CSR & Sustainability: Some Good News (Sainsbury’s) and Bad News (Zara)

Compare and contrast should be the mantra for A2 business students looking for real-life business examples to deepen their understanding. Here are two news stories which related to the broad topic of CSR which provide quite a vivid contrast.

Toxic news for Zara

High-street clothing brand Zara is considering taking fresh steps to detox its supply chain, after it was highlighted as one of the worst users of hazardous chemicals among 20 retailers assessed by Greenpeace.

Greenpeace's investigation report, “Toxic Threads – The Big Fashion Stitch-Up,” reports on tests on 141 clothing items and claims to have exposed the links between textile manufacturing facilities using hazardous chemicals and the presence of chemicals in final clothing products.

According to Greenpeace, fashion retailer Zara is the only company that researchers found be selling clothes that can give rise to chemicals that are both hormone disrupting and cancer causing when released into the environment.

Sustainability success for Sainsbury's

Grocery supermarket giant Sainsbury's has revealed that sales of products carrying sustainability and fair trade labels have climbed significantly in the past year, despite the tough economic environment.

Sainsbury's released an update on its high-profile 20x20 sustainability programme, revealing that it has sold 8.5 per cent more sustainably sourced food in the last 12 months, while sales of Fairtrade labelled products have risen five per cent to £288m over the same period.