Sustainability as a brand strategy
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2025-03-24
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master's Programme in Marketing
Language
en
Pages
91
Series
Abstract
The global fashion industry poses significant negative social and environmental implications through its fast-paced cycle of both production and consumption. Research identifies an attitude-behaviour gap between fashion consumers’ expressed attitudes towards sustainable fashion consumption and actual executed behaviour. Existing research additionally highlights a need for systemic change within the fashion industry, calling for a shift from linear to circular in both companies’ and consumers’ approach to fashion production and consumption. This thesis explores the role of marketing activities as a contributor in impacting fashion consumer behaviour. Additionally, this thesis explores how sustainability can be leveraged by fashion brands to increase brand loyalty. This thesis consists of a qualitative research study with the Swedish fashion brand Filippa K and its loyal customers. The objective of this thesis is to understand how sustainability can be leveraged in fashion brand marketing, both through fostering brand loyalty as well as encouraging sustainable fashion consumer behaviour. Through semi-structured interviews with Filippa K’s loyal customers, the empirical research explores the relationships between long-lasting brand- consumer relationships, attitudes towards sustainable fashion consumer behaviour, and perception of different sustainability marketing initiatives. This thesis finds brand loyalty to be a suitable pathway for fashion brands to encourage sustainable behaviour, as emotional connections between fashion brands and consumers are found to contribute to participation and engagement. Fashion consumers are found to experience responsibility of sustainability issues, and to seek empowerment through participation in sustainability related behaviour. Moreover, communicating about sustainability attributes in simple and accessible ways is found to contribute to building loyalty between fashion brands and consumers. This thesis additionally identifies challenges that fashion consumers experience in relation to sustainable fashion consumer behaviour, including lack of ability for self-expression and style experimentationDescription
Supervisor
Kajalo, SamiKeywords
sustainability, fashion, sustainable fashion consumption, sustainable consumer behavior, brand loyalty, customer engagement