IN
DEGREE PROJECT INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT,
SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS STOCKHOLM SWEDEN 2021,
Sustainable Decision-Making in the Fashion Industry
How to influence the fashion industry to adopt more sustainable packaging solutions
ELIN ENLUND JENNIE NILSSON
KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
Hållbart Beslutsfattande i Modeindustrin
Möjligheten att influera modeindustrin till att använda mer hållbara förpackningslösningar
av
Elin Enlund Jennie Nilsson
Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:250 KTH Industriell teknik och management
Industriell ekonomi och organisation SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
Sustainable Decision-Making in the Fashion Industry
How to influence the fashion industry to adopt more sustainable packaging solutions
by
Elin Enlund Jennie Nilsson
Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:250 KTH Industrial Engineering and Management
Industrial Management SE-100 44 STOCKHOLM
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Examensarbete TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:250
Hållbart Beslutsfattande i Modeindustrin:
Möjligheten att influera modeindustrin till att använda mer hållbara
förpackningslösningar
Elin Enlund Jennie Nilsson
Godkänt Examinator
Cali Nuur
Handledare
Daniel Berlin
Uppdragsgivare
Case Company
Kontaktperson
N/A
Sammanfattning
Modeindustrin står idag för 4 procent av de globala utsläppen av växthusgaser i atmosfären och 20–35 procent av mikroplaster i haven. Det är därför en högt debatterad bransch när det kommer till just hållbarhet. Flera aktörer i sektorn, trycker på att företag i branschen måste förändras för att kunna vara konkurrenskraftig framåt. Därför arbetar många företag just nu med att reducera sitt klimatavtryck. Trots det, har branschen ofta en global och komplex leverantörskedja med affärsmodeller som inkluderar vad som på engelska benämns ’fast fashion’, mode som produceras under korta cykler, vilket gör det svårt för företag inom branschen att verkligen bli hållbara.
Modeindustrin har många gånger viljan och intentionerna att minska sin klimatpåverkan, men tillsammans med en komplex leverantörskedja och ökad efterfrågan på e-handel, är det extra viktigt att kunna ta hållbara beslut när det gäller förpackningar.
Denna studie visar att de undersökta företagen i modeindustrin har prioriterat arbetet med hållbarhet främst i delar som tillhör produktionen av kläder. Emellertid kan hållbarhetsfokuset gällande förpackningar falla i skymundan, då kan en extern konsultering vara till hjälp. I denna studie kommer vi att undersöka hur ett etablerat företag inom pappersförpackningsindustrin kan uppmuntra och influera sina kunder inom modeindustrin att ta mer hållbara beslut gällande förpackningar. Det kommer att göras möjligt genom en digital plattform som erbjuder livscykelanalys (LCA) i en tidig del av produktutvecklingsprocessen. Vår studie kommer vidare att undersöka hur denna plattform kan skapa maximalt värde för dess användare. Därför innehåller
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denna studie intervjuer med, och undersökning av, företag i modeindustrin för att kunna förstå vad som driver dem till att vara mer hållbara samt vilka institutionella parametrar som påverkar hur hållbara olika företag i branschen är.
Resultatet visar att det finns drivkrafter och institutionella parametrar när det kommer till hållbarhet hos dessa företag. De funna drivkrafterna är standarder och regelverk, konsumentmedvetenhet, konkurrenskraft, offentliga påtryckningar, företagsledning, originalitet och övriga externa intressenter, så som aktieägare och kundinflytande. Studien antyder vidare att större aktörer verkar vara mer påverkade av externa faktorer som standarder och regelverk och offentliga påtryckningar. Medan mindre aktörer verkar vara mer påverkade av interna drivkrafter, såsom företagsledning och originalitet. Denna forskning föreslår att det finns vissa inflytelserika parametrar som påverkar hur företag arbetar med hållbarhet. Resultatet visar att företag med priser i mellansegmentet, med huvudkontor i Europa, med sportkläder och med hög omsättning arbetar mer med hållbarhet än andra aktörer i branschen.
Det visade sig även under denna studie att det finns vissa hinder för företag att vara mer hållbara.
Dessa inkluderar osäkerhet och brist på kunskap, brist på transparens, ökade kostnader, komplex leverantörskedja, att förpackningar är mindre prioriterat i hållbarhetsarbetet samt att funktionalitet av förpackningar sällan är något som kan tummas på. Efter datainsamlingen kunde slutsatser om plattformens förmåga att influera kunder inom modebranschen att fatta mer hållbara beslut om deras förpackningslösningar göras. Dessa inkluderar att plattformen ska vara transparent, inneha stor mängd data av produktbibliotektet och vara väl införlivad i den kommande försäljnings- och designprocessen. Det visades dock att användning av LCA i en sådan plattform är främst till hjälp som ett vägledande verktyg och vid ett första inledande samtal vid produktutvecklingen. Vidare, är tidigare forskning överens om att hållbarhetsaspekter bör ingå i ett så tidigt skede som möjligt i utvecklingsprocessen för att säkerställa en så hållbar produkt som möjligt under hela dess livstid.
Dessutom kan de företag som saknar en profession som är ansvarig för hållbara förpackningar eller saknar nyckeltal (KPI) som fokuserar på detta specifika område vara mer intresserade av en sådan plattform.
Denna studie bidrar till forskningen genom att fungera som en god grund för andra organisationer som ser på möjligheterna med att implementera en plattform för att vägleda och uppmuntra sina kunder att fatta mer hållbara beslut, vilket visar vilka funktionella applikationer som ska inkluderas och vilka kunder att rikta in sig på en sådan plattform. Ytterligare forskning bör undersöka detta ämne i bredare skala, undersöka ett mer omfattande och mer varierande urval och en eventuell applicering av studien inom andra branscher.
Nyckelord
Modeindustrin, hållbarhet, förpackningar, e-handel, institutionella parametrar, barriärer, produktutveckling, beslutsfattande, plattform, B2B
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Master of Science Thesis TRITA-ITM-EX 2021:250
Sustainable Decision-Making in the Fashion Industry: How to influence the
fashion industry to adopt more sustainable packaging solutions
Elin Enlund Jennie Nilsson
Approved Examiner
Cali Nuur
Supervisor
Daniel Berlin
Commissioner
Case Company
Contact person
N/A
Abstract
Today, the fashion industry is responsible for 4 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and 20-35 per cent of the microplastics in the ocean. It is thereby a highly debated industry when it comes to environmental sustainability. Different actors in the sector are stressing how reducing the ecological impact of the business is a matter of staying competitive forward.
Many actors in the industry are trying to change towards reducing its effects on the environment.
Still, complex global supply chains and business models such as ‘fast fashion’, i.e. fashion produced under short cycles, make it difficult. For an industry that wants to reduce its impacts on the environment, including a worldwide complex supply chain, and customer demand for e- commerce is increasing every day, adopting sustainable decision packaging suctions is essential.
Our research shows that the investigated companies have prioritised sustainability aspects for their garments; however, sustainability focus on packaging can sometimes fall behind, and external guidance is sometimes needed. This research will investigate how an incumbent packaging firm can influence its customers in the fashion industry to make more sustainable decisions regarding packaging. It will be done by a digital platform that performs lifecycle assessments (LCA) in the early stage of the development process. Our research will investigate how this platform can create maximum value for its customers in the fashion industry. Hence, this research includes interviews with and reviews of actors in the industry to explore what drives and institutional logics (parameters) affect how different actors in the fashion industry are approaching sustainability today.
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Findings show that there exist drivers and institutional logics in these company cases. The most extensive drivers are standards and regulations, consumer awareness, competitive advantage and top management. The study further suggests that larger actors seem to be more affected by external factors such as standards and regulations and public pressure. Smaller actors seem to be more affected by internal drivers, such as top management and originality. This research proposes that some influential institutional logics affect how companies are approaching sustainability. The results reveal that companies with prices in the mid-market segment, headquarter location in Europe, product type sportswear, and high revenue are working more than other actors in the industry when it comes to sustainability today.
During this research, it was possible to see that some barriers exist to become more sustainable.
These include uncertainty and lack of knowledge, lack of transparency, increased costs, complex supply chain, packaging being less prioritised in working with sustainability, the functionality of sustainable packaging being rarely something that could be compromised. After the data collection, conclusions regarding the platform’s ability to influence customers in the fashion industry to make more sustainable decisions regarding their packaging solutions could be made.
These include that the platform should be transparent, the magnitude of data, and well incorporated in the upcoming sales- and design process. However, it is shown that using LCA in a platform like this is helpful as a guiding tool and as a first initial conversation when developing a product.
Further earlier scholars agree that sustainability aspects should be included in such an early stage as possible in the development process to ensure the most sustainable product during its lifetime possible. Furthermore, those companies without any person responsible for sustainable packaging or key performance indicators (KPIs) focusing on this specific area might be more interested in such a platform.
This study will contribute to research by serving as a foundation for other actors looking into the possibilities of implementing a platform to guide and influence their customers to make more sustainable decisions, indicating what functional applications should be included and what customers to target in such platform. Further research should investigate this topic on a broader scale, looking into a more extensive and more diverse sample and a possible application of this study in other industries.
Keywords
The fashion industry, sustainability, packaging, e-commerce, drivers, institutional logics, barriers, product development, decision-making, LCA, platform, B2B.
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Table of Content
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Case Description ... 3
1.3 Research Aim ... 4
1.4 Research Questions ... 5
1.5 Delimitations ... 5
2 Literature Review ... 6
2.1 Sustainability in the Fashion Industry ... 6
2.2 Packaging ... 11
2.3 E-Commerce today ... 12
2.4 Customisation and Value Co-Creation ... 14
2.5 Digital Platforms ... 16
2.6 Sustainable Product Development and LCA in Decision-Making ... 18
3 Methodology ... 21
3.1. Research Design ... 21
3.2 Research Process ... 23
3.3 Research Setting ... 27
3.4 Data analysis & Interpretation ... 28
3.5 Quality of Research ... 30
4 Findings and Analysis ... 34
4.1 Institutional Logics affecting Sustainability ... 34
4.2 Sustainable Drivers in the Fashion Industry ... 36
4.3 Barriers for being sustainable ... 41
4.4 Platform and Sustainable Decision-Making ... 47
5. Discussion ... 55
5.1Institutional Logics affecting Sustainability ... 55
5.2 Sustainability Drivers in the Fashion Industry ... 60
5.3 Barriers for being sustainable ... 63
5.4 Platform and Value Creation ... 65
6 Conclusion and Further Research ... 74
6.1 Conclusion ... 74
6.2 Contribution to Research ... 76
6.3 Limitations and Future Studies ... 76
References ... 79
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Preface
We would like to express our gratitude to our supervisor Daniel Berlin at KTH for providing us with untiring guidance, spot-on feedback and humble kindness. Further, we would like to thank our supervisors from the Case Company where this study has been conducted. Thanks for your endless inspiration and support and for developing this case for us. We have been inspired and challenged each day and are so grateful for this time. It has been a pleasure.
Also, we would like to show our appreciation to our interviewees that have given their time and valuable insights in the fashion industry, packaging industry, sustainable decision-making, platforms and LCA’s. The expertise you possess is just brilliant – thanks for sharing it with us.
Lastly, we would like to thank all of our peers and our supervisor Cali Nuur. During the seminars, you have given us invaluable insights and suggestions on further direction or scopes.
Stockholm, June 2021
Elin Enlund Jennie Nilsson
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1. Introduction
The first chapter of this report covers the introduction to the research. This chapter includes the background of the study and the problematisation in the area, and why we decided to investigate this area. This is followed by the aim of the study, research questions and lastly, the delimitations.
1.1 Background
The level of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere is increasing every year, and during the previous decade (2010-2019), the highest temperature ever was recorded (United Nations, 2020.a; United Nations, 2020.b). Until the year 2100, the temperature is projected to increase by 3,2°C if no further actions are made. In comparison, the average temperature has risen by 1,1°C since 1880 (Mckinsey Global Institute, 2020).
In 2018, the fashion industry accounted for 4 per cent of the global GHG emissions (McKinsey & Company and Global Fashion Agenda, 2020), and 20-35 per cent of microplastics in the ocean (McKinsey & Company and The Business of Fashion, 2020).
Thirty per cent of the GHG emissions from the Fashion industry originate from downstream activities during the retail part of the chain, including, e.g., distribution of goods, use-phase and end-of-usage (McKinsey & Company and Global Fashion Agenda, 2020). The rapid growth of fast fashion, i.e. garments designed and produced during short time cycles, has led to many serious environmental problems. Such examples are the consumption of more resources as the garments require more energy throughout their shorter life cycle and take up valuable landfill space at the end of their life cycle (Moon, et al., 2015). Another scholar from 2018 argues that it is inevitable for fast fashion companies not to invest in sustainable solutions and product offerings to stay competitive or even survive in the market (Sinayi & Rasti-Barzoki, 2018).
Today in 2021, Kumara et al. (2021) explain that the manufacturing and fashion industries have worked to decrease their environmental impacts.
Moreover, parts of the share of GHGs from the fashion industry is emitted by e- commerce that has seen its rise during the last couple of years, and even further during the Covid-19 pandemic and is expected to continue to rise over the next coming years (McKinsey & Company and Global Fashion Agenda, 2020; Syaekhoni, et al., 2017;
van Loon, et al., 2015). Hence, packaging plays an essential role in the possibility of
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mitigating the negative impacts on the environment from the fashion industry, both through optimisation of packaging to reduce its size concerning the content but also using more sustainable materials (Escursell, et al., 2021; van Loon, et al., 2015).
The fashion industry, overall, is pressured to become more sustainable for many reasons today. Some of these are new standards and regulations, consumer awareness, competitive advantage and public pressure (Peters & Simaens, 2020), but also due to pressure from governments, communities, consumers, corporate strategy, culture and more (Saeed & Kersten, 2019). Even though consumers are getting more consciously aware of sustainability and concerned about their purchases’ impact on the environment (Wang, et al., 2019), consumption, in general, has increased significantly all over the world. In the research by Moon et al. 2015, it is explained that limited knowledge regarding sustainability-related topics is a key reason why companies are not able to become more sustainability-compliant today and that education programs in sustainability are needed (Moon, et al., 2015).
Different scholars agree that a product’s socio-ecological impacts through its life cycle are primarily determined at the initial stage of its development process, which is why it is vital to include sustainability aspects as early in the product development as possible (Hallstedt, 2017). Therefore, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has become one of the most common tools to enable and assess complex issues over a life cycle basis (Manus & Taylor, 2015; Hauschild, et al., 2018). LCA is a tool for decision-making that addresses sustainability impacts when selecting and/or optimising available technological solutions (Jolliet, et al., 2016).
From previous research, we know that 1) the organisational culture of different actors in the fashion industry defines how sustainable they are (Goworek, et al., 2020), 2) understanding customers’ needs and ambitions is crucial when developing products through the co-creation of customised products Loef, et al. (2017). Building up from those scholars, the first part of this thesis will investigate the fashion industry actors’
organisational cultures, sustainability drivers, barriers, and institutional logics (parameters such as size, revenue, product segment and country of origin) that affect how sustainable they are. The second part of this thesis will investigate how the Case Company can develop a digital business-to-business (B2B) platform for its customers in the fashion industry to influence sustainable decision-making through LCA. Lastly,
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investigate what companies based on institutional logics and drivers will be interesting to target for such a platform.
1.2 Case Description
This thesis is built around a case from a large incumbent paper packaging firm that forward will be described as “Case Company”, which works in the B2B context. It involves a digital platform that during this thesis is in its early stage of development.
The platform has thereby not been tested neither by customers or internally yet, and the output of this study will hopefully be of value for the continuing development of the platform. The platform will include a digital library of paper packaging products from the Case Company, where customers will be able to browse for different alternatives between different products and thereby being able to know what has been done before. What is special with this platform is that a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) will work as a tool to display each packages’ environmental impact. The Case Company’s customers will thereby see how different designs and sizes of their packaging solutions impact the environment. First, the customers will be able to see what has been developed before. Second, the customers will be able to see how different types of parameters such as size or design will impact the environmental impact of the package. Hence, the platform will serve as a try-out service, where customers can try out different designs on packages in relation to its environmental footprint. The goal is that the platform can influence customers to include a sustainability perspective in the early stage of their packaging product development.
However, the original co-creation process begins after leaving the platform, in meetings together with the sales and design team. Hence, the platform is supposed to make the co-creation part of the process shorter, see figure 1 below, but also make sure that the environmental aspects are included in the development process from the start.
This platform will further make sure that the customers have understood what different offerings and designs the Case Company can offer and thereby have better insights into the original co-creation process.
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Figure 1, The design process, with and without the digital platform.
1.3 Research Aim
This research investigates how a large incumbent packaging company, through a digital platform including LCA, can influence actors within the fashion industry to become more sustainable in their packaging solutions. The research will also look closer into the sustainability drivers and barriers in the fashion industry and hence, understand how the platform can influence companies to become more aware of the environmental impacts of their packaging solutions.
To be able to answer whether this platform is helpful for sustainable decision making in the fashion industry, we need to know why companies want to become sustainable, what they are struggling with to become more sustainable, and which type of companies in the fashion industry are working the most with sustainability today. To know the why – we will investigate the drivers to understand why companies want to become more sustainable and why they, therefore, want to make more informed decisions; What they are struggling with are investigated by looking at barriers for being sustainable; To investigate which companies - we will explore what institutional logics, that affects how sustainable companies are, and thereby what type of actors in the fashion industry that will be interested in such a platform. Each part individually may not contribute to new research explicitly. However, all parts combined will add a new perspective to previous research regarding using LCA in decision-making for an incumbent firm to influence customers to make more sustainable decisions through a digital platform.
5 1.4 Research Questions
• What institutional logics affect how sustainable actors in the fashion industry are?
• What drivers motivate the fashion industry to become more sustainable?
• How could a large incumbent paper packaging firm, through a digital platform for lifecycle assessment, influence its customers in the fashion industry to make more sustainable packaging decisions?
1.5 Delimitations
The large incumbent paper packaging company and the objects for investigation, i.e.
actors in the fashion industry, are operating globally. However, this study is conducted in Sweden, and most of the empirical data, such as interviewees in the fashion industry, are collected in Sweden. The data sample is based on 1) the top 10 per cent of the global fashion industry sorted by revenue and 2) interviews with various actors in the fashion industry.
The definition of sustainability will take the most common approach, based initially on the 1987 statement of the World Commission on Environmental and Development (i.e. the Brundtland Commission). This definition of sustainable development was coined as ‘development that meets the present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland, 1987, p. 37), and will in this thesis only include the environmental aspect. More sustainable packaging will be defined as the paper-based packaging of Case Company, with an LCA that shows a mitigated environmental impact in relation to other products, where Case Company’s customer in the decision-making process will define what ‘better’ is.
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2. Literature Review
This section presents earlier literature on the research subject. It presents the research made in Sustainability in the Fashion Industry, Sustainability Drivers, Packaging, E- Commerce, Value Creation, Customisation and Co-Creation, Digital Platform, Sustainable Product Development and LCA in Decision-Making.
2.1 Sustainability in the Fashion Industry
The fashion industry is a polluting and resource-intensive industry. Joy & Peña (2017) argue that the industry’s future success depends on reducing its environmental and social impact along the entire supply chain (Joy & Peña, 2017). Fast fashion is designed and produced during short time cycles (Goworek, et al., 2020), sometimes ending up in 24 collections each year and often so in the low-price segment, in comparison with some of the brands in the premium segment that might have two collections each year (Zhang, et al., 2021). Fast fashion is one of the most significant issues when it comes to sustainability in the fashion industry. It is a reason for textile waste, excessive usage of resources, and excessive disposals of these (Goworek, et al., 2020). In addition, in Park et al. (2017), it is argued that the more interested in fashion trends a consumer is, the less sustainable the consumer often is. Furthermore, that price might be a barrier for price-sensitive to be able to buy sustainable products. However, it might not be a barrier for those consumers that are committed or motivated enough to do so (Park, et al., 2017). Nevertheless, an effect on the issues with these seasonal and fast-paced cycles, a countermovement has risen advocating for slow fashion. That is when the time cycles are longer, limiting collections to four annually. More emphasis lies on reducing overconsumption and resource disposal and advocating for more sustainable and qualitative products (Goworek, et al., 2020).
Furthermore, according to Goworek et al. (2020), the parts with the most impact on sustainability during a product’s life cycle are the production and processing of the clothes and the aftercare of clothes, such as clothing care and maintenance. Gowerek et al. (2020) state that good cross-functional communication and common set goals upstream and downstream in the supply chain throughout the product’s lifetime increase the possibilities of meeting customer value and providing a sustainable design. Further, Wang et al. (2019) suggest that practices that can enhance a more sustainable supply chain and change customer perceptions for the better involve producing recyclable products and reducing packaging (Wang, et al., 2019).
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Additionally, the culture in the company is of high importance as it sets the vision and mission towards sustainability (Goworek, et al., 2020).
However, according to Moon et al. (2015), there are some barriers to why the fashion industry is limited when becoming more sustainable. These are 1) limited knowledge regarding sustainability, 2) insufficient sources of sustainable goods from suppliers, 3) higher cost of producing and marketing sustainable products 4) limited design choices with sustainable products (Moon, et al., 2015). Further barriers are often long and complex supply chain in the fashion industry with little or no control over the chain upstream (Goworek, et al., 2020).
Moreover, Macchion et al. (2018) also explain how investments in sustainability projects can include extended return on their investments, which makes large amounts of capital needed to finance reorganisation in the supply chains. These investments seem to be easier supported for large companies, where large sustainability budgets are possible (Macchion, et al., 2018). However, even though it seems necessary to be a large company in this matter, it is not always sufficient depending on their in-house strategy (Macchion, et al., 2018). Hur and Cassidy (2019) explain how internal (personal and organisational) barriers to becoming more sustainable are absent of consensus and knowledge regarding sustainable design. Sustainable design-led approaches can be perceived as a trade-off with other design criteria, such as style, costs and fashion trends (Hur & Cassidy, 2019).
2.1.1 Corporate Drivers for Sustainability
Drivers for sustainability may be defined as factors that push or pull organisations to become more sustainable in their practice (Saeed & Kersten, 2019). Peters and Simaens (2020) discuss three different levels of drivers when integrating sustainability in the corporate strategy of those companies within the textile and clothing industry:
institutional, organisational, and individual. Institutional drivers are based on
‘institution’ as a way of ‘playing the game’. Which in its turn, is based on normative elements such as values, norms and roles; cognitive elements based on shared ideologies and cultural values; and on regulative elements meaning regulations and legal rules that set the framework for in which environment the corporate world is expected to obey within (Peters & Simaens, 2020). The institutional drivers that influence the industry are stated as standards and regulations, consumer awareness,
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competitive advantage and public pressure (Peters & Simaens, 2020). It is also possible to see drivers as based on internal and external drivers. External drivers refer to, e.g., government, community, consumers, suppliers and employees, while internal refers to corporate strategy, culture, resources and characteristics (Saeed & Kersten, 2019).
The driver standards and regulations have, during the past years, increased its pressure on all industries as more obligatory and voluntary standards together with government regulations when it comes to sustainability have increased. Global directives such as The Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and continental directives as those from the European Parliament but also those on a national level, together are calling for significant transformations and change across all government, society, science and corporations (Sachs, et al., 2019; Owen, et al., 2018; Dicuonzo, et al., 2020; Saeed & Kersten, 2019) (Sachs, et al., 2019; Owen, et al., 2018) (Peters &
Simaens, 2020; Saeed & Kersten, 2019) (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2017) (Saeed &
Kersten, 2019).
Consumer awareness is a crucial driver when it comes to driving the fashion industry towards a more sustainable practice and affects companies by consumers’ behaviour, awareness, knowledge, values and perceptions of the product and the business (Forcadell, et al., 2020; Peters & Simaens, 2020; Cantele & Zardini, 2018). It is argued that this will increase even more with every generation, where younger generations are the more sustainable conscious (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Gazzola, et al., 2020). Zhang et al. (2021), argue that culture also affects how sustainable consumers are as it affects how people feel and think about certain things, which thus also influence their actions, thus their consumption. It is further stated that consumers in, e.g., the western countries often have a more sustainable consumption or knowledge about sustainability issues in the fashion industry than in, e.g. China (Liu, et al., 2016). The demand for sustainable products has also increased more during the past years (Kumara, et al., 2021). Consumers have also got a will to pay a higher price for eco-friendly products due to responsible purchasing intention made by consumers (Kumara, et al., 2021;
Jamali & Rasti-Barzoki, 2018; Xu & Wang, 2018). Another study by Hartmann group (2017) further shows how 93 per cent of the consumers indicated they are concerned about the environmental impacts of their purchases and have joined energies to sustain the environment. in one way or another. In addition, Suki (2017) stresses that
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consumers tend to favour environmentally friendly products since it makes it easier for consumers to fulfil and satisfy their human needs (Suki, 2017; Wang, et al., 2019).
It is further argued that the more satisfied a customer is with the sustainability in a product or service, the more committed or emotionally invested the consumer is in the product or service, which in its turn can lead to increased profit (Wang, et al., 2019).
Due to the consumers’ change in demand named above, consumers force businesses to create and develop sustainable solutions for their products, packaging materials, pesticide usage, and waste management (Kumara, et al., 2021; Forcadell, et al., 2020).
It has also created new opportunities for those companies that exploit this niche market (Moser, 2016). This also stresses the importance of marketing the sustainability work so that the consumers may see it and appreciate it and hence work in the company’s favour (Jamali & Rasti-Barzoki, 2018; Saeed & Kersten, 2019).
On the other hand, competitive advantage refers to the incentives of integrating sustainability in the corporate strategy as it may lead to competitive advantage and contribute to financial performance (Cantele & Zardini, 2018; Peters & Simaens, 2020;
Saeed & Kersten, 2019). By investing in continuous improvement, a shared vision in sustainability, ownership over the whole value chain, more efficient processes and complying with regulations, companies may experience a competitive advantage.
Competitive advantage, in this case, is achieved by, e.g. getting lower cost, better reputation and legitimacy, a better position in the market and long-term growth (Peters
& Simaens, 2020). Integrating sustainability into business may also advocate for more efficient processes, lower cost of compliance, and new markets opportunities (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2017). It is further argued that what competitors are doing in sustainability initiatives drives companies to become more sustainable and competitive (Saeed & Kersten, 2019).
Public pressure is a driver that has often been occurring in conjunction with the media growing public awareness after, e.g., environmental or social issues such as accidents in factories. This has put high pressure on companies to take ownership over the processes and ensure better standards and production conditions in their factories and be transparent in the way the company operates. If not keeping up with improvements in these areas or not being transparent enough may threaten companies’ reputation and result in fines and expenses from legislative agencies (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Saeed
& Kersten, 2019). Public pressure may also derive from pressure from non- governmental organisations (NGOs) that raise awareness about different issues and
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communities or pressure groups and activists (Saeed & Kersten, 2019). Here, word- of-mouth and social media have played a significant role in publicly pressuring companies in the fashion industry to become more sustainable (Salem & Alanadoly, 2019). Additionally, it is suggested that larger companies are more exposed to this kind of pressure, and the magnitude may be larger than for smaller ones (Colucci, et al., 2020).
Drivers on an organisational level are drivers that refer specifically to the organisation, are sustainability as a business case and corporate reputation. Sustainability as a business case relates to drivers encouraging those companies that use sustainability directly in their business model, directly correlated to financial results (Peters &
Simaens, 2020; Saeed & Kersten, 2019). By implementing sustainability as a business case, it is argued that companies can achieve better stock performance and returns on investments but also lowered costs in general (Dicuonzo, et al., 2020). It is also mentioned that those companies that integrate sustainability as a business case are less sensitive to changes in the price of food, water, energy and other resources. One way of incorporating sustainability in the corporate strategy is to implement internal carbon pricing for activities throughout the value chain leading to greenhouse gas emissions.
This help companies to make better long-term strategies and be more conscious about eventual risks with carbon pricing systems and institutional regulations. Integrating sustainability as a business case can also lead to a better reputation and awareness by its customer and increased purchasing by customers leading to better financial performance in the long run (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Holtström, et al., 2019).
Corporate reputation is another organisational driver for integrating sustainability in a company’s corporate strategy. Having a good reputation today is not just something that can enhance a company’s business but also as having a bad reputation could entirely ruin a business today and is something that can mark a company for a long time (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Cantele & Zardini, 2018). Companies can improve their reputation in sustainability work by engaging in more and more profiled sustainability initiatives. By improving and maintaining the corporate reputation based on sustainability work, companies may be able to increase their financial performance and competitiveness (Cantele & Zardini, 2018)
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Individual drivers refer to specific individuals or groups within the organisation, such as top management and originality. Top management refers to the importance of good governance and leadership to encourage the whole organisation and the individual in the company to a more sustainable business (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Saeed &
Kersten, 2019). Research states that the head office initiates 80 per cent of all sustainability initiatives, individuals initiate the rest 20 per cent within the company.
It can therefore be argued that top management, the CEO and other top management roles have a strong influence concerning integrating sustainability into the business and are the ones with the opportunity and mandate to initiate and financing R&D and innovation for more sustainable products and processes (Peters & Simaens, 2020;
Cantele & Zardini, 2018). Another way of driving sustainability from top management is to integrate policies and standards, such as ISO certification (Baumgartner & Rauter, 2017). However, it must not only be talked about to be successful, it needs to be fully integrated into strategy and diffused throughout the organisation, but also fully measured along the way (Peters & Simaens, 2020; Cantele & Zardini, 2018). One way of measuring the impact of products and processes is to integrate management instruments such as life cycle assessment tools (LCA) (Baumgartner & Rauter, 2017).
Furthermore, in an industry where the majority is mass-produced or replicated, it surges after some originality. Originality as a driver refers to the importance of differentiating yourself from competitors to gain positive results (Peters & Simaens, 2020). Today, many new start-ups in the fashion industry are so-called “born- sustainable” and have sustainability as their unique selling point (Todeschini, et al., 2017). Hence, integrating sustainability in the corporate strategy and branding the company as ‘sustainable’ may lead to competitive advantage and a way for consumers to notice you in a crowded market (Peters & Simaens, 2020).
2.2 Packaging
The products sold in e-commerce are usually packed in a package of corrugated paper.
However, dependent on the product, different regulations need to be met. Three tiers are most common when packaging products and they are 1) Primary packaging, which serves to protect and advise the product (e.g., foil wrapped around a chocolate bar), 2) Secondary packaging, which is the large case or box that are grouping quantities (e.g., cardboard boxes containing several foils wrapped chocolate bars), 3) Tertiary packaging, which is used to gather several secondary packaging boxes to more
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accessible transport the product (e.g., pallets and/or a plastic wrapping around several cardboard boxes) (Escursell, et al., 2021). However, the need for the three different packages varies depending on the product and the products need for protection (Pålsson, et al., 2017). This thesis will mainly look at the secondary packaging, which includes e-paperbags/e-bags that is used for e-commerce packaging in the fashion industry, since this is what the Case Company is most devoted to. However, this study reveals that primary packaging in the fashion industry is usually a plastic bag that protects the garment and is called a polybag, which will be discussed further in the result and discussion section of this thesis.
To make packaging more sustainable, there are different ways of doing so today. Some common examples are minimising the amount of material used for each package, maximising the package’s recyclability, minimising each package’s volume to decrease space when shipping and maximising the amount of recycled material in package et cetera (Escursell, et al., 2021). Furthermore, it is essential to know that recycled materials do not have the same properties as new materials. When recycling the product, the fibres become shorter, and the material loses essential properties. It can thereby not become resistant enough for a particular type of product, for example, the primary packaging in food packages (Escursell, et al., 2021).
Escursell, et al. (2021) claim an apparent demand for new sustainable materials to develop more sustainable packaging within e-commerce. There are some new solutions and innovations on the market in this area. Escursell, et al. (2021) brings up a couple of innovations, such as the Scudopack, which is a solution that can reduce the material used but still able to protect the product. It is usually used for furniture, windows, marbles and doors. Further, a product called Repack, which is said to decrease emissions by 80 per cent. Repack is a packaging solution made of Polypropylene (PP), a shipping bag that is supposed to be returned to the post office by the customer. The bag is recyclable, long-lasting and is in a light material. However, it is made of non-biodegradable materials obtained by non-renewable sources (Escursell, et al., 2021).
2.3 E-Commerce today
The fashion industry is getting more digitalised and interconnected every year (Gazzola, et al., 2020). Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this
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momentum in digitalisation and sales through e-commerce, thereby changing consumer behaviour on a global scale. According to the State of Fashion 2020, written by McKinsey & Company together with Business of fashion (2021), claims that the year 2020 will go to history as one of the most challenging years for the fashion industry on record, with a decline in sales and rapid change in consumer behaviour.
This mainly due to travel restrictions, work from home and closed stores all around the world. Digital consumption saw an acceleration where digital channels became even more important to adapt to the rapid increase in e-commerce. Further, the international travel retail sector remains disruptive, and a new wave of internal travellers is expected to remain growing during the coming year. Therefore, companies will need to engage better with local consumers and unlock new opportunities for consumers to continue shopping to keep sales high (McKinsey & Company and Business of Fashion, 2021).
According to a study made by McKinsey & Company (2021), more e-commerce means more digital solutions, which is why digital innovations are on top of every fashion company’s agenda. The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted online shopping, where this trend does not seem to be reversed anytime soon, where beliefs are that e- commerce will increase further by 25 per cent by the year 2026 (Escursell, et al., 2021).
However, Wiese et al. (2012) argue that consumers might be willing to travel long distances to try the clothes in-store before purchasing a product. They mean that e- commerce might grow more in segments like books or electronics where the need to try the product might not be as critical (Wiese, et al., 2012).
2.3.1 E-Commerce & Sustainability
As online shopping increases each year, which also increase the need for packaging, it plays an essential role in mitigating the adverse effects on the environment (van Loon, et al., 2015). According to Pålsson, et al. (2017), energy consumption when it comes to online purchases is highly dependent on what type of transport the package is being transported. Transport by air is by far the most polluting alternative (Pålsson, et al., 2017). It is, however, argued that the trips that consumers take to the physical stores in conventional shopping also have a significant impact on the environment. Even if these often are not added to the product’s total carbon footprint compared to products from an e-store where the delivery usually is calculated as part of the footprint (van Loon, et al., 2015).
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Comparing the footprint between traditional store, home delivery, and consumer pick up may be difficult and lacks research (van Loon, et al., 2015). The authors conclude that the carbon footprint is similar for home delivery and consumer pick-up shopping (200g CO2-eq per item). However, in a paper by Pålsson et al. (2017), it is claimed that packages shipped by air have 10 per cent more environmental impact than traditional sales in stores, while other transportation would have a similar effect on the environment according to this study.
It is also argued that a large basket size before a small one, and if the order is distributed from one central supply points rather than several, increases the environmental benefits significantly (van Loon, et al., 2015). The authors further propose that a good strategy to decrease the emissions per item is to work for parcel utilisation of the space for each delivery. Additionally, the more the customers are encouraged to order an increased basket, i.e., the number of items per basket, the fewer trips or deliveries occur (van Loon, et al., 2015). Moreover, the type of packaging and to what degree the process is energy utilised are very influential to the environmental effects.
2.4 Customisation and Value Co-Creation 2.4.1 Customisation & Mass Customisation
As a stand-alone term, the term Customisation implies that the customer has to be involved in the process development of the product in one way or another. However, the level of engagement from customer can differ (Deradjat & Minshall, 2017).
However, mass customisation, which is what will be covered in this thesis, has been widely discussed in management literature as a feasible business model for companies that have customers with different demands, and therefore a need to customise products and services for them to suit different customers (Hankammer & Steiner, 2015). Mass customisation has its starting point as early as 1987 and is described as the strategy to bridge classic mass production and one-of-a-kind production. Mass customisation aims to meet the customer’s demand to have personalised products even though allowing the provider to offer the benefits of mass production (Ng, et al., 2015).
According to Ng et al. (2015), there are two different views regarding mass customisation, where the first one is as the role of technology, process and structure meeting specific customer desires. The second, more focused to reach mass markets, while different customers are still treated individually, explained as the more visionary
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approach (Ng, et al., 2015). Loef et al. (2017) describe how customisation and co- creation often go together. That co-creation is the process to achieve customisation, and how customised value can be delivered in three different ways, explained as 1) offerings (a solution, a product, service experience or transformation, 2) platform (interaction with a market system created of the company to fulfil companies individual need), 3) collaboration (between company and customer to achieve individual value) (Loef, et al., 2017). In this paper, mass customisation will take the visionary approach, focusing more on the role of the customer value, allowing mass customisation to be a tool for tailor, scalability and more customer-focus when developing products.
2.4.2 Value Creation & Co-Creation
There is well-known previous work in value creation where different scholars argue that companies can develop a deeper engagement with customers by becoming more outcome-oriented as a business (Grove, et al., 2018). Loef et al. (2017) further encourage more profound relationships with customers and claim that customers gain added value from the emotional involvement of participating in creating a product or service (Loef, et al., 2017).
In the research of Grove et al. (2018), two different parts are stressed when it comes to creating value for customers, 1) changing the definition of success, 2) is change how the company communicates with its customers. The first part is to understand that success is measured by the value gained by the customer rather than focusing on the customers that are buying the most but putting more interest in what customers can generate the most value. To make a B2B setting successful, the most crucial action is to focus on the customers’ customers – understand their desires and what we can do to satisfy their needs (Grove, et al., 2018). The second is to realise that customers are well-informed today and that consumers arrive at the sales process with more knowledge and information than before. Examples of this can be collecting data from the customer by natural language algorithms or other more traditional methods for further knowledge about the customer and the customers’ customers (Grove, et al., 2018).
According to Loef et al. (2017), co-creation leads to better offering since it’s possible to have a clearer picture of what the customers want. It is further stressed about the
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importance of finding the right customers, understanding their needs and ambitions to develop sustainable relationships with them to achieve the desired outcome through valuable co-creation and customised products (Loef, et al., 2017). However, different companies are defining the word ‘outcome’ differently. Grove et al. (2018) mention that it can be a variety of things, for example, revenue, profits, goals (e.g., to achieve better customer experience for their customers), but it can also be efficient or ramping the companies’ reputation. Desired outcomes are, therefore, the customer’s future business performance. To become more outcome-oriented, you need to get out of your comfort zone as a technical problem solver and to deliver technical products but rather engaging in more qualitative solutions by working closer to the customer (Grove, et al., 2018).
2.5 Digital Platforms
Companies and their customers have understood the competitive advantage of using different platform tools as networks to involve more different actors in the development stage of new products or processes (Ramaswamy & Prahalad, 2008).
Even manufacturing companies can leverage complex and service-driven relationships to provide competitive advantage and collaboration for future profits. This transition from a business model toward a customer relationship-oriented is defined as
“servitisation”. Researchers have found that good service and agility can be achieved by developing networks beyond companies own resources and competencies (Eloranta
& Turunen, 2015). Continuing, Grove et al. (2018), agrees that the B2B environment today is developing more products and services (often described as solutions).
However, they identified that what most companies want to achieve is to deliver outcomes that customers want rather than selling solutions.
Today, all companies are operating in a world full of market failure characterised by imperfect information about choices, outcomes and highly interdependent decisions (Helfata & Raubitschekb, 2018). Usually, a platform can be used to provide common standards, interfaces, or used as a tool, to leverage core technologies to increase the profitability or productivity of a corporation, a set of corporations or users (Teece, 2017). According to Helfata & Raubitschek (2018), it is not easy to create sustainable networks where interfaces including different actors, products, and products’
components and sub-systems need to be visualised. The creators of a platform carry a
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great responsibility in designing and altering these complex systems with a high number of actors involved (Helfata & Raubitschekb, 2018).
When developing a platform, Teece (2017) argues that dynamic capabilities are essential for platforms and their ecosystems because ecosystems have their dynamics and movements that must respond to the changes in the business’s environment. When addressing and/or shaping new business environments, it is essential to integrate, build, and reorganise internal and external resources to ensure their dynamic capabilities align with the platforms’ vision. Teece (2017) further explains and describes capabilities as a set of activities that enable an organisation to produce a particular outcome as forward-looking goals/initiatives that make the company/departments/units take decisions to go in a specific direction. Further, Grove et al. (2018) stress that different parts are essential to developing platforms. One main takeaway is that to be able to create a seamless experience for the customers. The IT team should work closely and report their work to the marketing team because it is first then, the IT-teams’ primary focus will be to make a platform that creates maximum user experience for the customer (Grove, et al., 2018).
In previous literature, platforms are described in different ways, where Smedlund &
Faghankhani (2015) describe the different types of platforms as one-sided, two-sided or multisided, dependent on the number of participating groups involved in the platform. However, they can further be described as opened or closed platforms dependent on how the groups are free to integrate their offerings in the platform (Smedlund & Faghankhani, 2015). One-sided enables interactions between participants of one distinct group, two-sided enables interactions between participants two distinct groups, while multisided enables interactions between participants of more than two groups (Staykova & Damsgaard, 2016). This thesis will investigate how a two-sided platform, where the two distinct groups are 1) customers of the investigated company and 2) employees of the investigated company. Since the platform will only be editable by a few employees at the IT department, this platform will further be defined as a closed platform.
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2.6 Sustainable Product Development and LCA in Decision-Making 2.6.1. The Process of Sustainable Product Development
Different scholars agree that a products’ socio-ecological impacts throughout a product’s life cycle are mainly determined in an early stage of the product development process. This is why it is essential to include these aspects as early in the product development as possible. (Hallstedt, 2017). In this stage, environmental and social product characteristics can be changed and adapted to a great extent. The knowledge of the characteristics can still be minimal, and there is usually not enough data to understand its long-term impacts (Schöggla, et al., 2017). However, scholars further agree that this is a challenge to make decisions early in the development phase.
Information on the following impacts of taking a particular design choice can be limited (Hallstedt & Isaksson, 2017).
Hallstedt (2017) also argues that including these aspects early would make it easier to 1) reduce environmental damage and lower costs. 2) plan for solutions such as flexible platforms that enable sustainable solutions, and 3) use sustainability as a driver for product-service system innovations. Moreover, Hallstedt (2017) further argues that there needs to be an efficient sustainability perspective that can also include the long- term and strategic perspectives that can support decision making (Hallstedt, 2017).
Other challenges revised in earlier research are the challenge that engineers and designers usually are not trained to recognize the environmental and social impacts of the products lifetime, which makes it even more important to have and use different tools that can guide the designers during the development process. According to Schöggla et al. (2017), these tools must be easily assessable, simple to use and effective.
Different scholars agree that different companies and businesses will need to adapt to different environmental standards to meet various sustainability compliances today (Schöggla, et al., 2017). Hallstedt (2017) stresses the knowledge described as; to reach sustainability in product development, the development team must know what sustainability is and how it can be achieved and measured. In this paper, examples of solutions to solve this dilemma are to use sustainability indicators, for example, 1) descriptive indicators (present a state, pressure or impact of the product, 2) performance indicator (measure the distance between the current numbers and desired target values 3) efficiency indicators (measuring input of resources per unit of output)
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(Hallstedt, 2017). In regard to adapting this to the platform named in this thesis, the first one will be investigated to have a descriptive indicator such as an LCA analysis to describe the impact of the product during its lifetime.
2.6.2 LCA and Decision-Making
Life Cycle Assessment is a decision-making tool that can address sustainability impacts when selecting and/or optimising available technological solutions (Jolliet, et al., 2016). Rather than looking at, e.g. climate change, LCA covers a broad range of environmental issues, where usually around 15 different aspects are included (Hauschild, et al., 2018). The tool has its origins in energy analysis in the 1960-1970s where it was used to determine environmental and resource impacts of products or systems. Today, the tool becomes one of the most common for policymakers since it can enable and assess complex issues over a life cycle basis (Manus & Taylor; 2015 Hauschild 2018). According to Jolliet et al. (2016), LCA has been significantly developed since the 1990s, where both data and scientific quality have increased. Even though development and innovation will continue to grow over the next coming years, LCA has reached a level of maturity where LCAs’ approaches and studies are regularly published in different top scientific journals and fields (Jolliet, et al., 2016).
Enabling assessments for complex issues over a life cycle basis can be difficult but has been beneficial since it can frame the increasingly complex and uncertain surroundings (Manus & Taylor, 2015). Rashid & Yusoff (2015) explain how the implementation of LCA can guide designers, engineers and other decision-makers to include an environmental evaluation in the decision-making process, where it before would be likely that decision-makers mainly looked at the initial cost without LCA (Rashid &
Yusoff, 2015). LCA can be applied in a range of products or systems over a product’s life cycle. By developing boundaries that explicitly identify which aspects of the supply chain and process, it’s possible to compare different alternatives with the same boundary (Manus & Taylor, 2015).
According to Jolliet et al. (2016), LCA is a primarily voluntary tool that stimulates companies and governments to identify their strengths and weaknesses by going beyond the basic assumptions and opposition between actors to find innovative and sustainable solutions toward product and behaviour improvements (Jolliet, et al., 2016). LCA can bring up perspectives such as climate change, land occupation and
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transformation, freshwater usage, toxic impacts on human health, aquatic eutrophication, depletion of non-renewable resources, eco-toxic effects from metals and synthetic organic chemicals (Hauschild, et al., 2018).
Jolliet et al. (2016), explains that LCA has a range of advantages, however stressing that some applications have been harshly criticised. For instance, LCA methods have been selected to obtain the results expected by the study’s sponsor. Hauschild et al.
(2018) and Peters (2016) explain how the comprehensiveness of LCA is also its weakness, as it requires simplification and generalisations when developing the product system. Hauschild et al. (2018) are also stressing that since “best estimate” is used when developing the system, the model cannot support the risk of rare or very problematic events such as oil spill or devastating disaster such as Chernobyl. Peters (2016), is also explaining how the boundaries, the scope and definition are identified and how it impacts what is included in the analysis (Peters, 2016)
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3. Methodology
In this section, the methodology used for conducting our thesis will be presented. The thesis is including both a case study and a qualitative content analysis. The case study includes interviews with different anchors in the fashion industry, specialists from Case Company, and Researchers in LCA. To understand how institutional logics can affect how different actors work with sustainability, the qualitative content analysis has been conducted on the 19 fashion companies with the highest revenue globally.
3.1. Research Design
This study aimed to gain insights into how the fashion industry can be encouraged to have more sustainable packaging solutions in the fashion industry. Blomkvist and Hallin (2015) are stressing the importance of addressing the project through an explorative perspective when including complex surroundings. Case studies also allow the researcher to make projections and draw parallels to how the research might be applicable in other areas (Blomkvist & Hallin, 2015).
This study has been conducted as a qualitative study approach, meaning that subjective and social objectives have been considered (Saunders, et al., 2015). An abductive approach was chosen for this project to stay flexible along with the project and stay adaptable. Hence, this developed a broader perspective, where it was possible to alter between induction and deduction by continuously going back to the literature along the process. This movement between the inductive and deductive approach made it possible to constantly break down the project’s complexity by systematically going deeper into literature during the process (Saunders, et al., 2015).
Adapting along with the project’s timeline was explicitly helpful since the digital platform investigated was in its early stage of the development process, where new information regarding its development was continuously added. This further made it possible for the researchers to review interview questions along the way and go back to literature when needed.
3.1.1 Data Collection
Primary data have been collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis. The interviews have been conducted with actors in the fashion industry, experts in the field and actors in the packaging industry. The questions for
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the interviewees have been held openly in order not to interfere with the results.
According to Gioia et al. (2013), it can be helpful to use an abductive approach when analysing interviews to find themes and get a broader perspective of the findings (Gioia, et al., 2013). The interviews conducted can be seen in table 1 below.
Table 1. Conducted interviews
Title of interviewee Description Price segment HQ / Location
Interview Date
Business Controller &
Developer, Sportswear
Business Controller &
Developer - Sportswear 3 Mid-market Europe 2021-05-07
Sustainability Coordinator, Apparel
Sustainability Coordinator -
Apparel 3 Mid-market Europe 2021-05-04
Growth Manager, Sportswear Growth Manager - Sportswear
2 Value Europe 2021-04-28
Fabric, Trim & Sustainability Manager, Apparel
Fabric, Trim & Sustainability
Manager - Apparel 2 Mid-market Europe 2021-04-30
Sustainability Lead, Apparel Sustainability Lead - Apparel 1 Value Europe 2021-04-29
Product & Marketing Director, Sportswear
Product & Marketing Director
- Sportswear 1 Value Europe 2021-04-28
Logistics Manager, Childrenswear
Logistics Manager -
Childrenswear 1 Value Europe 2021-04-16
Assistant Professor in Systems and Component Design, Royal
Institute of Technology
Researcher 1 - KTH - Europe 2021-04-27
Associate Professor in Industrial Ecology and LCA, Royal Institute
of Technology
Researcher 2 - KTH - Europe 2021-04-30
Marketing Director, Case Company
Marketing Director - Case
Company - Europe 2021-04-22
Packaging Designer, Case Company
Packaging Designer - Case
Company - Europe 2021-04-16
Sustainability Manager LCA, Case Company
Sustainability Manager - Case
Company - Europe 2021-04-08
Qualitative content analysis is described in the literature as analysing text data and subjectively interpreting text content through a systematic classification process of
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coding and identifying themes or patterns (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005). In this research, content analysis has been performed to get a deeper understanding of how actors in the fashion industry are approaching environmental sustainability today, the drivers and the motivation behind their sustainability initiatives, and lastly, to understand what parameters affect actors’ sustainability work. The text analysed includes sustainability reports, annual reports, actors’ websites and press releases and have been performed on those 19 companies with the highest market share, based on revenue in the fashion industry globally. The data collected from the qualitative content analysis aims to input sustainability parameters for the B2B platform.
The 19 analysed companies through the Qualitative Content Analysis include Adidas Group, Burberry Group Plc, Carter’s Inc, Fast Retailing Co. Ltd, H&M Group, Hanesbrands Inc, Hermès International SCA, HLA Corp Ltd, Inditex, Kering SA, L Brands Inc, Levi’s Strauss & Co, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Nike Inc, PVH Corp, Semir Group Co Ltd, Target Corp, The Children’s Place Retail Stores Inc, The Gap Inc.
3.2 Research Process
Since the problem formulation of this thesis is both diffuse and results-focused, the study was proposed based on both convergent and divergent thinking to keep the research question open in the beginning and retain uncertainty throughout the process (Blomkvist & Hallin, 2015). This can further be explained as an iterative, non-linear development process where the research questions and literature search will be refined and adjusted along the way. In the same way, interviews have been conducted with people with profound knowledge of packaging, sustainability, or/and the fashion industry. The literature review created the foundation when analysing the interviews and data collection to answer the research questions.
With assistance from business analysts at Case Company, information about the clothing market was collected. They provided us with information on which companies had the highest revenue and covered a market size of approximately 10 per cent.
Thereby, the 19 companies were decided to become the objects of research for the Qualitative content analysis.
