The Responsible Fashion Company

Integrating Ethics and Aesthetics in the Value Chain

Francesca Romana Rinaldi, Salvo Testa

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351285865
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business generale
• Index: Business

In The Responsible Fashion Company, Rinaldi and Testa argue that the fashion industry is at a crossroads: the need for a global shift to a sustainable model has never been more urgent. Yet, they demonstrate that we are witnessing a revolution led by conscious consumers and enlightened companies, who are redefining the rules of the fashion market. The question is: when will the rest of the industry catch up?

Rinaldi and Testa raise a fundamental but often neglected issue in the fashion sustainability debate: long-term equilibrium can only be achieved by integrating economic goals with environmental, social and ethical values. "The Responsible Fashion Company" provides a clear overview of the theory, challenges and opportunities of sustainability in the industry and demonstrates how fashion companies can achieve competitive advantage through sustainable innovation. The authors show how leading fashion companies are challenging traditional thinking and present inspiring examples from pioneers such as Gucci, Levi's, Timberland and Brunello Cucinelli, who create quality products without leaving a negative impact behind.Refreshing and timely, The Responsible Fashion Company is essential reading for the socially conscious consumer and anyone with a professional or personal interest in the fashion, design and luxury industries.

1
The new paradigms

If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. […] We need not wait to see what others do.

Mahatma Gandhi

1.1 The new paradigms of consumption and information

We are witnessing a real revolution. This revolution starts with demand and leads us to rethink, rebuild and redesign the rules of the market: the definition of ‘consumer’ loses its meaning as it assumes the final stage of the transaction as a mere process of purchasing and consuming. It is better to describe the neo-consumer as a ‘consum-actor’ (Fabris 2008) or ‘consum-author’ (Morace 2008), a user but, at the same time, an active part of the complex consumption dynamics, increasingly one-to-one, in which the sceptre passed a long time ago from the brand to the consumer. The new consumption paradigm, as asserted by Fabris (2008), is described by the fact that ‘consumers can be involved in the role of producer-designer-client because they have gained knowledge and awareness from which the company can learn a great deal, translating them into the development of goods and services’.

In recent years, some fashion brands—of different business models and positioning—have interpreted this evolution perfectly by launching projects which attempt to establish a new relationship with the neo-consumer. The use of new technologies and e-commerce has facilitated this process, assuring neo-consumers of their participation in the customisation of products. Some examples represent this evolution perfectly:

• Converse, with the ‘Design Your Own’ project, allows clients to personalise every detail of their trainers, and to order the shoes via the company’s website for them to be delivered to their home two to three weeks later.
• Nike, with the ‘NIKEiD’ project, allows the upper, insole and laces of running shoes to be customised, and it is even possible to put an ‘iD’ on the shoe’s tongue.
• Burberry, with the customised line called ‘Bespoke’, represents an example of luxury customisation. Clients can buy the trench-coat of their dreams, after choosing every detail (fabric, colour, sleeves, lining, collar, buttons, metal parts, belt and label) from the comfort of their own home.

In his cult book Societing, Fabris (2008) summarised the characteristics of the neo-consumer as follows:

• Polygamy and infidelity to the brand. The new way of relating with the brand implies a progressive reappraisal of the brand’s actual ideology and growing power for the consumer.
• Nomadism. Intended both literally, for the increasing amount of travel from one city to another and from one country to another, and metaphorically, for the ‘continuous slalom among products, consumption styles, brands that are becoming the modus vivendi of the postmodern consumer […] could indeed be traditionalist in their choice of car and an experimenter in food, minimalist for house decor and exhibitionist in clothing, open to what is new with regards to intellectual consumption and conservative towards new technologies’.
• Competences, needs and selectivity. With the increase in both competition and available alternatives, as well as the transparency of product information guaranteed by the Internet, the neo-consumer is increasingly competent, demanding and selective. Today, consumers are informed (and increasingly want to be so) regarding the origin of the product, the production method and the type of labour used. Says Fabris: ‘Ethics, the widespread request by producers and sellers for socially responsible behaviour, attention to the consumption chain even including the countries of origin of the raw materials, the production methods, the workers’ fair salaries, the environmental impact due to production, right up to waste disposal’ represent the new critical factors for establishing a successful and trusting relationship with the neo-consumer.
• Price sensitivity. This characteristic is also influenced by the increase in competition and available alternatives, as well as by the transparency of product information which is guaranteed by the Internet.

In addition to what Fabris describes, the change of paradigm includes an undeniably innovative way of consumption that can be summarised by the expression ‘collaborative consumption’,¹ introduced by Botsman and Rogers (2010) to establish a new era of critical consumption and participation: the era of sharing and of shared consumption. It is no coincidence that we are hearing terms such as car-sharing, bike-sharing, co-working, etc., more frequently. They are all based on the same idea: sharing a space, product or service turns the concept of private property upside down.

If we look at the fashion sector, we can add more terms to the list—like barter; ‘swap parties’; re-use and recycle—to reveal a new idea of consumption: a logic that is no longer individualistic but pertaining to a community, a consideration which includes more evaluation elements than just the price/quality ratio and aesthetics. What do all these terms have in common? Sustainability. In fact, speaking about shared consumption in fashion means looking at the environmental and social impact of the products.

In fact, all the characteristics of the neo-consumer described above are fully compatible with those of the consumer who is informed and shops mainly online:

• Polygamy, infidelity to the brand and price sensitivity. Brand infidelity is growing with the increasing number of channels through which one can obtain information and compare characteristics.
• Nomadism. The neo-consumer is a nomad even when choosing and using digital devices (smart phones, notebooks and tablet computers) to go online in order to obtain information and buy. Multichannel is the new mantra.
• Competence, need and selectivity. Thanks to information transparency guaranteed by the Internet, the neo-consumer can always be up to date regarding the origin of the product, the production method and the type of labour used.

Time magazine was among the first to speak about the revolution in consumption and information in this new era of the Internet, and dedicated the cover of its December 2006 issue² to this topic. In the context of this paradigm shift, what is the role of the Internet and social media? The Internet and social media are, respectively, the channel and the tool which are helping the new consumption paradigms become more pervasive (see Chapter 5).

1.2 The neo-consumer in fashion

The image of the neo-consumer, increasingly attentive to the environmental and social impact of products, continues to spread at an international level and belongs to the niche often known as ‘cultural creatives’ or even LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability).

When we speak of LOHAS we refer to a type of consumer that pursues, through daily choices, a lifestyle based on ecological sustainability and on attention to their own health and that of the planet. Consequently, when shopping, this consumer always chooses carefully, is aware of the importance of quality and of the origin of products, and prefers organic food. For example, LOHAS consumers realise that buying a piece of furniture made of tropical wood without a certificate of origin contributes to mass deforestation of the rain-forests. So, if possible, they choose furniture that does have certification or is made using wood produced locally. LOHAS consumers are aware that, when buying a house belonging to energy efficiency class A, they are contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and so they opt for this kind of solution. When buying a car, LOHAS consumers also make a decision on the basis of sustainability criteria such as the amount of carbon dioxide emissions, the recyclability of materials and energy efficiency, because they realise that they can each make a difference and that, if the environment is pr...