Firm grasps prickly issues
A new player has entered the consulting market with a timely remit - to assist the fashion industry become environmentally and socially responsible.
Founder Dora Nikols said the Rose Bay-based consultancy Prickly Pear opened for business in recent weeks offering services designed "to support and promote the issues that fashion company staff, customers and the community cared about".
"I have targeted the fashion industry because it is one of the most polluting, socially damaging and unsustainable in the world. My aim at Prickly Pear is to help the Australian fashion industry inspire the rest of the world by supporting and promoting the issues they care about. I want our fashion labels to not only stand out but to stand for something."
Prickly Pear's suite of services included environmental programs, social awareness programs and communication plans. Comprising self assessment, strategy and implementation stages, environmental programs could address waste - comprising packaging and recycling; fabrications and materials - comprising organic materials and less harmful dyes; pollution - comprising renewable energy and the use of carbon credits; supply chain - comprising No
Sweat-Shop label and fair-trade accreditation; and animal welfare - comprising the banning of furs and hides.
Meanwhile Prickly Pear's social awareness programs assisted companies in identifying issues engaging and relevant to their target market before devising and implementing a strategy and communication plan, Nikols said.
Before establishing the consultancy, Nikols gained insight into the environmental and social impact of business through marketing and communications roles at global not-for-profit organisation WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature).
With environmental and social responsibility increasingly proven to enhance brand value and secure increased profits for fashion companies, Prickly Pear's entry into the market was opportune, she said.
"Australia is already lagging the rest of the world in terms of social responsibility, and if our fashion industry does not meet growing consumer concerns about child labour, sweat shops, toxic dyes and fair-trade, there is a threat that we could be boycotted or left behind in the fashion industry."
By Belinda Smart