Adoption of and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals by fashion companies - A multiple-case study

Details

Supervisors

Desmet, Carlos ; Lejeune, Christophe

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

In 2015, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. Governments, civil society and the private sector are expected to collaborate to reach the Goals. As described in the literature review, the fashion industry is responsible for 10% of carbon emissions and 20% of water waste, among others, and directly employs 60 million workers, 75% of which are women. Fashion (especially fast-fashion) companies have thus major environmental and social impacts. However, some characteristics of the fashion industry, such as the rapid change in trends, complex supply chains and specificities of sourcing countries entail specific challenges for more sustainability in the sector: pressure on time and prices, low control across the supply chain, etc. The literature explains that the SDGs could represent a useful framework for fashion companies to guide their sustainability actions, and also that fashion companies are essential actors to help achieve the Goals, a win-win situation thus. Literature linking the SDGs and the fashion industry is emerging but is still limited, especially about the adoption process of the SDGs by fashion companies. To address this lack of research on the topic, the following question has been addressed in this master thesis: “How can fashion companies adopt and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?” The methodology used to answer this research question is a multiple-case study, complemented with inputs of external experts and additional fashion companies. The companies studied are: BESTSELLER, VF Corporation, Benetton Group, C&A, Nike Inc. and Desigual (cases), H&M, Inditex and an anonymous company (additional inputs). The results have then been crossed in two matrices, leading to the identification of two major paths taken by fashion companies when adopting the SDGs: fashion companies that take the SDGs into account in their sustainability strategy definition and fashion companies that try to link the SDGs to their existing sustainability strategy. The reasons and steps of adoption of the SDGs differ for the two groups, but the barriers faced and the elements facilitating the process are mostly common. In most companies, the SDGs are used only within the CSR department and for reporting. However, a deeper integration across functions, departments, and the supply chain would lead to greater impact. Even though fashion companies can help advance all SDGs, they have a major impact on SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 12 and SDG 17, and also play a key role in SDG 6, SDG 13 and SDG 15.