Corporate social responsibility and sustainability in the context of the fast fashion industry : challenges and opportunities

Abstract

The fast fashion industry has been widely expanding during the last two decades due to globalization, consumer capitalism, and the large marketing campaigns among brands. And the though the fast fashion industry has several advantages such as big profits, economic growth, and employment opportunities; it also has numerous disadvantages such as child labour, slavery, and exploitation of humans, animals, and the environment. Consequently, most of the fast fashion brands started working on ways in order to enhance their supply chain, through adopting CSR and sustainability initiatives and securing a greater business value. The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences of the CSR and sustainability initiatives among three fast fashion brands in the United Kingdom; as well as, to examine the challenges and opportunities of conducting CSR and sustainability initiatives in the fast fashion industry. The findings of this study have shown that all brands conduct CSR in a similar manner, yet the only difference was the size of sustainability initiatives, which varies with respect to the brands’ budget. When it came to their challenges and opportunities, most brands showed difficulty in controlling their global supply chain; on the other hand, most brands stated that technological innovations might bring good opportunities for resolving such challenges and therefore the future of sustainability in the fast fashion industry will be depending on the forthcoming technological innovations.