Sustainable fashion entrepreneurship in Europe

Sustainability in fashion is widely used for business models and marketing strategies, which often raise suspicions and brand mistrust due to greenwashing practices. Sustainable fashion is defined as the intersection between sustainable development and fashion as a creative industry. Sustainable fashion entrepreneurship aims to transform the fashion status quo towards environmentally and socially conscious production and consumption. Although there is recent research on sustainable fashion, especially from the end consumers’ perspective, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship and responsible business models in fashion. This study aims to extend sustainable fashion scholarship by connecting it with innovation and promotion strategies for the creation and growth of responsible business models in sustainable fashion entrepreneurship. It does so by investigating the professional perspective of startups on the development of responsible businesses for the fashion industry. Seven in-depth, semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs and marketing executives from European sustainable fashion B2B and B2C startups. The qualitative method made use of thematic analysis. The results of this study indicate innovation towards sustainability and sustainable value creation for society, the environment and the economy as the essence of responsible business development. The findings also reveal challenges in responsible brand promotion in fashion such as greenwashing, high prices, low accessibility and attitude-behavior gaps. In that regard, the participants highlighted the importance of digital marketing, social media, transparency and commercialization of sustainable fashion. Overall, the results disclose different innovation and promotion strategies for B2C and B2B startups in the management of responsible business models in fashion. This study provides useful insights for academics and professionals in various fields such as fashion marketing, sustainable fashion entrepreneurship and responsible business management with focus on environmental and societal well-being.