Discussion

I aimed my research to investigate the Danish fashion industry and explore whether Denmark lives up to its reputation of being in the forefront of sustainable fashion. This kind of investigation is new especially when looking specifically at Denmark and the phenomena of slow fashion. The literary findings demonstrate that Denmark is committed to sustainable fashion. Currently, the Danish fashion industry believes itself to have an unprecedented opportunity to become the fashion industry’s world leader in sustainability (Dansk Mode &

Textile, 2016). Business for Social Responsibility, a global non-profit business network and consultancy, observes given that the future of fashion is innovation, sustainability is the companion to innovation (BSR, 2012). Slow fashion is an industry innovation, but can it contribute to sustainability, and will its challenges be taken on by Denmark’s fashion companies? The literary findings of my research make a point of departure for the critical discussion and evaluation of my main analytical findings and empirical results. At the close of this discussion I will take the underlying research questions to conclusion.

Part 1. What are the tendencies regarding slow fashion in Denmark?

My research shows that sustainability is an intention to innovate, integrating several ideas and accompanying concepts, one of which is the concept of slow fashion. Other ideas supporting sustainability are CSR and aspects of stakeholder management, such as joining the Global Compact. In practice but also in theory, sustainability seems to be used as one overarching word, including several different approaches like slow fashion. Interestingly, in the analysis of data, I found out that most of the experts have a critical view of the word

‘sustainability’ and they avoid using it when possible, especially in external communication.

I found out that sustainability is viewed as a term that is over-used, poorly understood and confusing to the end consumer.

On the one hand, the confusion about the precise meaning of sustainability and its interpretation by practitioners and consumers seems to be related to the current open, theoretical definition of the term. The various ways sustainability has been defined in theoretical discussion, and the way it has been used by companies in the last decade add to the confusion of its meaning in general use. In fact, in the fashion context, all the experts whom I interviewed indicated that the term has negative connotations for them, precisely because the confusion around its meaning makes it useless. Nearly all of the industry experts whom I interviewed said they would not use ‘sustainability’ to describe their company’s policies, or use the term as a marketing strategy, even though they do identify with sustainability internally, like paying fair wages for example and using high quality material for their garments. Furthermore, my data reveals that sustainability is, according to most experts, seen as a “boring” and “uncool” concept when it comes to the perception the consumers have towards sustainability. This is a new finding in direct opposition to Porter and Kramer’s theory (2006) that use of sustainability gives a competitive advantage, and so is a recommended implementation. Deeper discussion of this data will be found below, since this result partly answers my second research question.

I find it important to emphasize the point that all of the investigated companies do in fact

identify with sustainability, according to the experts representing these companies whom I

interviewed. Additionally, the phenomenon of slow fashion is important to them, and most of

them use slow fashion as an internal business strategy. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask

why sustainability is not communicated externally, while the concept is deeply implemented

internally? As mentioned before, one explanation could be the wide and shifting definition

of the word sustainability, making its use unreliable beyond the limits of a given company’s

internal conversation. Another explanation is possibly linked to the ideal of sustainability

being perceived by the wider public as “boring” and “uncool”. On the other hand, the analysis

of my data shows that slow fashion is a concept easier to define and narrow down, compared

to the ideal of sustainability. As a matter of fact, slow fashion was given a clear definition in

this research by the experts, overlapping with existing research in many ways regarding Fletcher’s writing in 2015. My data also shows that sincerity and craftsmanship are very much part of the slow fashion concept, which fit well with those qualities outlined in the current theoretical understanding of slow fashion. Empirical and theoretical findings show that along with sincerity and craftsmanship, slow fashion is about quality, longevity, timelessness and aesthetics. My data shows, however, that even though slow fashion is comparatively easy to define and clearly narrowed down, that term is not used as an external marketing strategy, any more than sustainability.

My data shows that for most of the experts interviewed slow fashion plays an important role in the future of their companies. Slow fashion is seen as a tendency they think will gain momentum, since most of them are engaging in a strategy around sustainability and slow fashion themselves. When talking about the future of the fashion industry in Denmark the experts use the term sustainability more than the term slow fashion. Findings provide that sustainability will play a more and more important role in the future in the fashion industry in Denmark, theoretical and empirically. Overall, I detected, Denmark already seems to be a role model when looking at sustainability. Regarding the findings, this could be explained through the attention Denmark attracts with the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which accordingly is the world’s largest sustainable fashion summit. It also seems that Denmark has caught attention through Copenhagen Fashion Week, which brings attention to sustainable fashion brands. Those findings correlate with the current Danish national interest in identifying itself as the most sustainable fashion industry in the world. This includes the claim by the Guardian, that the Danish fashion industry has already committed itself to sustainable fashion (2013).

Leading back to the first research question, it is not certain whether the specific phenomenon

of slow fashion will have an important role in the future of fashion in Denmark. Even though

some of the experts explicitly talk about slow fashion when explaining how they see the

future of the Danish fashion industry, that movement in fashion does not exclude the

possible inclusion of sustainability as an ideal too, as those terms are mixed within all

conversations. Some of the interviewees, surely commit themselves to the term slow

fashion, when stating that this is the future in Denmark. Many say that slow fashion suits the Danish lifestyle, which includes caring for the environment, by biking to work and eating organic and local food for example. Reflecting on overall findings, I detected that the theoretical and empirical findings show that general tendencies in the industry point toward a sustainable future in the Danish fashion industry.

Part 2. How can Denmark-based fashion companies identifying with slow fashion, use slow fashion as an innovative and competitive strategy?

The overall findings of my research point out that Denmark is internationally recognized for sustainable fashion, slow fashion however, seems to be a “silent movement”. Perhaps this absence of use in marketing or public discussion is a reason why slow fashion does not receive media attention abroad and locally. If no one talks about slow fashion outside industry settings, the media will not see that this movement exists, much less that it is happening in Denmark. It seems logical that news organizations like The Guardian will not see and report on slow fashion, as long as the industry does not speak about slow fashion in public. My research shows that slow fashion is a silent movement in Denmark and is lost under the confusing guise of the fashion term, sustainability.

I found out that slow fashion and sustainability is a strategy that none of the experts would recommend using as an external strategy, when looking into marketing or promotion strategies, even though it is part of their business model and internally implemented.

Significantly, it is claimed that there are no “listeners” when the fashion industry in Denmark

communicates elements of sustainability in the marketplace. Moreover, I detected that this

finding is new to the field of research and surprisingly opposes earlier research, when

looking at Kramer and Porter’s theory (2006). To demonstrate, in the theoretical framework,

not only Porter and Kramer (2005), but also Niinimäki (2015), David et al. (2005) and

Daugherty (2001) claim that integrating and communicating CSR and sustainability to a

broader public will generate success and competitive advantage. This finding that shows

sustainability to be an unsuccessful selling proposition in Denmark, is new and contradicts

earlier research, providing new practical knowledge in the field of fashion industry research.

Since I also found out that fashion industry experts themselves indicate that there is a point