The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) explores UK consumer shopping choices and environmental concerns in its 2024 UK consumer survey released in September 2024. Scroll down to find out more.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) released its 2024 UK consumer survey last month, unveiling that a lack of materials knowledge could weaken consumers’ desire to shop more sustainably. Amongst the 1,279 UK adults surveyed, only 54% and 52% correctly identified cork and rubber as coming from trees. Older generations generally showed a better knowledge of the origins of forest-based materials.

FSC is an international, non-governmental organisation aiming to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of forests around the globe. Its certification system covering over 160 million hectares of forests, enables businesses and consumers to source responsible forest-based materials.

Forest-based materials include wood, paper, rubber, cork and man-made cellulosic fibres (MMCFs) derived from wood such as viscose, modal and lyocell. These materials are omnipresent in the fashion and textile industry, and can be used for fabrics, clothing, footwear, packaging and tags.

In the last decade, MMCFs have been amongst the fastest growing fibres, with a global production volume of approximately 7.2 million tonnes in 2021*. Viscose is the most important MMCFs and represents around 80% of all MMCFs’ market shares. Its production volume reached 5.8 million tonnes in 2021**.

“73% of people believe it important for man-made cellulosic fibres, such as viscose, to be sustainably sourced, but a lack of knowledge could be undermining their good intentions,” highlighted FSC’s 2024 UK consumer survey.

The survey identifies a discrepancy between consumers’ desire to shop more sustainably and a gap in their materials knowledge:

“76% of millennials want reassurance that the forest products they buy have been sourced responsibly but only around a third were correct in identifying that cork (30%) and natural rubber (34%) could be sourced from trees.”

The FSC certification system can help consumers in choosing products made from sustainable forest-based materials. Tallulah Chapman, Communications Manager at the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) UK, commented: “The first FSC-certified garments are now starting to appear on the UK market, enabling shoppers to choose clothing made with viscose that supports responsible forestry.”

FULL SURVEY RESULTS

Sourcing responsible forest-based materials

Want to find out more about sourcing responsible forest-based materials for the fashion and textile sector? UKFT members can contact info@ukft.org to request access to the recording of our recent webinar with the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) ‘Forests in Fashion: Source forest-based products responsibly’. The session covers the following points:

• The importance of forests and responsible sourcing of forest-based products (including overview of the range of forest-based products – wood, paper, packaging, rubber, cork, MMCFs)
• The role of FSC
• Consumer awareness and demand for more sustainable products
• Legislation and increasing focus on “deforestation free” materials
• Basics of how the FSC system works – from forest to product (Chain of Custody Certification and Promotional Licences)
• Sourcing and promoting FSC certified products.
• Where to go for further information (FSC EUDR Aligned; Blockchain, etc.)

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*  ** Textile Exchange, Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report, October 2022. (Click here)