A Closer Look at CSR Practices in Sustainable Fashion: A Guideline for Apparel Brands

Abstract

While it might be greenwashing that impedes consumers' eco-consumption, the researchers posit that this gap is also due to fashion brands’ weak CSR communication and inconsistent understanding of CSR activities. This study aims to 1) determine the ease with which consumers can navigate sustainable fashion brand websites to find corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, and 2) construct a framework that clearly identifies CSR activities, CSR dimensions, and the business operation stages at which they occur. Website content analyses were conducted on 27 sustainable fashion brands in the United States to investigate their CSR activities. A framework was proposed to better understand current CSR activities and guide the future development through literature reviews and definition analyses (CSR definitions in the past 40 years). This study seeks to better understand the effectiveness of CSR presentation on brand websites, to create consistency among CSR activities, and to provide consumers, scholars, and market practitioners with a tool to implement and identify CSR activities.