Communication Strategies for Branding of Circular & Sustainable Products in the Fashion Industry : A Case Study of H&M Group

Abstract: The fashion industry has a significant environmental impact due to its high rate of production and consumption. In order to become sustainable, fashion businesses are making fundamental changes in their business models. In doing so, they are aiming to reduce the use of materials, decrease carbon footprint, and meet customer demands while also being profitable. This shift towards making fashion sustainable and profitable has encouraged companies to adopt circular business models where products are designed for multiple lifecycles. The branding of circular business models and products is an important yet underdeveloped area of research. The literature on the branding and communication of circular products is limited. Therefore, this study aims to explore different communication strategies for branding of circular products. In order to achieve the research objectives, a case study research methodology is implemented using the H&M Group as a case company. This study performed a brief systematic literature review and qualitative content analysis on the communication of circular products by H&M Group to identify the dominant themes. This study identified twelve themes from the systematic literature review & fourteen themes from the qualitative content analysis. The analysis shows that these themes have an inclination towards either increasing brand engagement or increasing customer awareness from a company perspective. Based on the analysis of the results this study identifies two main communication strategies for branding of circular products: awareness-oriented communication strategy and engagement-oriented communication strategy.