Which Consumer Associations Can Build a Sustainable Fashion Brand Image? Evidence from Fast Fashion Brands

Abstract

Since fast fashion is often considered the opposite of sustainable fashion, this study was conducted to clarify the consumer brand associations with sustainable fashion by analyzing three fast fashion brands. Our research included two studies. First, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 female consumers in Korea who had purchase experience with the sustainable fashion of three selected brands, H&M, Zara, and Uniqlo, to identify sustainable keyword associations. We then structured the keyword data using network analysis. The keyword associations for the three brands resulted in a network of 60 nodes and 629 links with the term "eco-friendly" as the most meaningful keyword. Second, we surveyed 200 women and quantitatively confirmed the association of "eco-friendly fabric" among the keywords suggestive of "eco-friendly" as the most important factor in building a sustainable fashion brand image. In addition, keywords, such as "marketing" and "campaign", were ranked in the top ten in H&M and Zara, which may imply the opportunistic use of greenwash. This study contributes to the literature by applying in-depth analysis of consumer associations of fast fashion brands from a sustainability perspective through network analysis. We expect our findings to help fashion companies strategically build a sustainable fashion brand image.