Are Fashion CEOs Incentivised to Deliver on Sustainability?
Regularly, our Secretary General Lutz Walter shares his insights and knowledge through his blogposts, covering a wide range of topics related to textile sustainability and innovation. Follow his blog to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that the textile industry is facing today.
Are Fashion CEOs Incentivised to Deliver on Sustainability?
"Fashion is a deeply competitive, margin-sensitive business. When one player voluntarily invests in cleaner production or higher labour standards, it risks higher costs unless competitors move in parallel. In the absence of a hard incentive to do otherwise, most companies default to symbolic gestures or pilot programs, enough to satisfy consumer-facing marketing and investor ESG questionnaires, but not enough to shift the system."
In his latest blog post, our Secretary General Lutz Walter examines why fashion’s sustainability ambitions so often fall short at the top. He shows how executive pay structures across major apparel brands remain overwhelmingly tied to revenue, profit and share price, while sustainability metrics play only a minor, often symbolic role.
