 percent), supporting racial equality (48 percent), and protecting local environments and ecosystems (43 percent).
• Nearly half (46 percent) have either boycotted or stopped buying a brand or product specifically because of sustainability concerns.

“We believe consumer appreciation for sustainable brands is reaching an inflection point,” said Jim Duffy, managing director and Sports and Lifestyle Brands Analyst at Stifel. “The empowered and connected consumer is armed with more available information about products and brands than ever before, and we are seeing increasing emphasis on sustainability in personal values and buying behavior.”

Full survey results can be found here.

Introducing the Stifel Sustainable LifestyleBrands Index

In conjunction with the survey, Stifel is launching the “Stifel Sustainable Lifestyle Brands Index,” which ranks brands based on U.S. active/casual lifestyle consumer perception of brand sustainability practices. Brands were measured according to three metrics of sustainability: environmental,social, and ethical business practices.

Brands with the highest overall score include, in order:

1. Bombas
2. Patagonia
3. The North Face
4. adidas
5. Allbirds
6. Hydro Flask
7. A four-way tiebetween Puma, Rothy’s, YETI, and Columbia.

Newer brands that have staked their brand identity on matters of corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability (Bombas, Allbirds, Rothy’s, and YETI) scored exceptionally well in the Index, indicating effective messaging with the category purchasers in the U.S.

The Index also highlights the evolved sustainability practices and effective communication of leading outdoor brands(Patagonia, The North Face, and Columbia) as well as European athletic lifestyle brands with advanced sustainability initiatives (adidas and Puma).

“Brands will continue to compete on innovation, product quality, customer experience, and value, but sustainability is becoming another key factor in the minds of consumers,” Duffy noted.

Global Insights

The survey also questioned 5,259 additional active/causal lifestyle brand consumers ages18-55 across the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and China. Across all markets, an overwhelming majority of category purchasers say they’re trying to be more sustainable day to day and agree that sustainability’s influence on their purchasing decisions has increased in the last year.

Additional findings include:

• Italy had the highest percentage of category purchasers respond that overall sustainability matters were “very important” to them.
• U.S. consumers are more likely than those in China, but less likely in those surveyed European markets, to consider sustainability as a top purchasing priority when shopping active/casual lifestyle brands.
• In all countries surveyed, most respondents try to learn about a brand’s sustainability practices before buying and admit to purchasing a new product specifically because of sustainability practices.
• German category purchasers showed the greatest willingness to pay a premium for leading sustainability practices, with 76 percent indicating comfort with higher product prices.

“Increasing emphasis on sustainability across the globe underscores the importance for brands to define and communicate sustainability initiatives to an attentive consumer set,” summarized Duffy. “We expect sustainability will prove a source of competitive separation for leading brands in the coming years, while brands that are underinvested will be left behind.”

Survey Methodology

Morning Consult conducted n=10,015 online interviews among active/casual lifestyle brand consumers ages 18-55 in the U.S., UK, Italy, Germany, France, and China from April 16-25, 2021. Interviews in each market were carefully sampled and weighted to be demographically representative for their age groups according to published population statistics for age, gender, region, education, race, and income in the U.S., and age, gender, region, and education in the UK, Italy, Germany, France, and China.

Active/casual lifestyle brand consumers are defined as those who purchased at least one of the following types of brands within the past six months: athletic or activewear clothing or footwear brands; casual lifestyle clothing or footwear brands; outdoor clothing or footwear brands (i.e., for hiking, skiing, etc.); or sporting goods or outdoor recreation equipment brands.

Sustainable Lifestyle Brand Index Methodology

Stifel and Morning Consult measured sustainability ratings for 50 active/casual lifestyle brands with leading sustainability practices among n=4,756 active/casual lifestyle brand consumers in the U.S. Active/casual lifestyle brands were measured according to three metrics of sustainability: environmental sustainability, ethical business practices, and social sustainability. Index scores for each of these metrics were calculated according to the following methodology, and then averaged together to compute the overall Sustainable Lifestyle Brand Index Score.

Calculations for each brand focus on those who selected a response on Stifel’s four-point scale,excluding those who selected “Don’t know/No Opinion.” Raw scores were calculated for each brand by adding value for positive ratings and subtracting value for negative ratings. “Excellent” and “Poor” were given twice the weight of “Good” and “Just fair” to ensure more polarized views were reflected in the scores. Finally, raw scores were converted to index scores, where the average score for each metric is indexed to 100. This ensures Stifel’s three metrics are uniform, and have equal weight when averaged together to compute the overall Sustainable Lifestyle Brand Index Score.

Posted May 25, 2021

Source: Stifel

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — May 25, 2021 — TRSA recently finished the first leg of its Reopening Tour 2021 through the Southeastern United States to highlight the reopening of the economy and its impact on the linen, uniform and facility services industry. Traveling from the TRSA headquarters in Alexandria, VA, through Charlotte, NC; Birmingham, AL; and Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, TN, over the course of 10 days, the Tour traveled nearly 2,600 miles, across seven states and 22 operator and supplier-partner facilities. TRSA representatives on the Tour included Joseph Ricci, president & CEO; Tom Newell, vice president of operations; Kevin Schwalb, vice president of government relations; and intern Ryan Kiernan.

“It was great to be back in plants and meeting with members again,” Ricci said. “Business is coming back and we highlighted the reopening throughout the Tour. Every member was excited about the economy bouncing back but concerned about worker shortages and supply-chain issues not only for themselves but also for their customers, and the negative impact it may have on the recovery.”

The Tour included stops at large, national members and regional independent operators, as well as supplier partners, all essential services supporting critical infrastructure from healthcare to food processing, manufacturing, logistics and other services. Highlights of the Tour were distributed on social media including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, resulting in more than 15,200 impressions, as well as numerous comments, likes and other recognition across each platform.

The Tour also provided opportunities to see members’ products and services impacting the safety, hygiene, sustainability and comfort of guests, visitors and employees at national landmarks such as Talladega Superspeedway, Country Music Hall of Fame, Graceland (Elvis Presley’s home) and the Lorraine Motel (location of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination and Civil Rights Museum), as well as restaurants, hotels and other locations. Throughout the Tour, TRSA tried to capture products and services “in action,” from table linens and garments in restaurants to bed linens in hotels to hand-sanitizing dispensers. Member products and services, as well as delivery trucks and logos, were visible everywhere.

Over the course of the trip, it was evident that the industry is coming back stronger based on efforts to diversify markets and introduce new services, nearing pre-pandemic volumes. While healthcare remains steady at about 90% of pre-pandemic volumes including a surge in reusable personal protective equipment (PPE), other sectors such as restaurants, hotels and other hospitality were only starting to rebound, primarily with weekend tourism. As restrictions continue to ease and people increase elective surgeries, doctor visits, dining out and traveling, especially business travel, the linen, uniform and facility services industry will continue to recover.

While recovery was apparent, there was widespread concern about labor shortages, supply chain and logistics, particularly for products manufactured overseas, including steel. These labor shortages are impacting production requiring overtime and additional shifts to push products through the plant. They are also limiting reopening. For example, Nashville was sold out during TRSA’s visit to the city, with thousands of hotels rooms and restaurants packed but services were limited more by the inability to hire personnel than by COVID restrictions. A linen provider to properties mentioned that hotels could run at capacity only because they don’t change linens during guests’ stays.  Rooms were empty by Monday so they couldn’t all be turned until then, delaying shipping of soiled linen to their laundries until Wednesday. Competition, access to daycare, fear and other factors are impacting labor shortages, but most Tour stop hosts pointed out that increased unemployment benefits are paying nearly $15 an hour for people to not work. They hope labor returns when the subsidies end in September.

Overall, the initial leg of the TRSA Reopening Tour 2021 was a huge success, full of positive interactions with members. “Every location visited was full of hard working and genuinely nice people that were happy to see us and proud to show us their facility,” Ricci said. TRSA is excited to continue the Reopening Tour 2021 with visits to the Midwest in June followed by the Northeast, West and Southwest later in the year.

These companies were visited (in order of tour stop) on the first leg of the Tour:

• HandCraft Services Inc., Richmond, VA
• Prudential Overall Supply, Colonial Heights, VA
• Halifax Linen Service Inc., Roanoke Rapids, NC
• Leonard Automatics Inc., Denver, NC
• Crown Health Care Laundry Services LLC, Spartanburg, SC
• Tingue, Peachtree City, GA
• M+A Matting, LaGrange, GA
• NuMat Systems LLC, Roanoke, AL
• M&B Hangers, Leeds, AL
• Landau Uniforms, Olive Branch, MS
• UniFirst Corp., Memphis, TN
• Alsco Inc., Memphis, TN
• VF Imagewear Inc., Nashville, TN
• Allegiant Linen Services, Madison, TN
• NOVO Health Services, Chattanooga, TN
• Linen King, Ooltewah, TN
• UniFirst Corp., Knoxville, TN
• Alsco Inc., Knoxville, TN
• Alsco Inc., Roanoke, VAThe Pertex Fabric Lab will go live in May 2021.

Posted May 25, 2021

Source: TRSA