Firms in the Fashion Industry: Sustainability, Luxury and Communication in an International Context

1.-An overview of sustainability and firm's branding strategies in the fashion industry

This chapter focuses on the relevance of sustainability for branding for fashion companies on a global scale and will serve as an introduction to the rest of the chapters in the book. It will give a global overview of the fashion industry and the importance and place of sustainability within it.

Author: Tim Jackson (Director of the British School of Fashion) 2.-Sustainability and heritage in practice; the case of Harris Tweed Hebrides

For more than a century, Harris Tweed has been recognised as one of the world's most durable - as well as fashionable - fabrics; made from pure wool in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

Harris Tweed Hebrides manufacture each metre of handwoven fabric in accordance with The Harris Tweed Act, maintaining the integrity and distinctive character of the fabric which is recognised globally as Harris Tweed. Harris Tweed is produced using traditional skills and always made from 100% pure new wool. We operate a vertical mill; scoured wool is fibre dyed, carded and spun, warped for weaving, then the handwoven tweed is finished at our mill in Shawbost. Each stage of this process ensures the high quality Harris Tweed is renowned for.

Registration of the Harris Tweed Orb trademark was the first step in a decades long campaign to protect the production of our fabric to the Outer Hebrides. The Harris Tweed Act of Parliament passed at Westminster in 1993 enshrined in law the trademark first issued almost 90 years earlier, legally defining the production process and protecting the reputation of our brand. Every metre of Harris Tweed is certified with the Orb stamp - the oldest British trademark in continuous use and the guarantee of authenticity. In an age when sustainability is gaining the recognition it deserves, the unchanging characteristics of Harris Tweed are more valuable than ever.

Authors: Mark Hogarth (Creative Director of Harris Tweed Hebrides) and Rt Hon. Brian Wilson

(CBE) (Chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides)

3.-Quantitative analysis of the fashion industry comparing Spanish and British fashion companies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from fashion industry should deal with a dynamic environment and they need to manage different resources in order to be competitive. This chapter tries to offer a comparative view of different key variables between Spanish and UK SMEs from fashion industry.

Authors: Lorena Ruíz-Fernández, Laura Rienda-García, Bartolomé Marco-Lajara, Pedro Seva-Larrosa (University of Alicante)

4.-Luxury brands, consumer behaviour and sustainability

Is sustainability compatible with luxury in the true sense of the word? This chapter will offer

critical views on the dichotomy of sustainability and luxury brands from a consumer perspective.

This is very topical for the era that will follow the Covid 19 pandemic as luxury brands will have

to re-ignite the consumer passion for their brand and sustainability may be at the centre of the

issue.

 

Authors: Marie-Cecile Cervellon (Professor EDHEC Business School) and Lindsey Drylie Carey (Glasgow Caledonian University)

5.-The role of social media in the fashion industry. The case of ecoluxury

Due to the relevance of social media and their impact on the way people communicate, this tool could affect the professional landscape of communications across all industries. This chapter analyzes the role of social media in the fashion industry analyzing the case of ecoluxury.

Authors: Irene Garcia-Medina (Glasgow Caledonian University), Gloria Jiménez-Marin, Concha Pérez-Curiel (University of Seville)

6.-Communication in the fashion industry: Sustainability focus

In the spring of 2020, the world was shaken by an unprecedented phenomenon: the COVID19 crisis forced millions of people from the five continents to remain confined to their homes. The quarantine limited movements to workplaces, schools, commercial establishments, health centers, government institutions, and a long etcetera. The fashion industry was particularly hard hit for many and varied reasons. Despite the unknowns surrounding the process of recovering from this serious situation, one of the big questions that emerge is: How will the fashion industry change after the coronavirus? In what structural aspects will it be affected? Can sustainability be one of the features that define the new scenario of this industry?

In my view at present the four axes of sustainability in the fashion industry are:

1.   Ensure human ecology in all fashion production processes.

2.   Pursuing efficiency in circular regenerative design processes (quality raw materials, materials, designs, manufacturing, to name a few)

3.   Promote a system of responsible consumption in consumers and brands.

4.   Build a solid discourse that allows the production of convincing stories for all stakeholders involved in fashion production and consumption. Without a doubt, communication is an important catalyst for any change, becoming the key to its true expansion.

The structural crisis of a system whose pillars and agents have not changed in the last two hundred years encourages us to think of a new conception of the industry that takes into account the four axes indicated.

Undoubtedly the work of companies, associations, museums, universities, industry awards, actively contributes to the promotion of sustainable fashion. A greater active contribution from the media, digital exchange platforms and social networks would be pending to achieve profound change in society. It is about getting citizens to associate themselves with the interest of governments and private entities in the effort to achieve a sustainable fashion.

This chapter proposal is to describe the fundamental role of communication in the construction of a reliable discourse of sustainable fashion, as a real compromise not only with the environment but also and primarily with the human beings involved in the process of creation and manufacturing of fashion. Real examples and cases will be used.

Author: Paloma Diaz Soloaga (Professor Advertising and Audiovisual Communication, Communication Department Complutense University)