Fast Fashion Sustainability

Kroger’s CSR efforts regarding environmental efforts are more robust than employee stakeholder support. Even with this, Kroger is considered a laggard with environmental CSR standards when compared to Walmart and Target (van der Ven, 2014). A main reason for this could be due to Kroger’s relatively light involvement with CSR focused organizations. Their leadership may simply not be exposed to CSR ideas as much as their peers (van der Ven, 2014). Expanding CSR knowledge, and leadership widening their network on CSR possibilities will give Kroger’s leaders access to industry leaders best practice knowledge.

Admittedly, more and more brands and retailers are taking action to respond to the ethical and sustainable issues. From the consumer side, there is an apparent growth of ethical purchase. Kate Spade, as an American luxury fashion brand, undergoes ethical enhancements of its manufacturing process in Africa. However, instead of transforming this approach into a charitable purpose, Kate Spade chooses to retain its high-quality standard and beautiful products to attract customers . This report will first focus on the elements Kate Spade practically supports in Africa, then review the performances of their program, using a comparable retailer’s moral action as a comparison. We will eventually conclude by examining the positive and negative impacts of such a policy for Kate Spade.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the sustainability practices of two companies in the same industry. The two companies chosen for comparison are The Hershey Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, both of which are in the consumer staples industry. These two corporations are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, on the Newsweek Top Green Companies in the U.S 2015. They have taken pride in creating sustainable product designs, having environmentally sustainable processes and supply chain management.

Primark, an Irish clothing retailer company was set up and headquartered in Dublin in 1969. Nowadays, there are over 250 stores across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and the United States. Moreover, Primark operates with about 700 suppliers in China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Eastern Europe. Primark takes corporate social responsibility for the shareholders, owners, customers, suppliers as well as employees. Corporate social responsibility is that a company not only creates profits for the shareholders, but also undertakes the social responsibility for customers, employees and environment, including complying with business ethics, rights of workers and the rules of environmental protection. In order to develop continuously, corporate social responsibility plays an significant role in a company, which drives stakeholders have reliance on the company. This essay focuses on the ways in which Primark taking its duty to society and the ways in which the company should have done better.

Nordstrom has continued to improve their dedication to the environment, steps such as: reducing carbon dioxide released into the air, using organic cottons and investing time and money into the discovery of more sustainable fabric clarification. Although many of these steps may seem like obvious choices so many large companies are still struggling to make the leap nordstrom has shown in these areas. The hunt for more sustainable fabrics is in hopes to lower the unlawfully logged forests and continue to encourage other brands, which they outsource from to be aware of how and where their fabric materials are made. The ethical decision to improve their own environmental practices and inspire other brands to do the same shows they care about the recent changes in society and are willing to form to these

Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra

Schaltegger, S., & Burritt, R. (2015). Business cases and corporate engagement with sustainability: Differentiating ethical motivations. Journal of Business 147(2), 241-259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2938-0

As an increasing number of people become more conscious of what they consume health wise and increase their awareness of their impact on the environment, they begin to actively decide who to purchase from. Companies must become more aware of their consumer’s transforming habits and values. ‘Companies today are bigger than many economies…little republics…if companies don’t do [responsible] things, who is going to?’ (Deresky, 2014, PC4-9). It’s hard enough developing a competitive edge to beat out the competition, but to do so while still holding true to the acts of shrinking one’s environmental footprint and giving back to local communities seems realistically unattainable. For all intents and purposes, can performance with purpose work for the performance aspect effectively? (Deresky, 2014)

The fact that there is so much competition in the clothing industry forces companies to seek the cheapest labor and material. To get products that are the least environmentally harmful will cost the company more money. That can lead future CEO’s to look for less expensive resources that may not meet their current standards. For example, because Patagonia makes synthetic clothing, plastics used to make the clothing release micro-plastics into the water when washed. These micro-plastics cannot be completely filtered by waste water filtering plants. (Martinko, Katherine)

In order to be sustainable over the long term, Woolworths has made sure that their success doesn’t come at the expense of the society, economy and environment as they are a part of it (ICAA, 2011). They believe it not only involves responsibility to understand and manage their impacts, but also gives them an opportunity to achieve lasting and beneficial change that extends beyond their operations (ICAA, 2011).

Abercrombie and Fitch, founded in 1892, is an American clothing company that targets young customers. It is headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, and has over 250 locations in the United States and is expanding internationally. Abercrombie and Fitch is a reputable apparel and lifestyle brand. However, in the past few years, the company’s image has been battered by accusations of discrimination toward minority groups. In this report, I will describe and analyze Abercrombie and Fitch’s current CSR policies and activities, and provide recommendations to improve the company’s brand image. I will focus on the four main social responsibilities that A&F highlights, which are environmental sustainability, diversity and human rights in the employment and its independent contractors, customer care, and the community.

Our company analysis focuses on the Kohl’s corporation, which tailors to customers needs in apparel, shoes and home décor. Kohl’s entertain the idea of their slogan by saying “expect great things”, they set high standards in the business world from an economical stand point as the maintain almost 20 billion dollars in revenue and from a sustainability stand point as they have achieved numerous goals since the 2000’s. Kohl’s is a great company with many department stores located throughout the United States and in Massachusetts. There is one less than a mile away from Merrimack College that has a huge collection of apparel, shoes and home décor.

Many firms are learning that being environmentally friendly and sustainable has numerous benefits. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). This could enable them to increase goodwill from various stakeholders and also save money in the long term. This will mean that they are being more efficient and less wasteful of resources, which will enable them to be more competitive by satisfying stakeholders. The CEO of

There are a large amount of social and environmental problems within the global apparel industry.

One of the most heavily discussed topics, in this last decade, is the environmental decay of our planet. Diverse concepts have materialized in order to find solutions for the problem. Ecology and sustainable growth have been confirmed to be the main solutions currently. Innovations for sustainable growth include: creation of hybrid cars, recycling and minor discharge of carbon dioxide in factories among others (Christ 23). Environmental awareness was also introduced to the world of fashion, unfortunately, it wasn’t very successful; lately there has been a change of situation and that is what we are going to attempt to understand.