Welcome to the latest column within our broader sustainability section, which focuses on what fashion retailing is doing to address the issues in its industry.

This month’s column highlights the cost of being an eco-saint and how retailers might encourage others into the fold. Brought to you by Retail Insider with Clipper and Give Back Box.

It’s a truism that during a cost of living crunch sustainability or indeed any other worthy issues are always going to take a back seat. The recent Covid-19 outbreak dealt a deathblow to any thoughts of reducing plastic packaging as consumers worried less about threats to marine life and more about catching the virus off their new cardigan fibres. Similarly when the cost of food goes up banning BOGOF deals looks less like promotion of healthy eating habits and food wastage reduction and more like protecting margins.

In difficult times eco-concerns are a

Most fashion brands cater to the summer market in one form or another, but there are some names which were born to be worn in sunnier climes. From St Agni and Three Graces to Ahluwalia and Bode, the resort-wear world has grown rapidly in recent years, expanding from a niche offering for the one per cent to a flourishing market that adapts to every season.

Read more: 9 Pieces That Will Instantly Update Your Summer Wardrobe

Each of these labels has its own unique approach to warm weather dressing, however colour is a recurring theme in the line-up: just look at Roxanne Assoulin’s rainbow-hued jewellery, which is sure to kick your wardrobe basics into holiday mode. Print lovers, meanwhile, should check out fashion up-and-comer, Ahluwalia, for brightly-coloured checks and inventive patchwork. The brand’s blue-and-brown midi-dress has shot right to the top of our summer wish list.

Of course, there are