Sustainability Chic and the Future of Fashion Marketing

Jon Hewitt, Lukas Parker, Grace McQuilten, and Rimi Khan.

In Beyond the Dark Arts: Advancing Marketing and Communication Theory and Practice, edited by Linda Brennan, Lukas Parker, Divya Garg, Krzysztof Kubacki, Michaela Jackson, and Ella Chorazy, pp.125-147.

2023

World Scientific Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811276064_0007

This chapter unpacks the challenges faced in marketing sustainable fashion products within an industry fuelled by perpetual reinvention and growth. In recent decades, the fashion industry, but most notably fast fashion, has been mired in controversies ranging from environmental sustainability to the exploitation of cheap labour and disregard for workers’ health and safety. In parallel, increasing consumer demand has emerged for sustainable fashion options, which has led to a rapidly growing but diverging market. Adopting the three R’s — Reduce, Reuse and Recycle — this chapter explores the complexities involved in (1) the promotion of reduced consumption and demarketing, (2) the rising popularity of second-hand/vintage clothing, fashion libraries and the use of deadstock fabrics, and (3) recycling and upcycling. Barriers faced by marketers in promoting these more sustainable options are examined in considering paths forward to more sustainable practices.