Sustainability and the UK’s Leading Clothing Retailers

Jones, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-9566-9393 (2024) Sustainability and the UK’s Leading Clothing Retailers. Athens Journal of Business and Economics. (In Press)

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Abstract

As consumers seek products that cause minimal environmental harm and bring about positive social impact, and as awareness of supply chain impact grows, retailers must embrace sustainability.’ (Vadakkepatt et al. 2021) The UK’s clothing retailers have a global reach which embraces a range of elements including, the production of the raw materials, a variety of treatment and manufacturing processes, retailing, and consumption, and all these elements face a variety of environmental and social challenges, which are increasingly in the public eye. With this in mind, this paper offers an exploratory study into how the UK’s leading clothing retailers are publicly addressing sustainability. The paper reveals that the leading clothing retailers addressed a wide range of issues including strategic corporate commitment; climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; environmental protection; the circular economy; protecting workers in supply chains; diversity, equity and inclusion; health and safety; and links with communities and charitable donations. More generally, the author offered three sets of wider reflections, focused on the different meanings of sustainability and the relative importance of business drivers vis-à-vis environmental and social sustainability drivers; the aspirational and expectational nature of many of the selected companies’ approaches to sustainability; and tensions between sustainability and economic growth.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Clothing retailers, sustainability, strategy, circular economy, UK
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business > HF5387 Business Ethics H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5001 Business > HF5428 Retail Trade
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Applied Business & Technology
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2024 12:26
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2024 12:30
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/13849

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