Sceptics say few shoppers will pay extra for "green" toys (Feature)

By Jean-Baptiste Piggin Feb 7, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Nuremberg, Germany - Christian Gerig, a Swiss newcomer to toymaking, reckons his pre-schooler bikes, which are made mainly from precision-cut bamboo, are among the ultimate green toys.

After the giant canes are cut in a forest in China, they quickly regrow. Bamboo is a completely renewable raw material.

Speaking at the current, six-day Nuremberg Toy Fair in Germany, Gerig, 33, insisted bamboo had more impact resistance than welded steel tubing, the common frame material in children's bikes.

Toy fair organizers in Nuremberg say that sustainable manufacturing is the future of toys.

They have organized seminars on the topic and adopted 'Toys Go Green' as a fair slogan.

But sceptics suggest that although consumers claim to prefer green, the vast majority really prefer the best price. Offered a choice between identical products, few will plunk down an extra dollar for the more virtuous but more expensive green product.

What is more, few agree about what a sustainable product is.

Nicole Koschate, a professor of marketing at Germany's Erlangen University, said before the Fair that many people thought it meant using renewable materials or minimizing packaging.

Others thought it meant operating a non-polluting factory, or perhaps treating factory labour with dignity. Others again thought it involved the educational merits of the toy itself, and thus whether the toy would stay in use for a long time.

Her survey found nearly one third of German adults claim that they would pay more for a 'green' toy. Some would accept a price 20 per cent higher.

Gerig said he was convinced the trend to 'green' toys had begun, though 'perhaps only 3 to 5 per cent of shoppers' really do opt for the greenest product. But even that translated into a major market.

'If you can win just one thousandth of that segment, you already have sales in the millions,' he said in an interview as he hyped his new venture.

His tiny Swiss start-up, Xibambam, is an offshoot of Holz Stuerm, a Swiss timber mill and merchant founded by Gerig's great-grandfather in the town of Goldach.

Gerig said he feared timber was not sustainable long term, with well-run forests taking 20 to 30 years to regrow after felling.

Bamboo, which is a giant grass, makes a good timber substitute as it regrows far more rapidly.

A Chinese contract supplier machines the frames for Xibambam's tricycle and balance bike from bamboo tubes without using glue.

Gerig, who said xi was Chinese for game and bambam is a childish fantasy word, will not be manufacturing in the industrial centres of southern China where most of the world's toys are made, but in scenic Wuyishan in Fujian province.

'I looked in three provinces for a site. There were two reasons I chose Wuyishan. One is that it is so beautiful. The other is that the bamboo factory I was ordering from is a fairly small one,' he said, adding that it was ideally close to the bamboo groves.

Gerig is so eager to tick off all the ethical boxes that he even volunteers, unasked, that Xibambam has considered the product's implications for bamboo-eating giant pandas. It turns out there is zero impact, since pandas feed on a different bamboo species.

Hans-Juergen Resas, a German adviser on brands, is one of the sceptics. He says most adults judge toys by whether they are fun to use, well-made and safe. Sometimes it helps if a toy is educational.

'These are all emotional influences,' he said. 'The rational issue of sustainability falls by the wayside during the impulse to buy.'

He doubts more than 2 per cent of consumers will care enough about green to pay a premium.

Richard Gottlieb, a US consultant and blogger on toy economies, agrees the market that will pay more for sustainable is very small.

'But here is what I think the difference is: you've got a rising generation, the millennial generation, and unlike generations that came before them, they act on their beliefs regarding ecology.

'I think you are going to see an increase in the sales of these eco-friendly products. These are going to be the new parents. This is going to be gradual; it's not going to be quick,' he forecast.

Koschate, the professor, said the nascent sustainable-toy sector needed a label, which would make 'green' products instantly recognizable to shoppers as having passed some kind of environmental certification process.

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