Problem: "Green" Jeans?
The ocean of apparel that Americans buy annually is the product of globe-spanning supply chains that consume enormous amounts of water, energy, chemicals, cotton, oil, and other resources while casting off equally enormous amounts of waste. Now the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which represents more than one-third of the global apparel and footwear industries and includes such prominent companies as Adidas, Columbia Sportswear, Levi, and Walmart, is building a system to measure the environmental impact of the apparel production process. The Coalition is attempting to measure the apparel industry's environmental footprint, including water, energy, greenhouse gas, waste, chemicals, and toxicity. The Coalition hopes to build a database of scores assigned to all elements of every garment's life cycle-including cotton producers, dye suppliers, textile mill owners, shippers, retailers, and consumers-based on various social and environmental measures. The resulting scores could be used by apparel companies to choose materials and suppliers, and eventually the Coalition hopes a sustainability score can be calculated for all garments so consumers can make buying choices with those scores in mind.
Question
Think about shopping. Assume you are considering two pairs of jeans of equal style and quality, one with a favorable sustainability score, one without. Assume the jeans without the favorable score are priced at $50. How much more would you be willing to pay for the jeans with a favorable score?
a. Nothing more.
b. $1
c. $5
d. $10
e. $25 Explain.