Social sustainability in an evolving circular fashion industry: identifying and triangulating concepts across different publication groups

Abstract

Sustainability and the concept of circular economy are two of the most prominent approaches in the fashion industry to meet global challenges. Advocated by different interest groups, these concepts primarily follow an environmental and economic perspective on sustainability. In turn, the social dimension of sustainability has not been extensively explored. Performing a comparative discourse analysis, this study triangulates data from three different perspectives and unveils social sustainability-related aspects in documents related to two specific companies as well as in academic and stakeholder publications in the fashion context. We use LeximancerTM to reveal and visualize the scope and frequency of socially relevant concepts in more than 550 publications. Based on this, results show that the two fashion companies have gradually been communicating more about social sustainability-related aspects as opposed to academic and stakeholder publications. Overall, single social sustainability-related values exclusively appear in each of the publication groups, whereas others seem to reflect a mutual influence among the different players. Yet, pivotal social sustainability-related issues are missing. This corroborates scholars assuming a neglected role of the social dimension of sustainability in general and calling for a greater elaboration on social aspects in the conceptualization of a circular economy. Our results also call for a deeper follow-up analysis of communications, practices and strategies of different actors in their respective social contexts.

Consumer Perceptions and Purchasing Trends of Eco-Friendly Textile Products in the U.S. Market

“…Influencer partnerships and collaborations with ecofashion advocates can significantly amplify a brand's message (McNeill & Snowdon, 2019). Influencers who authentically advocate for sustainable fashion can bridge the gap between brands and consumers, making ecofriendly textiles more relatable and desirable (Beyer & Arnold, 2022). By partnering with influencers who align with their brand values, companies can tap into new audiences and reinforce their credibility.…”

“…Younger consumers, especially Generation Z and Millennials, exhibit a stronger preference for sustainable fashion due to their heightened environmental awareness (McNeill & Snowdon, 2019). Moreover, higher education levels correlate with increased environmental knowledge, translating into greater demand for eco-friendly textiles (Beyer & Arnold, 2022).…”

Configurations of sustainability‐oriented textile partnerships

“…We searched partnerships with the environmental and social sustainability‐related terms in this database's clothing and textile industry section. Our search uses keywords referring to previous studies investigating sustainability‐related themes in the textile industry (Beyer & Arnold, 2022b; Jia et al, 2020). Since sustainability and circularity go hand in hand in the textile industry (Franco, 2017; Rossi et al, 2020), we also included circularity‐related keywords in our search, such as cradle to cradle, recycle, and reuse (UNEP, 2020).…”

Analysis of the sustainability aspects of fashion: A literature review

“…80,81 The de-growth theory reduces energy and resource use to bring the economy back into balance with the living world, reducing inequality and improving human well-being. [87][88][89][90][91]…”