Two decades of sustainable supply chain management in the fashion business, an appraisal

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace developments in the fashion business commitment to sustainability over two decades and identify the drivers that progressively changed fashion brands’ perspective on sustainable supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology is in the lines of Donald Schon reflective practice. Reflection-on-action is based on one of the authors practice in consultancy to fashion companies and in dialog with NGOs. The professional experience has been reconsidered through the analysis of the literature on sustainability initiatives and review of case histories. Findings – The time span considered captures fashion brands sustainability awareness in its statu nascenti (nascent state) revealing a trial and error process that led to progressive refinements of both means and ends. Change drivers identified are: go beyond monitoring, adopt a comprehensive approach, look beyond first tier of suppliers, integrate sustainability to core business practices and bring transparency to the supply chain. Originality/value – Existing literature surveys show that authors used to focus on specific issues and concentrate on individual case studies, under-representing the complex set of factors that companies, institutions and NGOs address, including the effect of past decisions, successes and mistakes. The paper is a first step to fill the gap and provides an up-to-date overview of current developments aimed at both scholars and practitioners, especially CSR and marketing managers and NGOs campaigners.