Apparel sales on the rebound despite tariffs, consumer anxiety

Businesses increasingly recognize the importance of environmentally friendly practices, especially when it comes to packaging, proper disposal and recycling, and using truly sustainable materials like paper. However, a new trend has emerged: companies are becoming more cautious about how they communicate these initiatives. Amid a rise in greenwashing lawsuits, where businesses are accused of overstating or misrepresenting their environmental efforts, many companies are shifting to a more subdued approach. This change reflects not only legal caution but also a growing demand for transparency and adherence to credible standards, such as the FTC’s Green Guides in the U.S. or the Competition Act in Canada. In an era when consumers actively seek eco-friendly options, companies have made efforts to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. Terms like “biodegradable,” “recyclable,” and “carbon neutral” have appeared more frequently on packaging and in marketing.

RRD introduces Iridio, a unified marketing solutions partner formed to streamline marketing execution and drive meaningful outcomes. Designed for today’s increasingly complex marketing environment, Iridio offers a flexible, composable service stack that scales from single-channel support to fully integrated campaigns. With 96% of CMOs often managing up to 20 fragmented vendors, Iridio solves complexity as a single solution for strategy, creative services, technology, data and analytics and media execution. “The modern CMO wears many hats — marketer, brand builder, technologist and data expert," said Andy Johnson, Senior Vice President and Head of Iridio. "They also juggle siloed agencies and vendors. Iridio cuts through the complexity and chaos, bringing together all the core elements under one unified team."

At a time when some industry insiders have begun ruminating about the possibility of another downturn, the U.S. ad market got its third quarter off on a very high note, posting a nearly 14% year-over-year expansion in July. Significantly, that compares with a nearly 7% expansion for the same month a year ago, indicating the double-digit gains aren't about easy comps, but signal material growth. Whether the data from Guideline's just-refreshed U.S. Ad Market Tracker proves to be more of a lagging indicator, is not clear, but July 2024 also represents the 15th consecutive month of marketplace expansion, and is the best one since the U.S. ad market pulled out of a mini recession.