adidas leads sportswear in Kantar 2026 sustainability ranking

Fifty-seven percent of consumers globally say they have encountered false or misleading information about brands’ sustainability efforts.

Only 15 percent say they know a lot about what brands are actually doing. Those two figures, from Kantar’s first Sustainability Consumer led Brand Ranking (June 2026), set the context for the study’s findings — including which sportswear brands consumers trust, and why.

The ranking covers more than 2,160 brands across 12 countries and 12 categories, based on surveys of more than 18,000 people conducted in January 2026. It is a consumer perception study, not an ESG audit. Kantar defines sustainability through the concerns consumers name in each category, rather than against a standardized disclosure framework.

What consumers in fashion and sportswear actually care about

In clothing, shoes and fashion, the top global concern was child labor, sweatshops and worker exploitation. Harmful dyes and chemicals ranked second. Overproduction and overconsumption ranked third.

Before brands can credibly talk about recycled materials or carbon reduction, they face a more basic test: labor practices and sourcing.

This is also the terrain that the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is turning into a legal obligation, not just a reputational choice.

The map is not uniform

adidas placed third in the overall ranking, the highest of any fashion or sportswear brand, with The North Face in 11th, Veja in 16th, and Nike in 17th.

Of 180 brands assessed in each country, the share achieving both credibility and a positive brand impact ranged from more than 80 in South Africa and Japan to fewer than 50 in France, Brazil, and the UK. France and the UK, two of the largest European apparel markets, are also the most skeptical consumer environments in the study.

That combination creates a specific problem for brands deploying a single global sustainability message: the markets where regulatory enforcement is tightest also happen to be the markets where consumer trust is hardest to earn. The EU Green Claims Directive, which targets unverified environmental assertions in precisely these markets, is moving toward enforcement as that trust deficit persists.

Kantar’s operational guidance to brands is to map local consumer priorities before committing to a market entry narrative.

Kantar estimates that sustainability perceptions contribute up to 10 percent of brand value among some companies in the Kantar BrandZ Global Top 100. The importance of sustainability as a driver of brand demand has grown 25 percent over the past five years.