Nov 07, 2025 (MarketLine via COMTEX) --
The British Retail Consortium's CEO Helen Dickinson told delegates at her organisation's annual sustainability summit that today's trading environment is "tough" but the impact of Hurricane Melissa and global water scarcity on natural fibres highlight why sustainability remains so important for fashion supply chains.
BRC's Dickinson welcomed the live sustainability summit audience by admitting the trading environment is challenging with rising inflation as a backdrop and from a UK consumer perspective, the upcoming annual government budget is also weighing on shoppers' minds.
She said: "We face that volatility and we're seeing political turbulence in terms of what Donald Trump might be doing, what's happening in Ukraine or in the Middle East aEUR" all this gives us a real disruption backdrop in which the industry is operating."
She pointed out that it's currently about "finding growth in a market where growth is really hard to come by, and in lots of sectors, particularly fashion and home, where volumes are either static or falling, many businesses are facing some tough decisions around where to invest, where to find growth, and potentially where to cut some costs."
Dickinson was keen to highlight that it is against this backdrop that it's really profitable for everyone to be at the BRC's sustainability summit, as it's a "real industry, economy and society question about where sustainability fits into all of this".
Plus, she said it goes without saying that "the environment and sustainability is key to the longevity of our planet and the environment in which we all live".
Dickinson also highlighted the recent impact of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean with statistics specifically from Jamaica.
She shared the economic damage could be about $6.5bn dollars, and for context, Jamaica's GDP is only $20bn so it's almost a third of its GDP in terms of the consequences for that particular island.
When looking at the inflationary outlook for the fashion industry, she explained water scarcity is "really starting to impact the growth of many natural fibres like cotton".
A recent report by Cornell University's Global Labour Institute and the investment firm Schroders suggested failure to adapt supply chains to manage rising temperatures and the consequential intensive flooding could impact exports from key manufacturing hubs to the tune of AGBP65bn by 2030.
Dickinson summarised this as "the economic and business impact on exposed brands in terms of future resilience could be significant".
But, she continued, "You don't need me to say that acting on and accelerating the investment in sustainability isn't easy. There's no quick fix. There's no one thing that's going to transform everything. There's no one button that everybody could press, even if they had an unlimited budget, which, of course, nobody does.
"But what is becoming much clearer, and, if I look at some of the partners that are around the room, what is so key is both the innovation that we're seeing in individual companies, but most importantly, the collaboration and the way that businesses can actually work together."
How can fashion brands and retailers navigate sustainability against this backdrop? Her advice to fashion brands and retailers is to find and leverage some of that innovation to really drive positive change, especially given ESG regulation is coming.
She added: "I've seen firsthand the consequences of businesses not being prepared, and how much that can cost if you are behind the game and playing catch-up versus being ahead of the game and being ready for the regulation when it comes so that you've already thought about how it can impact your business, and particularly mitigated some of the cost and consequential impacts that it can have."
The increasing regulatory pipeline is coming in what Dickinson describes as a "tsunami," but it's also why she's so keen for the sector to collaborate.
She pointed out the BRC set up its climate action roadmap five years ago to reach net zero across supply chains by 2040, but she said fast forward five years to today and the need for collaboration is far greater.
The BRC has also launched its plan for nature, which is an awareness campaign to drive the importance of nature and biodiversity in the conversation on climate.
She also shared the BRC has launched its pre-loved sales benchmark to contribute retail sales data and benchmark performance for those selling through a pre-loved channel.
Overall, she concluded she really hopes this year's sustainability summit will "bring brands and retailers together to consider drivers for innovation and the challenges surrounding regulation.aEURoe
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