Brand value co-creation through sustainable practices in the fashion sector

Sustainable fashion has been drawing considerable attention from academics across business disciplines in recent years. In the marketing field, research has investigated with depth the motivations, perceived value and barriers behind sustainable fashion consumption (Lundblad and Davies, 2016; Gupta et al. 2019), consumers’ attitudes and behaviors to sustainability in fashion (McNeill and Moore, 2015; Grazzini et al., 2021; Song and Ko, 2017) and communication on fashion brand sustainability (Guedes et al. 2020). However, little is known on the construction of a sustainable brand in the fashion sector. This research investigates how sustainable credentials add value to brands, along the value chain. Particularly, we examine how buyers and sellers, co-create the sustainable brand value, how the relationship between business customers, when based on sustainability practices, fosters a competitive advantage and influences product perceptions, brand evaluations and finally fashion consumption (Czinkota et al., 2014; Sheth and Sinha, 2015). The research method involves case study research, that proved effective in the development and testing of theory in marketing and operations management (Voss et al. 2002). Semi-structured interviews are conducted in two companies that participate to the Erasmus-funded SFES (Sustainable Fashion Employability Skills) project: Harris Tweed Hebrides and Tendam Retail. Through these two cases, we explore the relationships between stakeholders at different levels in the value chain, such as sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, distribution. The paper proposes a framework of brand value co-creation and fashion consumption through sustainability practices.