Retailers Back Causes for a Common Good

I was dropping my daughter off at school one morning, when a flickering of blue and white (her school’s colors) caught my eye. A succession of new banners had been hung along the parking lot perimeter at the tops of the light poles. While the top half of the banner proudly displayed her school’s logo, it was the lower half that gave me pause. The expression “Protect this House” took special prominence across the bottom half of the banner.

It’s actually what I saw first. Initially, I thought her school had a real nerve to so shamelessly steal the unmistakable tagline of Under Armour, but then I saw their logo, small and at the very bottom of the banner, and I realized this was not only sanctioned, but strategic. My daughter’s high school has a top athletic program, and most of its teams win state, if not national, championships.

The alliance made a lot of sense. Couple this with the fact that it is an all-girl high school, and Under Armour’s ceo and founder, Kevin Plank’s, prediction that women’s apparel has the potential to become bigger than their men’s business, the picture was complete. By industry estimates, women’s apparel currently represents about 30 percent of Under Armour’s current total business, but growth in women’s has been steady since 2013. With spokespersons like supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Misty Copeland, principal dancer for the New York-based American Ballet Theatre, Under Armour certainly chose well for aspirational figures that inspire young women.

Shortly after seeing this, I was driving into Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel. As I wound my way down the helix, I saw a huge billboard that heralded the fact that adidas proudly supports the Weehawken, N.J., Indians. My mind constantly seeks patterns, and, recalling the banners at my daughter’s high school, I instantly saw one emerging. I recently read an article online about an initiative adidas announced in late 2015 to assist high schools with Native American mascots with their rebranding efforts through collaborative access to their own internal brand design team for logo redesign and uniform design, as well as through financial support. The program is currently limited to high schools. As part of the company’s statements about the program, Eric Liedtke, head of global brands at adidas, was interviewed in an article by AP Sports writer Anne M. Peterson and said, “Our intention is to help break down any barriers to change – change that can lead to a more respectful and inclusive environment for all American athletes.”

So what is the pattern? I’m not entirely sure. Can corollaries be drawn across categories to see an overarching pattern emerging of a movement toward forming an ideal world? And can retailers and corporations actually move the dial on this faster than governments?

I look at what Whole Foods Market has done for organic foods, fast-food chains and restaurants alike, publishing calorie counts on their menus, elevating the farm-to-table movement, educating on the idea of “slow food,” and a rise in subscription services like Fresh Direct or Blue Apron. With all of this, I see the entire food supply chain being transformed from grower to grocery store, making healthy, small and special more accessible to more people and to more places. Certainly education surrounding food, diet and making healthy choices has become pervasive in everyday lexicon.

Similarly, I look at the efforts of eco-fashion activist Livia Firth in bringing sustainability to both the red carpet and Marks & Spencer. Adidas with its alliance with Parley for the Oceans,  utilizing ocean plastics to create a zero-waste shoe that has an infinity loop life cycle, and the adoption of a dry-dying processes by denim retailers like Levi and Gap to reduce water waste and pollution. Retailers are doing good things, and, of course, they could always do more.

The advantage the big retailers have is that they can ffect change at scale, and leverage vendor partners to proliferate the cause, as we’ve seen Walmart do in the past. I guess given the current national conversation regarding presidential candidates, I see the need for retailers to be the grown-ups at the table and do what they can to prevent further environmental damage by their own businesses, while making it easier for the little guys to do the same, thereby creating a path to eradicate the harmful processes of manufacturing globally, as well as helping to remedy some social ills.

Circling back to where I started, I find it amazing that these retailers, based hundreds or thousands of miles away, can reach out to support high schools in our local communities. High schools are an epicenter of a community, where parents tend to get most involved, and where students start becoming young adults, forming impressions of their own and making decisions that will directly affect their future. It makes a lot of sense for retailers to reach into these pockets of active engagement and become a part of the day-to-day as opposed to just being an added layer.

It makes me think that in a rare instance of optimism, as with the examples I list above, retailers are the ones that will affect change in this world, not governments. And yes, they’ll profit, but then again, so will all of us. I will surely be voting with my dollars more often.

Kathleen Jordan, AIA, CID, LEED AP, is a principal in Gensler’s New York office, and a leader of its retail practice with over 24 years of experience across the United States and internationally. Jordan has led a broad range of retail design projects as both an outside consultant and as an in-house designer. She has led projects from merchandising and design development all the way through construction documentation and administration, and many of her projects have earned national and international design awards. Contact her at kathleen_jordan@gensler.com.