What is sustainable fashion?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what the term sustainable fashion means from the perspective of micro-organisations, experts, and consumers. Design/methodology/approach – This research is qualitative in nature, utilising a multi-methods case study approach (semi-structured interviews, semiotics, questionnaires). Grounded analysis was applied to analyse the data. Findings – Findings indicate that interpretation of sustainable fashion is context and person dependent. A matrix of key criteria provides the opportunity to find common elements. Research limitations/implications – Due to the nature of this research the sample size is limited and may not be generalised. Data were collected in the UK and are limited to a geographical region. Practical implications – An important implication is that defining sustainable fashion is vital in order to avoid challenges, such as greenwashing, which were faced in other industries that have a longer history in sustainable practices. Microorganisations should take advantage of identifying key sustainable fashion criteria, which will enable them to promote their fashion collections more effectively. Social implications – The criteria identified provide assurance for consumers that sustainable fashion is produced with social aspects in mind (fair wages, good working conditions). Originality/value – The paper proposes a matrix that allows micro-organisations to clearly identify their collections as sustainable

Communicating sustainability practices and values: a case study approach of a micro-organisation in the UK

This article investigates sustainability communication through the lens of integrated marketing communication (IMC) by focusing on one case organisation that sees aspects of sustainability at the heart of its operations. This qualitative inquiry utilises a case study approach and a variety of methodological tools, including in-depth semi-structure interviews and semiotic analysis of online and offline media. Findings highlight although the case organisation seeks to use an IMC approach across their multiple communication channels the same message cannot always be conveyed as, especially social media channels, have restricted formatting settings. As a result the encoded message is confusing and leads to a loss of meaning. Although this research is based on a single case study, it allows for an in-depth investigation of a phenomenon and practical recommendations on how to overcome challenges with online platforms. This research is of value as it investigates IMC in and under researched context micro-organisations, as well as combines it with challenges of effectively broadcasting sustainability messages to an end-consumer

Consumption strategies and motivations of Chinese consumers: The case of UK sustainable luxury fashion

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese consumers’ motivations to purchase luxury fashion products in the UK and how far sustainability plays a role in the decision-making process, by extending the consumer typology of translators, exceptors, selectors. The authors further add an additional dimension to defining “luxury”. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory design utilising multiple qualitative research tools (semi-structured interviews, focus groups) provides the basis for this research. A grounded analysis was applied. Findings: Findings map motivational drivers to purchasing luxury products and establish a fourth consumer type “indulgers”. Well-being further emerged as a key characteristic that defines “luxury”. Research limitations/implications: The sample size is limited to Chinese consumers purchasing luxury fashion in the UK, and thus may not be generalised. Practical implications: This research helps managers to understand the consumer types and underlying motivations of Chinese consumers purchasing luxury fashion in the UK. As one of the largest target groups, this research informs managers on how to further capitalise on this market. Originality/value: This paper creates a new consumer typology that not only categorises consumers according to their consumption aspects, but further identifies their underlying motivations to do so

Pro-environmental behavior in families: A reverse socialization perspective

The importance of adolescents’ influence on family pro-environmental behavior is attracting significant research attention. Drawing from the socialization perspective, the impact of adolescents’ environmental concern and environmental knowledge on parental pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviour is investigated. The mediating impact of parental attitude towards an adolescent’s influence and parental belief in the environmental knowledge of the adolescent is also explored. The study also looks at the moderating role of two different adolescent influence strategies. The conceptual model is validated using data collected from 352 parent-adolescent dyads in India. Results show that adolescents’ environmental objective knowledge does not have any impact on parental pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour while environmental concern is a key factor. Overall, parents as learners do not simply play a passive role in the environmental reverse socialization process, challenging the traditional understanding of reverse socialization theory

Online branding strategies of Saudi Arabian bakeries: a qualitative approach

This paper reports on qualitative research that sheds light on online retail branding in the bakery sector. This paper highlights owner-managers' (OMs) perceptions of branding, as well as their online branding approaches. We adopted an interpretivist enquiry, and as such, we conducted semi-structured interviews with seven OMs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Saudi Arabia, as the OM is considered pivotal in developing and operationalising the online branding strategy. Our findings highlight a threefold OM perspective of branding, which implies an abstract rather than strategic view of branding. Our findings also indicate a fragmented and inconsistent use of online branding strategies amongst bakery OMs, which may be clouding their brand identity and creating additional resource requirements. The paper contributes to the knowledge on SMEs' online branding through a qualitative approach and from an owner-manager perspective