Building an Esprit Culture

This case study examines Esprit de Corp's efforts to integrate environmental sustainability into its business model through the creation of 'Ecollection,' a specialized women's clothing line. It details the company's transition from a high-growth 1980s fashion brand to one attempting to balance profitability with social and environmental responsibility, highlighting the technical and financial challenges of organic textile production and the complexities of marketing 'green' products to skeptical consumers.

• Esprit's Ecollection was established as a 'Research and Discovery' department acting as an incubator to test environmentally-benign production methods and transfer those findings to the company's main clothing lines.
• The Ecollection manufacturing process replaces conventional chemical-heavy methods with organic and naturally-colored cotton, composting, and natural dyes, resulting in a process that saves approximately 60% more water and 50% less electricity.
• Producing Ecollection garments is significantly more expensive than the main line, with production costs averaging 30% to 100% higher due to labor-intensive organic farming and lower crop yields.
• Market performance for the Spring 1992 Ecollection line varied by region: sales in Asia exceeded expectations, Europe performed well among environmentally-aware consumers, and USA sales were disappointing due to economic recession and consumer skepticism.
• Esprit's marketing strategy for Ecollection shifted away from traditional advertising toward point-of-sale consumer education, using detailed manuals for staff and recycled hang tags to justify the higher cost of the garments.
• The company faced a significant gap between consumer attitudes and behavior; while many Americans expressed sympathy for environmental concerns, a 1990 Roper survey indicated they were only willing to pay an average of 6.6% more for environmentally-friendly products.

APA

Trent, M. (1992). Building an Esprit Culture. World Resources Institute. https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-143-8_full_version_english.pdf

Chicago

Trent, Marcy. Building an Esprit Culture. World Resources Institute, 1992. https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-143-8_full_version_english.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Trent |first1=Marcy |title=Building an Esprit Culture |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=1992 |url=https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-143-8_full_version_english.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trent1992building, author = {Trent, Marcy}, title = {{Building an Esprit Culture}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {1992}, url = {https://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-143-8_full_version_english.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }