This Week in Sustainability: From Dick’s Sporting Goods’s Bag Ban to Asos’s Circular Collection

Retailers unveiled a fresh round of sustainability efforts this week. No animals were harmed in the making of this recap.

Material bans: Items best described as controversial are on their way out of two major retailers...

• Dick’s Sporting Goods committed to removing single-use plastic bags from all stores by 2025, joining an alliance with CVS, Target, and Walmart.
• Nordstrom pledged to stop selling furs and exotic animal skins by the end of 2021, due to customer feedback.

Upcycling and recycling: What’s old is new again, again.

• Nike will display special icons on items made with 50% or more recycled materials. In online pilots for the badge, purchase conversions increased by 3x.
• Asos released a 29-piece “circular” collection, aka items that are made with reclaimed materials. It’s barely a dent in the 85,000+ products Asos already sells, but the retailer said it’ll bring circularity into additional lines.

Read between the linens. Retailers’ sustainability initiatives are as much about signaling to eco-minded shoppers as they are about the environment: 43% of shoppers said they planned to spend more on “sustainable” brands in thredUP’s 2020 industry report.