The Business Potential of Sustainable Development in the Fashion Industry

Abstract

The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. It releases 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year, while in our society, sustainable development has become a major economic and social issue. The studies concerning sustainable development for the fashion industry started only belatedly, after 2010. This study aims to evaluate the potential impact of sustainable development in the fashion industry in inves- tigating the evolution of consumers’ purchasing behavior due to a higher concern of sustainable development and emergence of green labels in this industry. The author applied a deductive approach and mixed methods through a survey questionnaire for collecting both qualitative and quantitative data. Results unveiled those respondents are aware about the important role of sustainability. More than 50% of the respondents already tend to turn towards more ecological purchases while 29% of them remain on emotional purchases. Results show also that there is still a lack of sustainability information from businesses towards consumers despite the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into Environmental and Social Responsibility (ESR). Fur- thermore, the respondents appear increasingly inclined to be more environment friendly; nonetheless, sus- tainable development impact on the fashion industry will grow concurrently with the evolution of consumers purchasing behavior.