Ethical fashion supply chain management

Citation

Choi, T.-M., Lo, C.K.Y., Wong, C.W.Y. and Yee, R.W.Y. (2012), "Ethical fashion supply chain management", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 16 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfmm.2012.28416baa.001

Ethical fashion supply chain management

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Volume 16, Issue 2.

Fashion is more than just beauty. Its significance goes beyond reflecting wearers’ status, but actually reflects their belief and identity. Consumers and fashion designers are increasingly showing their expectations and commitments on social sustainability in fashion products. For example, an increasing number of luxury brand designers have replaced real fur by synthetic fur in their recent collections to address the growing concern for animal rights from consumers. However, many consumers may not appreciate other unethical issues in the corresponding fashion supply chain. For example, in terms of labour rights, many garment factory workers in developing countries are working in a dirty and highly polluted environment. Some of these workers are underaged and work for over 16-18 hours every day for a low wage. In addition to the prominent environmental problems originating from pollution created in the production process, a case has been reported that an inland sea turned into a desert because of a re-routing of water to nearby cotton farmlands. For our future generations, as well as the sustainable development of the fashion industry, full attention must be paid to establishing an ethical fashion supply chain.

In the literature of fashion marketing and management, two related areas have recently been examined, and they are reviewed as follows. The first area is on the consumer side, which focuses on investigating the consumer behaviours towards ethics-related fashion purchases. The pioneering work in this area is Dickson and Littrell's (1996) work that discussed the socially responsible behaviour of fashion consumers. Later on, Joergens (2006) empirically explored whether ethical issues have a significant effect on fashion consumers’ purchasing behaviour. They found that “personal needs” is customers’ primary consideration and motivation rather than the ethical issues. They also proposed that consumers would find it difficult to make an ethical choice and hence more information should be provided to them to enhance their ethical judgements. Callen-Marchione and Ownbey (2008) investigated how consumers relate their ethical purchase decisions with their philosophy of human nature, and subsequent purchasing behaviours in different domains. They also revealed some interesting findings, such as “returned garment after use”. Hustvedt and Dickson (2009) examined the consumer attitudes towards several common scopes of sustainability. In their empirical study, they revealed that a substantial number of consumers, who found the used organic cotton content salient, would have favourable attitudes towards sustainability. As a result, these consumers would prefer to purchase fashion products locally, and they are also more socially responsible in general. Stanforth and Hauck (2010) studied the use of ethically framed marketing measures in influencing consumers’ price perceptions towards fashion and beauty products. They found that consumers would expect a slightly higher price for the product produced under a more ethical condition. Most recently, Gam (2011) found that an enjoyable fashion and shopping environment enhance consumers’ purchasing intention of environmentally friendly clothing.

The second area is on the production side, which mainly focuses on the garment productions in the developing countries. Barnes and Kozar (2008) discussed the prevalence of pregnant women in the production of apparel goods in their commentary paper. Through an extensive literature review, they found that even though some countries have formally established labour protection laws, pregnant women are still facing discrimination and many unethical treatments (such as forced abortions, unpaid overtime, mandatory job assignments, etc.) in the fashion industry. Most recently, Abraham (2011) examined the closed-loop logistics system in the apparel aftermarket in India under the supply chain management context. The author presented the workflow and detailed procedures for the collection, processing and resale of second-hand apparel in India. The author then argued that the lack of coordination of various supply chain members is the root cause of inefficiencies of the system.

In light of the growing importance of the ethical issues in the fashion business, this special issue of the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management was conceived. It is devoted to publishing the latest and significant research findings on ethical fashion supply chain management. In this special issue, the selected papers address the following key issues on ethical fashion supply chain management:

• •

  The impact of voluntary occupational health and safety management system on fashion-related firms’ financial performance.

• •

  Corporate social responsibility implementation and national cultural context.

• •

  Corporate social responsibility in the fashion industry from the perspectives of Indian consumers.

• •

  A Five-R analysis for sustainable fashion supply chain management in Hong Kong.

• •

  Case studies on the perceptions of fair trade labelling and certification.

• •

  Understanding the consumption side of sustainable fashion supply chain by examining fashion consumer eco-fashion consumption decision.

• •

  The impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behaviour.

• •

  Knowledge sharing and diffusion of ideas among online green fashion communities.

These papers provide new insights on different facets of ethical fashion supply chain management. They would lay an important foundation for future research on this topic and help advance our knowledge in this important topic area.

Before closing, the guest editors would like to take this opportunity to thank the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management Steven George Hayes for advising and helping them with the organization of this special issue. They also thank all contributors and anonymous reviewers for their valuable time and effort.

Tsan-Ming Choi, Chris K.Y. Lo, Christina W.Y. Wong and Rachel W.Y. YeeGuest Editors