Understanding how awareness of a fashion company’s social sustainability practices influences consumers’ perception of brand image, as compared to one’s interest in fashion.

Abstract: Sustainability in relation to fashion has been a hot topic for many years, and especially the social consequences of apparel produced under sweatshop conditions has caused major scandals, and has become an enormous concern for consumers. Many fashion companies have taken measures to reduce their negative impact, but have been reluctant to communicate these efforts to their consumers, and are therefore described as ‘muted sustainable’ fashion brands. This paper aims to explore how awareness of a fashion company’s muted social sustainability practices in comparison to one’s interest in fashion affects consumers’ perception of brand image. Based on this, this paper’s purpose is to see how important consumers perceive social sustainability practices of fashion companies, and in turn to find out whether fashion companies should start communicating these practices. Further, the relationship between consumers’ perception of brand image and awareness of a company’s muted social sustainability practices is analyzed to see if it is affected by a person’s environmental and social sustainability concern. This paper examines consumers’ perception of the brand image of a chosen ‘muted sustainable’ fashion company, namely: Acne Studios. Questionnaire responses from 172 consumers were analyzed, confirming the influence of both awareness of a fashion company’s muted social sustainability practices and one's interest in fashion on the perception of the brand image of Acne Studios. The results show that awareness of a fashion company’s muted social sustainability practices and one’s interest in fashion are almost equally important in explaining consumers’ perception of brand image. Implications are concerned with the importance of fashion companies to communicate their sustainability efforts in order to increase awareness on these matters amongst consumers, and thus enhance brand image.