A significant imbalance in sustainability efforts among eco-conscious trainer brands has been highlighted by a recent study, which found an overwhelming focus on sustainable materials while crucial eco-design principles remained largely overlooked.
- Researchers reported that despite the footwear industry's considerable environmental impact, a comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainability was often absent. This indicated a piecemeal strategy where individual efforts were not consistently aligned for maximum benefit.
- Trainer brands predominantly focused on incorporating sustainable materials into their products, indicating this as their primary method for addressing environmental concerns.
- Eco-design, which considers the environmental impact throughout a product's entire lifecycle, was significantly underutilised by the analysed trainer companies.
- Researchers suggested that despite individual sustainability initiatives, a holistic and integrated strategy for environmental and social responsibility was largely missing within the sector.
- The research—conducted by María José Munguía Romero, Veronika Kapsali, Li Wang and James JC Busfield from the Queen Mary University of London— has been published in Scientific Reports.
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE (TBL) CLASSIFICATION: The analysis revealed that sustainable trainers’ brands predominantly concentrated their sustainability efforts on the Environmental Sphere within the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework. This sphere accounted for 65% of the observed initiatives, significantly outweighing the Economic Sphere at 27% and the Social Sphere at a mere 8%. This imbalance suggested a primary focus on environmental issues, possibly driven by regulatory pressures and consumer demand for eco-friendly products.
- The Environmental Sphere demonstrated the highest frequency of coded instances among sustainable trainer brands, representing 65% of their reported sustainability efforts.
- The Economic Sphere covered 27% of the initiatives, observed in twelve of the thirteen brands, indicating a moderate but not dominant focus on financial aspects of sustainability.
- The Social Sphere was the least represented, appearing in only seven brands and accounting for a maximum of 18% of their sustainability focus.
- Small, medium, and large companies were reported to acknowledge all three TBL spheres, whereas micro-sized companies tended to prioritise only the Environmental and Economic aspects.
ENVIRONMENTAL SPHERE FOCUS: Given the Environmental Sphere's primary focus, a detailed examination of its sub-categories showed that Sustainable Materials was overwhelmingly the most frequently addressed aspect, comprising 64% of coded references. This was followed by Sustainable Distribution at 12%, End-of-Life Recovery at 9%, Sustainable Manufacturing at 8%, and Eco-Design, which was the least common at 7%. The widespread adoption of sustainable materials highlighted an industry trend towards material innovation.
- Sustainable Distribution was observed in nine out of thirteen brands, showing a focus on efficient logistics and reduced environmental impact during product movement.
- End-of-Life Recovery initiatives were also present in nine brands, indicating some attention to recycling and waste reduction strategies.
- Sustainable Manufacturing was referenced by six brands, with Eco-Design appearing in only five, signifying a notable gap in integrated product development for sustainability.
INDICATORS FRAMEWORK: The study reported that the indicators primarily used to assess sustainability in the trainer sector were heavily biased towards the Environmental Sphere, with twenty indicators coded forty-one times, making up 65% of the total. In contrast, Social Indicators comprised only 11 instances, coded 12 times, representing 19% coverage, and a significant lack of Economic Sphere indicators was observed. This disparity underscored the sector's uneven approach to measuring holistic sustainability.
- The Environmental Sphere contained the highest number of indicators, demonstrating a strong emphasis on environmental performance measurement.
- Social Indicators accounted for a smaller proportion of coverage, indicating less systematic measurement of social impacts within the brands studied.
- Combined Environmental and Social Indicators represented 10% of the total, while a small percentage (6%) encompassed Environmental, Social, and Economic indicators, highlighting a deficiency in integrated metrics.
- It was noted that ten out of thirteen brands used indicators for their Environmental Sphere, but only six applied them to the Social Sphere, suggesting an inconsistent application of performance metrics.
CONCLUSION: The study concluded that despite numerous sustainable practices within the trainer industry, a holistic and integrated approach to sustainability was largely absent, with efforts often introduced in isolation. The study highlighted a significant need for tools that could effectively capture and measure the intricate relationships between environmental, social, and economic impacts. Researchers recommended developing more cohesive strategies, including a greater emphasis on eco-design and the adoption of standardised, adaptable indicators to foster meaningful progress.
- The study identified that sustainability strategies in the trainers’ sector were frequently implemented independently, lacking a unified framework to address interconnected environmental, social, and economic challenges.
- A critical gap was noted in the absence of comprehensive tools capable of assessing the complex interplay between economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability.
- The researchers underscored the necessity for companies to consider all stages of a product’s lifecycle and integrate sustainability practices throughout this process.
- Recommendations included further research into sustainable practices and the development of standardised yet flexible indicators, essential for consistent measurement and driving future advancements.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The research explained that a content analysis was conducted to systematically examine sustainability approaches among selected trainer brands. The study focused on thirteen companies actively implementing sustainability practices, with data extracted from their public websites.
- A content analysis method, using NVivo 12, was employed to quantify qualitative data from the websites of sustainable trainer brands.
- The eco-conscious trainer brands were selected through online searches, with only those actively engaged in sustainability included in the analysis.
