Sufficient consumption as a missing link toward sustainability: The case of fast fashion

Abstract

The fashion industry has been driven by limitless consumption-led growth spearheaded by companies in the fast fashion segment, with a dominant business model based on massive accelerated demand, production, consumption, and disposal. Despite companies’ efforts to decouple the pursuit of growth from its negative impacts, a more sufficiency-driven approach seems imperative to curb consumerism and contribute more effectively to sustainability. This study draws on the literature to build a three-pillar framework of potential strategies to enable fashion companies to foster sufficient consumption and reduce dependence on the sale of new items, with benefits expected for both consumers and companies. Subsequently, it uses multiple case study to examine qualitatively the annual reports issued during 2013–2014 and 2020–2021 by a sample of ten top companies in this segment. The goal is to assess whether these companies are embracing such strategies, what (if any) evolution occurs between these two periods, whether the 2030 Agenda with its SDG12 ‘Responsible consumption and production’ plays a mediating role in their adoption, and what is the logic behind such evolution. The results show that, although such adoption is gaining momentum, companies tend first to embrace strategies with less impact on their traditional modus operandi. Further, the laxity of SDG12 enables companies to profess commitment even when not addressing any of the strategies to foster sufficient consumption. This study aims to give actors critical awareness of this issue and provide practical guidance for managers to adopt and combine these strategies decisively to fully embrace the principles of circular economy and a more holistic approach to sustainability. It also advises companies to avoid the risk of ‘anti-consumerist washing’—a newly identified variant of greenwashing—and proposes to study a ‘hierarchical pyramid of business strategies to rationalize consumption