Fashion Luxury Brand Management

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, it is necessary for the organisations to manage sustainability of the business and run their operations efficiently over the international markets. The global fashion industry is growing at a rapid rate to satisfy the consumers by delivering high quality clothing products and accessorises. The organisational activities of the fashion brands are also changing towards sustainability (Wang and Shen, 2017). The aim of the essay is to analyse the corporate social responsibility practice in the organisations where the leaders try to secure future sustainable development. Through this study, it is possible to review the theories and practice of sustainable business activities, which are important to identify the strategic options of the fashion industry in order to run their operations sustainably and create good customers values in long run. Hence, the study is effective to demonstrate the activities of fashion industry to improve sustainable solution and run the business efficiently in long run. The triple bottom line theory is hereby beneficial to identify the ways that the fashion industry can adopt for maximising sustainable solutions. The way that the fashion brands can adopt positive changes will also be evaluated for better understanding and strategizing the organisational activities so that the corporate leaders of the fashion brands can secure future sustainable development.

Corporate social responsibility and its practices

The corporate firms are responsible to create values for all the stakeholders. Engaged with the business and in this regard corporate social responsibility is important for the business forms to strategies their operational activities creatively and run the business operations sustainably. The Triple bottom line theory of corporate social responsibility is effective for understanding the practices of managing business sustainability in long run (Arumsari, Sachari and Kusmara, 2018). The theory refers that there are three major strategy of managing sustainability which are people, planet and profit. Through strategizing their people and creating the values for the planet, the organisations are able to manage their activities sustainability and secure future sustainable development.

People

For the people management, it is necessary for the fashion brands to create values for the individuals, who are engaged with the business activities. For managing the people engaged in the business, it is necessary for the organisations to providing monetary incentives, structured salary and rewards so that the stakeholders such as suppliers and distributions, employees and managers can satisfy in working in the business and contributes with their full capabilities. On the other hand, the corporate leader of the fashion organisation try to maintain equality and diversity at the workplace, which is also necessary for managing the people in the workplace (Goldstone et al., 2021). Cultural diversity management and maintaining health and safety at the workplace further provide a scope to the fashion organisations to set up good organisational values and develop practice with equality and diversity and managing the safety of the individuals in the workplace. The quality of life of the people must be maximised by the organisational activities and in this regard, the organisations try to create values for the customers by providing high quality fashionable clothing and accessories to all the consumers at affordable price so that they can be satisfied with the organisational activities and reduction process (Wagner et al., 2017). The organisations are hereby concerned about people management activities through values creation and developing good circumstances for staying safely. Creating good working practice in the workplace as well as positive change management practice in the workplace is also important for people management. In this regard, for people management, the organisations also try to provide high return on the investment of the stakeholders including the suppliers, shareholders and investors.

Figure 1: Triple bottom line theory of corporate social responsibility

Planet

Managing planet is also the responsibility of the organisations and in this regard, it is essential to protect the planet and natural resources while operating in the society. The organisations try to maintain the water and air quality by managing their production and operational activities. Water management and maintaining air quality can be conducted efficiently through waste management and reducing the greenhouse gas emission. It is hereby important or the brands to manage their production and distribution network so that it would be possible to create values for the planet as a whole (Kumar, Prakash and Kumar, 2021). The natural resources must also be protected and it is necessary for the firms to utilise renewable resources for the fashionable products manufacturing and operations. In this regard, for example, the organisations in the fashion industry utilise organic colours and natural materials such as cotton and woollen materials to produce the final products. Hence, the use of organic colours is helpful for the customers to get sustainable products and on the other hand, suing the quality raw materials for the clothing would also be beneficial to maintain the quality of the final products. The strategy of waste management is also effective for managing corporate sustainability as well as in the recent years, the organisations implement electric cars for distributing the final goods and it is also considered as sustainable practice for the operations in the society. Through such practices, it is possible for the organisations to reduce the greenhouse gas emission and choose sustainable practice for running the operational activities successfully (Pandey et al., 2020).

Profit

Profitability is another major factor for the organisations to sustain in the market and secure future sustainable development. It is important for the organisations to be profitable and enhance their sales volume for long run success. The organisations try to enhance their sales volume and maximise the profitability of the business in long run. Through managing the sustainable solutions in the business, it is possible for the organisations to enhance the performance and productivity of the organisations and create values for the customers (Nayak et al., 2020). It in turn helps the organisations to retain more customers and strengthen their consumer base for long run. It further provides a scope to the organisations to enhance the sales volume of the brand and maximise profitability to secure future sustainable development. If the organisation is successful to maximise their profitability, it would also be possible to provide high return on the investment of the stakeholders and thus the economic responsibility of the organisation must be fulfilled to run the business sustainably. Hence, through the triple bottom line, it is possible to demonstrate the strategic planning of the organisations in the fashion industry where the corporate leaders can strategies the whole process in a sustainable way. The responsibility toward the people and the planet is also essential for the organisation to strengthen their position in the market and run the operation efficiently (Khandual and Pradhan, 2019). Moreover, the economic responsibility is also necessary to create values for the stakeholders by providing high return on investment.

Sustainability issues faced by fashion brands

Running the business operational activities in the global fashion industry is difficult due to existing issues related to sustainability, where it becomes problematic for the fashion brands to maintain corporate social responsibility and business sustainability in long run. There are several issues, related to the unsustainability of the business operations in the society (Arumsari, Sachari and Kusmara, 2018). The major issues related to managing sustainability of the fashion brands are such as resource depletion where there are huge numbers if trees cut down for producing the clothing. Additionally, climate change and animal suffering are also critical issues, for which animal welfare rules are violated. The fashion industry also mis-utilise the natural resources like trees and animal for producing the quality clothing (Henninger and Singh, 2017). Water pollution is also another issue, where the clothing industry is utilising huge amount of water for their production and manufacturing activity. The use of chemicals in the clothing products is also another major issue where the consumers may suffer from skin issues.

Figure 2: Issues in fashion industry

In addition to this, there are other issues related to the fashion industry which are habitat destruction, human rights abuse for working overtime, air pollution and food insecurity. There are some of the corporate leaders in the fashion industry who are mis-utilising the human being in the clothing manufacturing factory where over time is the major issue (Arumsari, Sachari and Kusmara, 2018). The women in the factory are not getting effective wage for their contribution and it is also another major issue. Additionally, the air pollution is also another major issue, where the clothing manufacturing companies is suffering from increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Due to greenhouse emissions, lack of waste management principles and water pollution, the organisations in the global fashion industry face difficulties to manage their operations efficiently and it further violates the sustainability practices in the organisation (Woodside and Fine, 2019). v

Responds of fashion industry towards sustainability imperative

There are several strategic planning for managing sustainability in the business and it is the responsibility of the organisations in the global fashion industry to follow suitable tactics of managing their operations sustainably in long run. The organisations must focus on managing water pollution issue, by reducing the use of water in the production sites. Less percentage of use of water and reducing the water pollution issue by purifying water would be the best solution for managing water and operating responsibly in the society (Wang et al., 2019). In addition to this, waste management strategy must be adopted efficiently in the organisational workplace, where it is possible to reuse the products and repair it for further use. Swapping the clothing products and managing the waste are useful for the fashion industry to act responsibly towards the society.

Figure 3: Sustainable practice in fashion industry

In addition to this, using the quality fabric, which is eco-friendly, is one of the major strategic planning for the fashion industry to manage their activities sustainably. The eco-friendly fabrics materials, the fabric extracted from the crops and utilising organic cotton cultivation are the major strategic planning to improve the quality of the fashionable clothing as well as maintain the eco-friendly products and services sustainably (Arumsari, Sachari and Kusmara, 2018). On the other hand, there is eco-friendly leather which are also utilised for the shoes and bags in the fashion industry and it will provide a scope to the organisations to act responsibly and run their operations efficiently. Jeans made of repurposed denim, reutilise the sunglass frame through recycling options are also efficient to manage the sustainable solutions of the business firms. Hence, the material of the clothing must be eco-friendly and recycled for further sue in future. This is also helpful to manage waste of the company (Mukendi et al., 2020). In addition to this, the organisations are efficient to adopt the strategy of replacing plastic use for packaging their final products, rather they utilise paper packaging system for business sustainability management. The plastic bottles are also reused for further production purpose (Choi, Cai and Shen, 2018). On the other hand, the organisations in the global fashion industry utilise organic colours for better quality management of the clothing products as well as maximising corporate sustainability. The organisations are also efficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investing on the electric cars for managing production and distribution of the clothing products. These are the major strategic planning through which the organisations can create social values and maximise the wellbeing of the individuals by protecting natural resources as well as providing green environmental footprint. v

Supporting positive changes by fashion brands

The famous fashion brands are able to adopt creative strategies for managing corporate social responsibility where the main aim of the fashion brands is to develop sustainable solution to secure future organisational growth. For example, Gucci focuses on sustainable changes by organic tanning techniques as well as bamboo handling bags. There is recycled packaging system at Gucci and in 2017, the company announced the great innovation which is fur free products where the fur of fox, minx, rabbit, lambs or raccoon dog will not be utilised for their products (Gucci.com. 2021). On the other hand, the famous brand Givenchy focuses on managing sustainability through minimising water use, energy usage through utilising renewable resource and reducing the greenhouse gas emission. The organisation aims at utilising electric cars for distributing their final goods as well as managing the green supply chain in the global fashion industry. The companies like Nike, Gucci are also focusing on utilising organic materials and organic colours for better product quality management and maximising the corporate sustainability in long run (Brown, 2021). urberry’s vision is to bring positive change and build a more sustainable future through zero carbon emission by 2022, where the organisation is efficient to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by utilising renewable resources and using electric cars. Jaden and Will Smith have launched a company that manufactures eco-friendly bottled water called Just water. The use of plastic has been deteriorated where the famous brands Gucci and Burberry try hard to minimise the use of plastic for the bottles and also for the packaging style (Wang and Shen, 2017). The brands adopt new packaging system with renewable materials, mainly paper. Hence, all the famous fashion brands are concerned about managing corporate sustainability to secure future organisational development and gain high competitive advantage, the organisations try to adopt renewable energy resources as well as minimise the issue of water and air pollution. the organisations are successful to create values for all the stakeholders engaged with the business in the fashion industry including the employees, managers, suppliers and distributors, customers, government and social communities, where the companies are efficient to protect the natural resources and maximise the quality of the products and services (Goldstone et al., 2021).

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, the organisations in the recent years are concerned about managing corporate sustainability to run their operational activities sustainability and gain high competitive advantage. For example, Gucci, Burberry, Nike and other famous global fashion brands are efficient to fulfil the factors under triple bottom line, where they maximise their profitability, create values for the stakeholders through people management and managing social values. Their contribution towards protecting natural resources, renewable resource utilisation as well as mitigating the issue of water and air pollution are also beneficial for the organisation to maximise wellbeing of the social communities and provide safe world to stay and live a high standard of living. The organisations are successful to utilise organic colours, eco-friendly cotton and fabrics; mitigate the greenhouse gas emission as well as improving asset management principles in the organisation for better quality management and maximising business excellence. This further will provide a scope to all the fashion brands to secure future sustainable development and gain high competitive advantage in the global fashion industry. The companies are hereby successful to create green environmental footprint and run their operational activities sustainability, which in turn helps the fashion brands to improve positive branding, strengthen their consumer base and maximise profitability.

Reference List

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