New data from luxury cashmere retailer N.Peal has revealed the countries shopping the most sustainably online. The study reviewed the number of monthly searches for eight terms across 64 countries. Topping the list with 29,700 monthly searches, the USA is home to the most sustainable shoppers, followed closely by the United Kingdom, with 24,500 searches per month.
Top ten countries for sustainable shopping online:
- United States – 29,700 searches
- United Kingdom – 24,500 searches
- India – 7,090 searches
- Australia – 4,950 searches
- Canada – 2,580 searches
- Indonesia – 1,220 searches
- Vietnam – 1,060 searches
- Ireland – 1,060 searches
- Germany – 1,010 searches
- Netherlands – 830 searches
Per continent, however, the data distinguishes Europeans as the most invested in making sustainable choices, with 74,130 monthly searches for eco-fashion terms. North America follows with 42,430, and Asia takes third place with 17,600 searches.
- Europe – 74,130 searches
- North America – 42,430 searches
- Asia – 17,600 searches
- Oceania – 5,310 searches
- South America – 3,950 searches
- Africa – 370 searches
While sustainable shopping is no new concept, awareness has grown rapidly in recent years, prompting brands to evaluate how ‘green’ the products that they offer to their customers are, from having less waste to reducing carbon footprints. As the popularity of environmentally-friendly shopping has grown, so has the way people refer to it, becoming a trend in its own right and taking on new meanings amongst new generations of shoppers.
The research accounted for this, exploring eight key terms on the topic to give a clear understanding: ethical shopping, ethical fashion, ethical clothing, sustainable fashion, sustainable clothing, eco fashion, second-hand clothes, and organic clothing. The findings established that terms which explicitly included ‘sustainable’ were the most commonly used, searched for 47,520 times per month. Amongst these, there were 28,360 searches for ‘sustainable fashion’ and 19,160 searches for ‘sustainable clothing’.
One of the most increasingly popular alternatives to fast fashion emerging amongst gen-z’s/millennials alike is thrifting, which involves buying pre-loved clothes from vintage stores, charity shops, or on one of the ever-popular selling platforms. As a result, ‘second-hand clothes’ was the third most popular query, and the term ‘second-hand clothes shops near me’ is being searched for +5000% more now than it has been in the past 5 years.
