Merch.eco

Imagine if each swayed consumer decision affected not just one garment, but 1,000 garments.

The Issue

Those purchasing merchandise in bulk for clubs and sports teams have limited capacity and access to information when finding suppliers who deliver on ethics and sustainability, as well as cost, quality and accessibility. When the ethical choice is unclear, customers favour cheaper options. This means that customers often buy items that don’t match their ethical standards, and suppliers feel pressured to make ethical shortcuts to keep up with the demand of cheap clothing. Additionally, suppliers struggle to know which ethical choices to prioritise, due to expensive and non-transparent sustainability advising.

Our solution

Merch.eco is a non-profit organisation, providing merch-purchasers with accessible information on ethical suppliers, allowing them to make informed decisions to change suppliers. The financial impacts of these switches on the supplier are tracked by our accreditation system and displayed alongside which changed factors (e.g. living wages, material choices) will bring them up to the standards of their most ethical competitors. Suppliers are made aware of every consumer and dollar of revenue lost because of their unethical practices, and of every dollar their competitors gain when making an ethical choice. A new competition is created where the most ethical company wins. This ethical pressure will build as we grow, and ripple through the supply chains of one of the world’s most damaging industries which shapes the lives of 250 million labourers and contributes 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

We’ve launched in Cambridge and St Andrews already, and are about to launch in 20 more universities in Europe and the US, then plan to move into corporate spaces e.g. company uniforms, music merchandise.