Klarna is making it easier to shop sustainably.
The Swedish company—perhaps best known for its “pay in 4” plan, part of the growing buy-now-pay-later ecosystem—announced its first group of Sustainable Collections on its shopping app. This feature allows users to search specifically for environmentally friendly apparel. The move is a collaboration with Good on You, which provides ethics ratings ranging from “We Avoid” to “Great” for fashion brands, based on its policies concerning workers, animals, and the planet.
Fashion is one of many industries facing calls to evaluate its impact on the climate crisis and make changes to reduce its carbon footprint. According to Klarna’s 2021 insights report, 35% of consumers rank sustainability as a top five consideration while shopping. Brands are certainly getting creative, with initiatives like recycling underwear and old jeans.
Klarna is among them, having launched carbon footprint information in its app last year in collaboration with Doconomy, which shows its millions of customers the environmental impact of their purchases. It also announced Giveone.com, an initiative that reinvests 1% of funds toward causes for the planet.
“Our vision is to empower consumers to vote with their wallets to enact change,” said Klarna chief marketing officer David Sandström in a press release. “As a first step, we gave users insights into the environmental impact of their shopping with our CO2 tracker. Now, we are giving consumers powerful tools to act on this knowledge and inform their shopping choices.”
The first Sustainable Collection comprises 23 brands, including Patagonia, Wilding Shoes, Lucy & Yak, and Nudie Jeans. Each company has a “good” or “great” rating from Good on You, meaning they are changing their policies in the interest of sustainability, and serving as leaders for other industry members. Klarna plans to add more brands to the collection over time, each with similarly high ratings.
Fashion, particularly fast fashion, is still terrible for the environment, but giving consumers access to more sustainable shopping options is, to borrow from one of Good on You’s rating levels, “a start.”
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