Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

a potentially significant impact on clothing retailers‘ sustainable practices. It is anticipated that there will be a positive
response to participating in the study by several retailers, as some of the key retail brands (for example, the Arcadia
Group and Tesco) participated in Defra‘s research into public understanding of sustainable clothing within stakeholder
briefings (Fisher et al, 2008). 21 clothing retailers are members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) a voluntary
industry body which seeks to improve ethical practice within the organisations concerned (ETI, 2010) demonstrating
the active interest of retailers in ethical issues. The ETI has been approached to seek its support in requesting the
participation of some of their members. The aim is to interview respondents from between six to ten UK retailers. The
findings can therefore not be generalised across the whole market sector, but can be used as case studies.
Findings
Interviews will relate to environmental and social sustainability issues, including the use of materials which are organic
or recycled and Fairtrade production of fabrics and clothing. Retailers‘ responses to consumers‘ views will be recorded.
Findings will be shared with the participating companies. The findings of studies on the ethical fashion market and
consumers‘ sustainable behaviour towards clothing (Hustvedt and Dickson, 2009; Fisher et al, 2008; Joergens, 2006;
Iwanow, H., McEachern, M.G., and Jeffrey, A. 2005) have been evaluated in order to establish potential strategies
which clothing retailers could adopt to improve the sustainability of their clothing ranges. These strategies could enable
retailers to support customers to purchase, maintain and dispose of clothing more sustainably. Facilitating the
implementation of such strategies will be discussed in the interviews. Possible barriers to implementing more
sustainable strategies, such as financial, technical and practical aspects, in addition to conflict with existing corporate
strategies, will also be explored. A key topic for discussion in the interviews will be choice editing retailers‘ ranges to
limit their impact on the environment by offering more products which are produced by Fairtrade manufacturers or are
made from environmentally and socially sustainable materials such as organic cotton or recycled fabric.
The interviews will also cover ways in which retailers can influence their customers‘ laundering, repair and disposal of
clothes, which have a greater negative impact on the environment than clothing manufacture and distribution (Allwood,
Laursen, Rodriguez and Bocken, 2006). Though these elements may be perceived as being outside of the remit of
clothing retailers, stores could influence consumers by providing them with information about the maintenance and
disposal via, for example, garment labelling and printed or online resources. Supplying this type of information and
offering repair services could form part of the retailers‘ CSR strategies, rather than viewing them in terms of their
profitability. The provision of recycling facilities in stores or shopping centres would enable retailers to provide a
closed loop supply chain.
The sustainable strategies to be proposed to retailers in the interviews could meet with resistance due to the financial
implications for the companies, though many could be implemented at limited expense, for example the dissemination
of information about sustainability company websites and garment labels.
Original value
Consumer‘s views on sustainable clothing consumption have been explored in various previous studies but retailers‘
views have not yet been investigated in the literature. This research has value for retailers in general (not just limited to
those involved in the study) and to academics in the fields of both retailing and sustainability.
Implications/limitations
The research outcomes could have implications for clothing retailers‘ CSR policies and practice, ultimately enabling
consumers to adopt more sustainable practices towards clothing consumption. This study is limited to one retail sector
in the UK and future research could cover a wider range of retailers at different market levels or in different countries.
Keywords: Sustainability, CSR, retail brands, clothing
References
1. Allwood, J.M., Laursen, S.E., de Rodriguez, C.M. and Bocken, N.M.P. 2006. Well Dressed? The present and future sustainability of clothing and
textiles in the UK. Cambridge: Cambridge University Institute of Manufacturing.
2. BBC 2008. ‗Panorama: Primark on the Rack‘ TV programme broadcast on BBC1, 23 rd June 2008.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7461496.stm
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7. Clean Clothes Campaign 2010. http://www.cleanclothes.org/
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9. Defra, 2009. Maximising reuse and recycling of UK clothing and textiles. London: Defra.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/clothing/documents/reuse-recycling.pdf
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