Influence of celebrities and online communities on Indian consumers' green clothing involvement and purchase behavior

PurposeThe study examined the role of collective self-esteem (CSE), online communities, green attitudes and the influence of celebrities on green clothing involvement and consequently its impact on green clothing purchase behavior of Indian consumers.Design/methodology/approachA mix of convenience and random sampling was used for data collection via an online survey. The sample (n = 403) comprised consumers having awareness about green clothing. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analysis.FindingsOnline communities, green attitudes and influence of celebrities predicted green clothing involvement and in turn their purchase behavior. CSE had no impact on consumers' green clothing involvement.Practical implicationsThe findings can help green apparel manufacturers and designers to use celebrities and online communities to educate and promote the benefits of green clothing. Social media can be employed to share experiences and engage consumers about green clothing.Originality/valueSince online networking sites are gaining predominance in influencing behavior, the study extends the earlier research on social influence by examining its role along with celebrities and CSE on green apparel involvement and purchase. The study combines celebrities, online communities and collective identity influences (offline and online) in predicting green clothing purchase in India.

Fashion Upcycling: The Fashion Upcycling: The Challenges, Successes, and Solutions From A Designers Perspective

Upcycling is a design practice that uses pre-consumer textile waste from apparel manufacturers or post-consumer textile waste derived from disassembled garments to create new fashion, providing a sustainable design solution to divert textile waste from landfills. Although Canadian data is scarce, Weber, Lynes and Young (2016) have determined that textile waste in the United States contributed 11.3 million tonnes to landfills in 2009, a 40% increase since 1999. This comparative case study was designed to include a literature review of past academic research, a demographic questionnaire, and interviews with Canadian fashion companies who practice upcycling. The objective of this study was to examine the challenges faced by companies that upcycle and the strategic solutions they integrated into their business models. The findings from this research study contribute to knowledge regarding strategies for designing, producing, and retailing upcycled fashion in Canada and on a global scale.

Fashion Upcycling: The Fashion Upcycling: The Challenges, Successes, and Solutions From A Designers Perspective

Upcycling is a design practice that uses pre-consumer textile waste from apparel manufacturers or post-consumer textile waste derived from disassembled garments to create new fashion, providing a sustainable design solution to divert textile waste from landfills. Although Canadian data is scarce, Weber, Lynes and Young (2016) have determined that textile waste in the United States contributed 11.3 million tonnes to landfills in 2009, a 40% increase since 1999. This comparative case study was designed to include a literature review of past academic research, a demographic questionnaire, and interviews with Canadian fashion companies who practice upcycling. The objective of this study was to examine the challenges faced by companies that upcycle and the strategic solutions they integrated into their business models. The findings from this research study contribute to knowledge regarding strategies for designing, producing, and retailing upcycled fashion in Canada and on a global scale.

Exploration of kids ready to wear clothing brands for measurement and fit discrepancies

Purpose This study aims to probe customers’ expectations and explore discrepancies across various domestic kids’ ready to wear (RTW) apparel brands for measurements, fit, shape and labelling/nomenclature. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews were held with the consumers to understand their perceptions and expectations with the kids’ wear brands for measurements, fit and labelling. The approach had a twofolded purpose of addressing the consumers’ dissatisfaction and the apparel manufacturer’s perspective. Findings The results indicated that 87% of consumers gave importance to well-fitted apparel. The apparel brands considered for the study showed inconsistency and discrepancies in the measurements, leading to consumer dissatisfaction and frustrations. Research limitations/implications The findings of the study may be useful for fashion academia, kids RTW apparel manufacturers and designers who can relate to the role of standard measurements and the varying body shapes in RTW apparel. They can work closer to develop innovative practices focusing on the fit challenges in kids RTW apparel. Originality/value The implication of the lack of any standard measurement for Indian kids for apparel is well-established in the study.

Company legitimacy and Sustainable Operations: The Case of Apparel Manufacturers of Sri Lanka

In the highly sustainability conscious business environment, organizations face the pressure of their stakeholders to carryout sustainable operations. In this context organizations take many sustainability measures to make themselves socially responsible. Literature suggests that the power of the stakeholder determines the extent to which an organization adheres to stakeholder requirements due to their dependence on such stakeholders. Therefore whether the behaviours of organizations towards sustainability could be treated as ‘socially responsible’ and whether they really fulfill the social contract they have entered into, become questionable. A qualitative study was carried out based on in depth interviews with senior managers of four apparel manufacturing and exporting firms of Sri Lanka to investigate how organizations in a developing country fulfill their social contract towards sustainability in international operations since these firms operate with powerful international customers. The thematic analysis conducted based on the interview data of the apparel manufacturers of Sri Lanka reveal a similarity in the results to what has been identified in literature in relation to the manner manufacturers respond to stakeholder requirements. The extent to which they meet the requirements of their stakeholders has been confined to just a legal requirement to satisfy the powerful customers. Although there was legitimacy in their behavior it raised doubts for the researcher about the fulfillment of the social contract through this behavior since these manufacturers were not concerned about certain aspects of sustainability which the customers were not interested in. One such main factor was the sustainability of their suppliers. These findings inform policymakers the need to educate the apparel exporters of their responsibility towards sustainability because the social acceptability that comes with legitimacy may be more important than economic viability. The contribution of this study to knowledge is in terms of how the dependence of manufacturers in developing countries, influence their adherence to stakeholder requirements.

Chinese textile and apparel manufacturers' moral duty positions, goals and structures toward sustainability

PurposeUsing the moral responsibility theory of corporate sustainability (MRCS) framework , the study examined Chinese textile and apparel (T&A) manufacturers' moral duty positions, goals and structures toward sustainability, with a goal of creating a spectrum of corporate sustainability (CS) performance.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey method was employed to investigate participants' views on their companies' perceptions, goals and structures toward each of the listed sustainability-related activities.FindingsThe results showed that all participants expressed their companies have moral responsibilities toward some aspects of sustainability. Particularly, they viewed that their companies emphasize labor relations (LR) and righteous operation (RO) activities over environmental protection (EP) or public welfare involvement (PW) activities when fulfilling their sustainability responsibilities. After analyzing each response by following MRCS, 41 companies were categorized as occasionally sustainability corporations. The remaining 259 responses were categorized as consistently sustainability corporations in selective areas.Originality/valueThe study for the first time revealed the sustainability-related activities that most respondents in Chinese T&A manufacturing industry perceived as perfect or imperfect duties. Findings add knowledge to the area of corporate moral responsibility toward sustainability and show a spectrum of Chinese textile and apparel manufacturers' sustainability performance, empirically supporting MRCS.