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Fashion Marketing amid the Wicked Problem of Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 July 2024) | Viewed by 22640

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Fashion, Marketing, Events and Tourism, Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK
Interests: fashion; marketing; sustainably; consumer behaviour

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Concern for the impact the fast-fashion has upon the climate emergency has been growing over the last two decades, along with knowledge that low pricing, accelerated trend change and global networks include the exploitation in workers. Research has examined production, supply chain, worker conditions, consumer behaviour and the potential for sustainable fashion acquisition, including the circular economy. There have been debates around the application of moral value and the consumer demographics that may lead to moral application in consumption. There are myriad ways in which moral value can be applied, but the conceptualisation of sustainability offers a way to apply concern for people (workers, consumers, citizens), planetary protection and economic markets holistically. While findings are inconclusive on what inspires the application of sustainability in behaviours, knowledge and concern for sustainability are growing, along with consumer activism and understandings of terminology. This is evident in the growth of ‘calling out’ fashion brands and retailers for ‘greenwashing’ in their marketing. Marketing is often cited as guilty of encouraging unsustainable consumption, with enticing marketing tactics and appeals to social capital, and there is much research on how to engage and encourage fashion consumption and the creation of marketing tactics. To date, there has been little attention focused on marketing fashion sustainability.  However, could marketing also be part of the solution to reorientate consumers into sustainable fashion acquisition?

The aim of this Special Issue is to explore fashion marketing strategies to advance the sustainability agenda. This will include a focus on fashion as constructing identity and creating social capital, as well as emotional aspects of hedonism and cognitive dissonance. It could also look at how influencers engage with fashion, are criticized by consumers for encouraging unsustainable behaviours and how sustainable fashion influencers create positive communications. In expanding the knowledge and theory, this Special Issue can support fashion brands and retailers in addressing sustainability more authentically. This may include:

  • Consumer activism in co-creating sustainable fashion marketing messages through manipulating fashion marketing;
  • Marketing fashion that aligns within the circular economy;
  • Exploring how sustainable fashion addresses social capital;
  • How to support consumers in ‘breaking up’ with fast fashion;
  • Consumer reactions and understandings of greenwashing;
  • Fashion marketing that educates on fashion sustainability;
  • Sustainable fashion influencers on social media;
  • Marketing to provide operational transparency;
  • Marketing the value of social enterprise;
  • Co-creating fashion marketing to encourage and engage with sustainable fashion practice;
  • Marketing that recognises fashion workers;
  • Marketing tactics repositioned towards sustainable fashion and the circular economy.

Dr. Elaine Ritch
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fashion
  • marketing
  • sustainability
  • greenwashing

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 12029 KiB  
Article
Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and Nudge Theory: Examining the Effects of Choice Architecture on Consumption of Sustainable Fashion over Fast Fashion
by Meital Peleg Mizrachi and Alon Tal
Sustainability 2024, 16(19), 8586; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16198586 - 3 Oct 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8548
Abstract
This study considers ways to increase the consumption of sustainable fashion given the significant environmental and social damages associated with the industry. A series of experiments were conducted examining the impacts of choice architecture (nudges) under field conditions in collaboration with one of [...] Read more.
This study considers ways to increase the consumption of sustainable fashion given the significant environmental and social damages associated with the industry. A series of experiments were conducted examining the impacts of choice architecture (nudges) under field conditions in collaboration with one of Israel’s largest shopping centers. This study sought to identify which interventions at the retail level successfully motivate sustainable fashion behavioral change regarding purchases and willingness to pay more, along with agreement with several statements regarding the climate crisis and sustainable fashion. Among the types of nudges examined in this field study were providing information, increasing accessibility to sustainable alternatives and appealing to social identity in relation to demographics and green self-image. This study found that offering alternatives to consumers constituted the most effective way to “nudge” consumers toward more sustainable purchasing behavior. Nonetheless, this does not negate the contribution of providing information and strengthening social norms regarding sustainable fashion. Additionally, in all groups, most participants reported that they did not know how to distinguish between sustainable and non-sustainable fashion, nor did they believe that the clothes they purchased were actually sustainable. The findings emphasize the need for policies that will increase the accessibility of sustainable fashion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fashion Marketing amid the Wicked Problem of Sustainability)
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21 pages, 1639 KiB  
Article
Fashioning the Circular Economy with Disruptive Marketing Tactics Mimicking Fast Fashion’s Exploitation of Social Capital: A Case Study Exploring the Innovative Fashion Rental Business Model “Wardrobe”
by Elaine L. Ritch and Noreen Siddiqui
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14532; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914532 - 6 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5920
Abstract
With the threat of the climate emergency intensifying and limited time left to reduce irreversible consequences, the need to consider how natural resources are excavated and managed from cradle to grave intensifies. This positions the circular economy (CE) as being highly relevant, particularly [...] Read more.
With the threat of the climate emergency intensifying and limited time left to reduce irreversible consequences, the need to consider how natural resources are excavated and managed from cradle to grave intensifies. This positions the circular economy (CE) as being highly relevant, particularly for the fashion industry, which is criticised for encouraging continued frequent and impulsive consumption of inexpensive garments with limited longevity. Advancing the circular fashion economy (CFE) has received little attention. Limited research to date has found that consumers have not been socialised to consider fashion acquisition as a collaborative or sharing activity, revealing an established attitude–behaviour gap that prohibits the advancement of the sustainable-fashion agenda. Primarily, fashion is imbued with social and emotional capital, as experienced with the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of fast fashion. This paper argues that similar tactics can be adopted for sustainable fashion practices through the CFE by exemplifying a case study of a fashion-renting platform, “Wardrobe,” that enables consumers to rent fashion owned by influencers and celebrities. In doing so, the paper makes four contributions to the knowledge: Firstly, in developing a conceptual framework from research examining fashion, sustainable fashion, and the CFE, the paper illuminates how fashion marketing emphasises social and celebrity capital to appeal to consumer emotions, encouraging frequent impulsive consumption, and how this can be transferred to the CFE. Secondly, the DSP is contextualised alongside the theory of disruptive innovation to understand how social norms of fashion consumption can be disrupted. Thirdly, although there is an emerging literature stream examining the CE and CFE, this focuses more on consumer practice and behaviours, and little attention has been paid to how the CFE can be marketed to engage with consumers. Fourthly, this paper illuminates how similar marketing tactics used by fast fashion can be exploited to advance the CFE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fashion Marketing amid the Wicked Problem of Sustainability)
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18 pages, 4808 KiB  
Article
Marketing Tactics for Sustainable Fashion and the Circular Economy: The Impact of Ethical Labels on Fast Fashion Choice
by Robert P. Hamlin and Lisa S. McNeill
Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10331; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310331 - 29 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 7004
Abstract
This study aimed to contribute to the empirical literature on ethical fashion labelling. It investigates if complex, ethical, point-of-sale labels that ‘rate’ products’ ethical status on an ordinal scale influence consumer evaluations of fast-fashion garments (a) in any significant way at all and [...] Read more.
This study aimed to contribute to the empirical literature on ethical fashion labelling. It investigates if complex, ethical, point-of-sale labels that ‘rate’ products’ ethical status on an ordinal scale influence consumer evaluations of fast-fashion garments (a) in any significant way at all and (b) in a way that is consistent with their reported ethical scores. In an experiment, 400 consumers evaluated a set of four fast-fashion garments with two levels of the Tearfund ordinal ethical label, a generic binary ethical label and garments with no label. Purchase intention was the dependent variable. The presence of a Tearfund label promoted significantly higher fast-fashion garment purchase intention, whatever ethical status the label was indicating. Thus, the rating label did significantly influence fast-fashion garment purchase intention, but not in any useful way. This is a novel and significant finding that indicates that fashion ethical labels are evaluated by using similar subconscious heuristic decision processes to those found in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) markets. Ethical labels that rely on cognitive processing by the consumer may therefore be ineffective, and simpler iconic brand-like label systems that can support subconscious processing may be more useful in a fast-fashion setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fashion Marketing amid the Wicked Problem of Sustainability)
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