Abstract:
With the rise of social media, businesses have shifted their marketing mannerisms to adhere to the changes of the times. Every business has its presence on multiple social media networking sites, and they effectively utilize those platforms to market, advertise, create brand awareness, and increase their sales. Marketing through social media platforms (such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) is known as social media marketing. However, with the advent of the influencer culture brands alone cannot create trustworthiness, unless they have onboard a few influencers whom the audience trusts and follows. These social media influencers act as a channel of trust between the brands and the customers. This deep-rooted trust is born out of parasocial interactions and is used by brands to implement evolutionary changes such as sustainability in fashion and ethical consumerism. Therefore, by applying a reflective and in-depth study of research papers by prominent researchers and scholars and concepts discussed in tutorials, this paper seeks to understand how fashion brands use social media and use influencer culture to their benefit. This paper also investigates the issues faced by the ‘green-fashion’ brands and relevant influencers in promoting sustainable fashion.
Hashtags: Social media marketing, influencer culture, sustainable fashion, green-fashion brands
Introduction:
Social media and fashion are closely related to each other. Fashion brands heavily rely on various social media advertising and marketing tools to evoke consumer interest and trust. Moreover, “In brand management research, a social media approach based on the use of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other such social networks can be deployed to develop marketing strategies.” (Wu., C.W. et al., 2020. p. 1185). Therefore, the performance of brands in terms of sales, brand awareness, brand image, and marketing costs can be analyzed and understood according to consumer response to these marketing strategies. Brands, specifically fashion brands, use several techniques to grasp consumer attention and trust, but the most popular marketing tactic for fashion brands in the contemporary world is the use of people known as “influencers”. But who are they and why are they so important to fashion brands? Well, as Abidin (2021) explains,
“Every day, ordinary Internet users who accumulate a relatively large following on blogs and social media through the textual and visual narration of their personal lives and lifestyles, engage with their following in “digital” and “physical” spaces, and monetize their following by integrating “advertorials” into their blog or social media posts and making physical appearances at events.”
Moreover, Abidin’s studies rightly highlight the fact that influencers act as “opinion leaders for young internet users” (Abidin, 2021, p. 5) by communicating through several digital platforms using effective digital strategies, thus contributing to identity formation and online advocacy. Consumers follow their favourite influencers by attaching a deep one-sided personal connection with them that governs their lifestyle choices including fashion and beauty. “Green-fashion” (Dickenbrok & Martinez, 2018) brands utilize specific influencer marketing tools such as campaigns and social outreach, etc., to derive maximum consumers. Moreover, such brands have facilitated the rise and popularity of “sustainable fashion social media influencers” due to their desperation to launch sustainable and eco-friendly clothing. The green-fashion brands benefit from the love of some influencers for fashion but ethical business beliefs, their “symbolic interactionism” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p. 160) and their “front-stage performance of the self”. (Goffman, 1959). Therefore, this paper analyzes the use of social media and the popular influencer culture by the green-fashion brands to market and promote sustainability along with investigating the challenges faced while doing so.
Literature Review:
Social Media for Building Fashion Brands
Social media is not just for communicating and sharing your thoughts and life, it has evolved to become a platform for effective marketing and brand building. Brands use their social media handles to promote their presence, and products, create product launches, increase their brand awareness & image, and accumulate customers’ behaviour around these initiatives. “Customers search, evaluate, choose, and buy goods and services based on what they encounter on social media” (C.W. et al., 2020. p. 1186). “These social media developments have shaped marketing practices and strategic decisions” (Itani et al., 2017). Thus, “social media can facilitate brand interactions, collaborations, and sharing from online platforms and media” (C.W. et al., 2020. p. 1186).
However, one may wonder why brands use social media to target their audience and know their specific interests? This can be understood from the post-modern perspective model of identity, where one’s identity is fluid, expressive through language, performative, fragmented, and driven by internal contradictions. Therefore, the post-modern approach provides the flexibility to share one’s unique identity on the internet via social media. Moreover, Leaver (2015) makes some important revelations by studying that social media identity is part of a person’s life may be before they’re even born and continues to exist even after their death. Through his study, he highlights the fact that social media is now an integral part of many families, especially in nuclear family setups, long-distance relationships, or families living countries apart. He points out that “a social media presence often begins before birth. On Instagram alone, every month, thousands of fetal images are shared and publicly tagged as ultrasounds. Often, these images capture the metadata visible on the ultrasound screen, which might include the mother’s name, the current date, the location of the scan, the expected delivery date, and other personal information.” (Leaver, 2015, p. 1). Moreover, all through their life, a person shares numerous personal interests and activities, comments, likes, dislikes, etc., about themselves. Thus, this hints at the fact that social media is now a reservoir of the personal data of individuals who are active on social media. Hence, brands lookout for such specificities through various content management and data retrieval applications (SEO) that help them find and target their niche audience and market their product specifically to them.
Furthermore, social media marketing is cost-effective and allows brands to understand the needs of their consumers via comments and queries. Companies and brands can form a distinct picture of their consumers’ needs and process them accordingly. Therefore, social media marketing is the current marketing high. “The advantages of social media marketing have not been limited to small companies but are utilized by brands like Louis Vuitton and Amazon to name a few. These companies use social media platforms to communicate about their brand history, employees, and their upcoming events. The key role is to convince customers to be a part of the journey through the medium of storytelling” (Jin, S. Et al., 2021). Moreover, for effective social media marketing, it is important to choose the right platform for the product. “According to Statista, some of the best places to learn about, discover or buy fashion apparel are Facebook and Instagram” (Shepherd, 2022). Therefore, using Facebook and Instagram marketing techniques like Sponsored Ads, Reels, and Live Videos is a wonderful way to represent your fashion brand. Creating a Facebook and Instagram shop for your brand helps customers view the products directly from the apps and aids in brand image. Posting on social media regularly to promote, educate, inspire, and entertain is a marvellous social media strategy and increases customer trust. Brands also earn customer trust and support by resharing customer content that has a specific brand-generated hashtag. This strategy is immensely popular through the Ambassador programs followed by many organic and small-scale fashionpreneurs. Following the trends is also an important marketing strategy followed by brands to elevate their brand awareness. And finally, influencer marketing. This is the most important form of online marketing for fashion brands. Influencers bridge the gap between brands and customers by filling it with authentic, trustworthy, and reliable information about the products. Influencer marketing is one of the most useful and prominent marketing tools in the current digital marketing realm.
Influencer Culture for Marketing Brands
According to Goffman’s (1959) study on “Performing the Self”, an individual’s effort to act and behave in a way that influences how an audience sees them, usually with the intent to create, present, and maintain a favourable image in a social situation for a specific purpose. His study talks about a much broader perspective of a person’s behaviour and identity in a social context but certainly lays the foundation that the influencer culture is based on.
Moreover, reflecting on Abidin’s (2021, p. 5) latest study on Influencer culture, it can be classified into influencer culture as a job, influencer culture as a concept and role, and influencer culture as amplification platforms. The less likely it may seem, but brands utilize all the three functionalities of influencer culture to promote their products. As a job description, influencer culture gives birth to influencers who are “individuals who became famous via their social media presence, as opposed to traditional celebrities who are famous from film, music and TV shows” (Jin, S. V., et al., 2021, p. 568). Brands utilize influencers and their power of self-presentation to avoid being bothered by the non-target groups, their ability to compete and wrestle with popular brands by hijacking their personalized hashtags, their intelligence to make it look less like a paid and biased job, their bravery to talk on controversial topics and attract their audience, and their use of sensuality and innocence to get the likes and followers flowing. Thus, brands promote influencer jobs to establish themselves in the market and build brand awareness.
Secondly, influencer culture as a concept or role simply means that “influencers have evolved as “opinion leaders for young internet users”. (Abidin, 2021, p. 5). They are online advocates for raising awareness and creating change. Green fashion brands utilize this concept of influencer culture to market their brand’s vision and scope, influence the audience’s lifestyle choices, raise awareness about their brand, propagate the USP of their brand and establish their products in the market.
Lastly, influencers are differentiated based on many parameters such as size, niché, the platform they use, culture, etc. A simple classification of influencers in India based on their number of followers looks like Nano (1,000 to 10,000 followers), Micro (10,000 to 100,000 followers), Macro (100,000 to 500,000 followers), Mega (500,000 to 1M followers), and Celebrity (1M+ followers) (IIDE, 2021). However, this classification may alter with different cultures, regions, languages, etc. Nano, micro, and macro-influencers generally have a high engagement rate, word-of-mouth marketing power, mastery of a subject, strong reach, audience’s trust and access, the ability to persuade conversations, and lead opinions. Brands reside themselves in this range of influencers to amplify their name, fame, vision, mission, sales, and marketing. However, the type of influencers approached by a brand directly depends on the budget the brand has for their influencer marketing campaign, their type, size, and category. So, for instance, a ‘green-fashion’ brand selling sustainable clothing must narrow down its search to influencers who promote and engage in sustainable clothing brands with a good follower base and persuasive personality. Hence, Influencer culture as an amplification platform is consciously used by brands to gather maximum output.
Understanding Green/Sustainable Fashion & Green fashion Influencing
Fashion brands can be broadly termed into two main categories: Fast Fashion and Slow-fashion or Sustainable/Green fashion. Fast fashion induces consumerism by producing cheap and low-quality materials at high-speed and cheaper rates. Whereas green fashion refers to the production of clothing that cares for the labour rights and the environment, promises fair compensation and equal opportunities, values circular economy, reduces negative consumption patterns, and creates a positive social impact (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021). With the rise of environmental concerns and related awareness, fashion brands have become the most sensitive and are striving to change their ways to avoid further environmental degradation. Consumers, especially youngsters, are particularly attracted to sustainable clothing. (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p. 152). “49% of 18–24-year-olds are very supportive of sustainable fashion in comparison to 25% of those 55+” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021). Moreover, other research suggests that consumers from high-income groups are more likely to buy sustainable fashion. Thus, green-fashion brands have the most need to market themselves effectively using the latest social media trends and influencer culture.
However, not all kinds of influencers are best suited to represent a sustainable fashion brand. Most fashion influencers are busy promoting fast-fashion goods as it increases their popularity and gives them comparatively more financial success. Therefore, a new category of influencers known as “sustainable fashion social media influencers” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021) has emerged in recent years. Sustainable fashion social media influencers are the influencers who influence and advocate their followers to indulge in sustainable and eco-friendly fashion choices. They encourage the consumers to indulge in sustainable buying through practices like upcycling, thrifting, repurposing, and newly produced sustainable shopping. (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p. 152)
Moreover, in a study conducted by (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021) sustainable fashion social media influencers can be categorized into three types: Sustainable Lifestyle Influencers (SLI), Sustainability Influencers (SI), and Thrifting Influencers (TI). SLIs create content on fashion, sustainability, and various other lifestyle topics. Their goal is to gain maximum followership. SIs use social media to share their love for sustainable clothing along with inspiring and advocating to their audience about sustainability in everyday life. Lastly, TIs only talk about thrifting as a way of sustainable fashion, organize thrifting events, plan thrifting campaigns, and engage in “pre-shopping behaviours”. (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p.162). These types of influencers invest in other brands as the scope of thrifting is limited. Therefore, for monetary reasons and more follower base, they indulge in non-sustainable fashion too.
Hence, the degree of a sustainable fashion social media influencer’s connection with sustainable fashion depends on a variety of reasons including the criterion of their sponsorship, the focus of their content, monetary goals, and their attitude towards the brand endorsement opportunities. “The passion for fashion and commitment to sustainability exist as two independent dimensions” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p.163). This explains that there is a gap between the zeal to earn fame and money by promoting fashion and the ethical goal to do it via green fashion brands.
Challenges Faced by Green Fashion Brands & Influencers in Promoting Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion is not easy to promote. Since, years, green fashion brands have been facing challenges in promoting their products due to weak consumer knowledge, trust issues, costly price range, and plain & dull styles. Firstly, even after immense awareness, sustainability awareness is still around the corner and only a few are inclined to contribute to it. Developing nations usually provide cheap labourers who work for sustainable companies abroad due to illiteracy and low per capita income. Thus, the group of people being educationally aware of the significance of sustainable clothing are too little. Secondly, trusting the brands promoting “green” or “eco-friendly” products is an issue among the consumers. They might be speculative about the big brands’ concerns about environmental issues and human rights. Thus, creating a weak link of trust. (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021). Thirdly, fast-fashion goods are cheap and easily accessible as compared to green-fashion stores. Therefore, it is obvious for people with a low-grade income to flock to the fast-fashion trends. Lastly, due to the pressure on advertisers to promote sustainable clothing that doesn’t resemble richly patterned and brightly coloured fast-fashion brands, sustainable clothing seems to look comparatively dull and plain. Hence, they lose customer attention and interest.
Moreover, sustainable fashion social media influencers face the dilemma of “aligning their ethics of sustainability with their desire for compensation” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p. 163). The nature of the gap seems to be rooted in the way identity frameworks are established in society and identity performance is the basis and root cause of influencer culture issues. Since influencers are people who create content on social media to attract an audience, entertain, inform, or educate them, and earn money out of it, their identities are primarily formed through their interaction with people. This ideology of earning money out of influencer identity can be a characteristic of the post-Marxist identity perspective of society. An individual of a society who identifies themselves as an influencer unconsciously believes to earn a name, fame, and money out of influencing career, rather than just for social service. Thus, this unconscious desire of a (green fashion) influencer to also earn materialistic pleasures by marketing green fashion makes it a challenge for them. Moreover, Goffman’s (1959) ‘Performing self’ theory explains this gap even further and in detail. An influencer is always trying to act and behave to influence their audience and make them believe a certain opinion of something and subtly force their followers to adopt those opinions through creative content. Now here, the problem persists because a green fashion influencer has a particular online identity, opinions, and behavioural patterns to maintain, but the challenges faced by the green fashion brands make it difficult for the influencers to remain committed to that authentic online self and market sustainability. This creates a gap between their ethics to wholeheartedly promote sustainability and earn money. Therefore, one might see many green fashion influencers like thrift influencers promoting fast fashion for monetary desires.
Some other struggles faced by green influencers as discussed by Jacobson & Harrison (2021) include finding the right brand that aligns with their sustainability values since the influencers have earned an image with hard work, persistence, and perseverance. No regular payments or compensation via free products. At times, ” balancing disclosure and authenticity is a challenge for sustainable fashion social media influencers” (Jacobson & Harrison, 2021, p. 164) due to a difference of opinion on a product between the brand and the influencer. Therefore, green fashion brands as well as green fashion influencers face these heavy challenges while organically promoting sustainable fashion.
Conclusion:
This paper tried to analyze how social media is used by brands to build their online presence and market themselves and their products. The paper defined social media marketing and the various tools of this form of marketing. The strategies of building brand awareness, getting influencer support, choosing the right platform, driving the web traffic with SEO techniques, creating online shops, etc., are some of the major social media marketing tactics. Moreover, this paper also explained the influencer culture through Goffman’s ‘performing self’ theory and how the brands utilize it for their benefit. Influencer jobs, which are an important part of the social media marketing strategy are also discussed in the paper. This paper also justified the role of influencer marketing in promoting brands and studied in detail green fashion and the role of influencers in marketing sustainability. Sustainable fashion is one such aspect of fashion that is ever-growing and forever hungry for promotions. The paper highlighted different types of sustainable fashion social media influencers who aid this problem of sustainable fashion promotions. However, understanding the social media marketing trends, influencer culture, green fashion brands and green influencers, the paper investigated the specific issues faced by the green fashion brands in promoting their products and a gap between the green influencers’ work ethics and materialistic desires. The paper was backed up and well-reasoned with the concepts of online identity, online advocacy, various identity models, and Goffman’s performance theory. However, the paper marks certain limitations in men’s fashion and men’s sustainable clothing as the data analysis taken from other papers was based on a list of female fashion influencers as fashion is a woman-dominated domain. Moreover, the paper opens opportunities for further research on the same theme in the context of a specific culture/nation. These are a few ideas for future research.
References:
Abidin C. (2021). From “Networked Publics” to “Refracted Publics”: A Companion Framework for Researching “Below the Radar” Studies. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984458
Dickenbrok, C., & Martinez, L. F. (2018). Communicating green fashion across different cultures and geographical regions. 15, 127–141. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12208-018-0194-6
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Google Scholar. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-8090145
Jacobson, J. & Harrison, B. (2021). Sustainable fashion social media influencers and content creation calibration. International Journal of Advertising, 41(1), 150-177. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2021.2000125
Jin, S. V., Ryu, E., Muqaddam, A. (2021). I trust what she’s #endorsing on Instagram: moderating effects of parasocial interaction and social presence in fashion influencer marketing. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. 665-681 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JFMM-04-2020-0059/full/html#sec002
Shepherd, J. (2022, February 16). Social Media Marketing for Fashion Brands: A Strategy That Works (with Examples). Social Shepherd. https://thesocialshepherd.com/blog/social-media-strategy-fashion-brands
Leaver, T. (2015). Researching the Ends of Identity: Birth and Death on Social Media. Social media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115578877
Wu., C.W., Martinez, J.M.G., & Martin, J.M.M. (2020). An analysis of social media marketing strategy and performance in the context of fashion brands: The case of Taiwan. Psychology & Marketing. 37, 1185–1193. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21350
Thanks for a really interesting paper. Whilst your paper justified the role of influencer marketing, I am really interested in your opinion on whether its a good thing that influencers are seen as opinion leaders for the youth of today?
Your paper has created a desire for me to further understand Leaver’s (2015) post-modern perspective model of identity. This sounds fascinating so thank you.
I found some common threads with your paper, one I have written and another written by Adel Shalan. All three investigate influencers from different perspectives. Here are links to both papers.
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/113/youd-be-correct-if-you-thought-the-fashion-industrys-use-of-instagram-has-had-a-negative-impact-on-young-women/
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/578/influencers-creating-bleak-identities/
It would be great to get your insight into the papers and how you interpret the cross overs. Whilst you have focussed on the “how” my paper focusses on the impact to the consumer and I think is a great adjunct to yours. Both papers touch on fast fashion which I found to be interesting.
Hi Antony,
Thanks for your generous comments and for attaching papers on similar topics. I’ll surely read the two and share my views.
However, the question that you’ve asked is very tricky to answer. Influencer culture definitely has its pros and cons. Since influencers are seen as opinion leaders and they play and thrive on the trust of their audience, it is very easy to propagate useful information as well as misinformation. As I recently read in Felicity’s paper on ‘social media and misinformation on health diets’, there are definitely ways in which influencer marketing can go wrong and turn out to be lethal for the consumers. Also, in the case of fashion, an influencer that supports sustainability on moral grounds but does wear fast fashion in most of her campaigns and social media posts is another negative influence of influencer culture gone wrong. I think, in today’s world where everyone has an opinion and social media gives the platform to share that opinion, it’s very important as a consumer to keep a sane mind, know what is right and wrong, and refrain from being misled by pop-culture, and have a voice. Having a herd mentality isn’t healthy, nor should be used when influencers are in question.
So, I cannot bluntly say if it’s good or bad to have influencers as opinion leaders, as it’s a trend & need of the businesses. But what I can put forth is that we as consumers need to keep a sanity check on anything we see, follow, share, and adopt from social media.
Thanks. 🙂
This issue is really important, so thank you for writing on it. As anyone who has been terminally online for too long, I’ve witnessed the fallout when influencers struggle to balance this challenge and fail (or are perceived to have failed, however justly). One discussion I’ve seen pop up online concerns thrifting influencers specifically – does it also pose an ethical challenge to promote and ‘gentrify’ thrifting? – in the process potentially locking out low income people from being able to thrift.
I also wonder if the growth of platforms like Depop and its competitors (platforms for the online sale of thrifted items) are starting to change how thrift influencers earn money – partnerships with those sort of brands now allows them earning potential without having to stray into fast fashion. What sort of effects do you think that might have?
Hi Issac,
Thank you for commenting. I personally had no idea about platforms like Depop, to be honest. So, thank you again for giving me something to research further.
Moreover, based on the information in your comment I believe that the online platforms for selling thrifted items can single-handedly waive off the work concern and ethical motives of influencers, who promote thrifting for self-satisfaction but invest in fast fashion too for money. If there are websites that the thrift influencers can collaborate with, then I believe a lot of issues revolving around this area can be solved (subject to further research).
Best,
Riya
Hello Riya,
Some of the points discussed in this paper are fascinating and really reminded me of the ongoing issues of trust in regard to sustainability at h and m. I don’t know if you have heard or read into this issue, but h and m like any other brand rely a lot on their social media accounts. This is where they often promote their sustainability line. This has led to a lot of controversy as some research shows their products haven’t changed at all and they are using the word “sustainability” to help promote instead of actually producing sustainable products. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this?
Hi Felicity,
I know and have read about this H&M controversy. Well, to be honest with what is clearly visible, H&M cannot be sustainable at any cost, in my understanding, collected research, and opinion. H&M’s frequent sales, low-priced & discounted articles, lavish spending on social media campaigns and sponsorships, and the wide reach in almost every nation… all of it screams of its non-sustainability. However, greenwashing is a popular tactic used by these brands that sell slightly better quality fast fashion under the umbrella of a sustainability tag. Their non-sustainability proofs can be found all over the internet.
Hello Riya,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Definitely another toxic way that brands are taking advantage of consumers!
Thanks, Felicity.
Hi Riya,
For someone who didn’t know nothing about ‘Green/Fashion’, I really enjoyed reading your paper. It was very informative and well written as well. However, I would like to have your opinion on one issue you mentioned in your paper. People with low income will automatically go for fast-Fashion goods as it may be more accessible for them. What are the solutions for these people if they really want to contribute to the green environment. Is there any strategy that could help them to contribute in another way or find an equal solution to this issue?
Hi Jean-Luc Dean Zama,
Thank you so much for commenting on my paper. As a fashion enthusiast, I try to be as much aware of the latest trends and incorporations in the fashion industry. I too used to be a lover of Fast-fashion for its affordability and attractive designs. However, with increasing awareness and knowledge, I realised how dangerous it is for the environment. As someone who still struggles to save funds for high priced sustainable clothes, instead of contributing some money to the brands who ask for it in the name of sustainability (due to an underlying trust issue), I try to do simple acts of sustainability. For example, I usually do thrift shopping for my winter clothes, as it’s cheap and keeps me warm, thus, fulfilling my share in the sustainability drive. Secondly, I limit my online shopping to emergency occasions and make handbags, tote bags, handkerchiefs, crop tops, table cloths, pillow covers, etc., from oversized or undersized clothing. Basically, I try to reuse my clothes as much as possible. I also use my dad’s and brother’s outgrown T-shirts and pants sometimes, to cut and sew something of my size. That’s fun to do as I’m into fashion designing and styling, saves money, and I feel I’ve contributed to keeping the environment green. 🙂
I hope that answers your question in some way. 🙂
Hi Riya,
I really can feel your enthusiast for fashion while reading your response to my question. I am also very impress by all the different ways your are contributing for the green environment. Indeed what you mention are clever ideas that could easily replace the expensive green fashion in some way. Also I would like to link your paper with mine. Firstly, I encourage you to read my paper on online volunteering communities. I think that the different ideas you mention on how people could reuse clothes can be an interesting idea in setting up a volunteering team who will create new clothes from old fabric and distribute to the poor ones who are in living in difficult situation.
Here is the link to my paper: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/485/485/
Hey Jean,
I think that’s a really wonderful initiative, and to tell you more about it, one of my friends here in India is building her own fashion label ‘ilariyaa’ and vows a sustainable approach in her production processes. Moreover, she empowers women from underprivileged backgrounds by employing them as her labour force.
Also, this idea of yours is so relevant and useful in today’s pandemic situations, when many in developing countries like India, are struggling for the bare minimum like a shelter to live, clothes, and food. While food most NGOs and people provide, clothing is an aspect that’s still to be catered to. Your idea fits in there!
Thank you for sharing your paper I’ll surely read and share my thoughts on it. 🙂
Hi Riya,
Woaw ! I really appreciate your friend’s idea and initiative. I think more people should take example and comes up with such initiative, this will really help humanity in such a difficult time like you mentioned.
I really appreciate the fact that we have been able to merge the concept of our two papers and comes up with a bright idea together.
Looking forward to hear from you on my paper.
Hello Riya,
Congratulations on tackling such a topic, your paper is very much informative and easy to read. As someone who is concerned by what products I consume, I find it important that people can discover ‘green’ products, because as you said fat fashion brands are mainly here to product and are not that respectful towards nature and human. I remember seeing an article about a fashion brand which would employ children in their factories resulting in child labor, something which should be illegal in the world, showing that big brands also go against ethics.
However, there is also the issue of ‘green washing’ when it comes to cosmetics which have that ‘green’ packaging, but harmful ingredients for both the environment and mankind; such as sulfate in shampoos and hand wash and if influencers are not fully aware of the products’ background, they can be promoting these products to their community by saying that they are green.
Overall, this is a great topic you covered. I hope that it will help increase awareness about ‘green’ fashion.
Best,
Julie
Hi Julie,
Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts on my paper. yes, I totally agree with you, young kids are forced due to poverty reasons to work in harmful factories. I belong to India and we celebrate the festival of lights, known as Diwali, and I remember when I was young, my dad told me about the kids that worked in factories to make firecrackers and how dangerous they are for the workers as well as the environment. Similarly, as you mentioned, the greenwashing issues and the malicious promises of the brands to term themselves as ‘green’ and practice non-sustainable activities. I hope we see a better future with less dumping grounds and more greenery around with products that are less harmful to the environment and people with better initiatives to save our only nature.
Thanks, Julie,
Riya
Hey Riya,
Well this is really heart-breaking, and its even more when you are a kid and you realize that there are kids who are not gifted with the same life as you and need to go that extra mile to get something to eat.
I hope for a greener future too. Do you have any recommendations for consumers to be able to consume ‘green’ products ?
Well, in my view, brands that offer sustainable clothing or handmade clothing from the locals are the only options for now. These are costly as the artists have created them intricately and with deep love, along with originality in the designs. I prefer local and handmade, and it is available in every city/state, etc. I am from India and can recommend plenty of local handmade shops that sell cute and creative designs.
Hi Riya,
I am glad you chose to write on this important topic. In my opinion, fashion brands with strong values in sustainability do not get the recognition they deserve. Unfortunately, fashion brands that are marketed well become the most popular and sustainable fashion is an afterthought for many people. I agree with you that further education om the significance of sustainable clothing will help consumers make better decisions. I have recently learned about a capsule wardrobe which is curated interchangeable clothing, shoes and accessories that complement one another (Astoul, 2022). This encourages people to put more thought into the items they buy and value the longevity of an item. It also encourages people to pay less attention to fast fashion and curate a smaller selection of items that will not go out of style. I have seen a few eco-friendly brands post this kind of information on their Instagram. It educates people and supports the justification of buying more expensive items.
You might like to read my paper concerning the issues that environmental activists face on Instagram.
https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/1009/filtering-the-environment-how-instagram-is-impeding-proactive-local-conservation-efforts-and-breaking-our-connection-with-nature/
Thank you for an enjoyable and informative read!
Reference: https://www.sustainably-chic.com/blog/what-is-a-capsule-wardrobe
Hi Kaylee,
Feeling wonderful reading your informative thought on my paper. I, honestly, had no idea about the capsule wardrobe. Thrifting, renting clothes, and selling less to least worn clothes online, have been some of the sustainable ways I knew of. But thanks for making me aware of a new system of a capsule wardrobe, I’ll definitely check out its pros and cons. Moreover, I’m glad you enjoyed my paper. 🙂
Thanks, Kaylee,
Riya
Hi Riya,
Loved your topic! I myself talked about TikTok marketing in my paper specifically so reading about social media marketing is one of my favorite topics. I especially liked how you added in the environmental fashion factor into your paper as this is also a topic I am passionate about. I also liked the example of ultrasound images being posted that people from birth are sharing what seems like every aspect of their life on social media.
I would love to hear your opinion on how people can stop large companies from producing fast fashion products as I myself am a big advocate against so I would love to hear your opinions on how we can stop these large corporations?
-Amy
Hi Amy,
It feels great that you enjoyed my paper and found it interesting. Well, to answer your question, I’ve been reading quite many papers on different streams, and one thing I’ve learned for sure is that online networks, communities, activism, and diasporas have a lot of power to build, rebuild, break, or change the society! Considering this thought, I believe that Social Media if used to its fullest potential can lead to changes. Just like the now movement #Girlslikeus or say #blacklivesmatter or maybe #supportlocalbusiness has come to limelight with consistent tweets and posts all over the social media, I feel that it is evident that a fashion revolution can also be brought by first, creating tweets demanding sustainable proofs of a brand, second, creating hashtags and social media campaigns, third, physically banning the non-sustainable fast fashion brands, can say like cancel culture for a positive change, reusing, thrifting, etc., and so forth. I mean these are very naive initial ideas to start targeting mid-level to big brands. However, someone who’s had a successful activist movement for change can better guide these kinda ideas.
I hope my response made sense to some extent.
Best,
Riya
Hi Riya,
I had little knowledge on sustainable fashion, so your paper was very educating and interesting to read!
With many companies and brands increasingly focusing on sustainability, and movements such as ‘The Sustainable Development Goals’ set by the United Nations, knowledge about ‘green-fashion’ is important for our future everyday lives.
I currently live in Japan, and almost every major brand or company is putting effort in to SDGs, and also making sure to promote their involvement and ensure that they are seen. For example, a major transport company in Osaka, Hankyu Railways, have stickers on their trains of which goals they are working towards and inside the trains they have posters explaining how. Before the SDGs were so widely known and many companies started to publicise their involvement, I wasn’t that aware about the movement as a whole. But then my company made public their involvement, and when asked if I knew what the SDGs were, I immediately thought of the stickers on the Hankyu Trains.
With many companies promoting the SDGs, including clothing brands (even fast-fashion brands), do you think there will be an increase in green-fashion buyers? In turn, if there is an increase in green-fashion buyers, do you think there will be an increase in sustainable influencers who’s social values align with sustainable promotion, or do you think the ability to earn more money from fast-fashion will still win over social media influencers?
Your paper has influenced me to try find some green-fashion influencers to follow on Instagram!
Great paper and great job!
Hi Shelle,
It feels great to hear your thoughts on my paper. Japan is usually a leader in almost every zone of life, and this idea is another example of it. I absolutely loved how trains are used to promote sustainability in Japan. Public areas have always been a great place for advertisers and opinion makers to propagate ideas of change, or for selling a product. Yes, I believe movements like SDGs will help increase green-fashion awareness leading to green buying eventually. Also, this would help the influencers gain money as well as fame on social network sites. Money will attract them to align their ethics perfectly. However, one cannot guarantee a change but always predict or guess for the best.
Hope that answers your query to some extent!
Thanks,
Riya 🙂
Thank you for this paper Rya. It was interesting to learn about some of the issues that sustainable fashion brands and influences are facing. I can understand that ethics for green minded social media influences would come into question when marketing product. Due to the nature of sustainable fashion, it would also be understandable that the quantity of products sold by these companies would be selling would be incomparable to fast fashion, making it hard to compete. Thanks again this informative paper, I enjoyed reading it.
David
Thanks, David for your generous comments. Happy to know that you enjoyed reading it. 🙂
Hi Riya,
Great paper and I really enjoyed reading it! I was particularly interested in your references to sustainable fashion and the role of ‘infuencers’ who you use social digital media platforms to promote such campaigns based on their online opinion as ‘leaders for young Internet users’. I find that the concept of sustainable fashion is rather misleading ethical fashion will probably never exist as not all fashion companies agree on what is ethical. Also, not every eco-conscious fan wants clothes made from recycled synthetic or organic materials all the time. Convincing even suppliers to go green is another real challenge that causes sustainable fashion to fail.
Do you think that such issues are taken into account by influencers when addressing their target audience via internet-mediated social media platforms, and if so, do you think that influencers are well informed enough to effectively advocate for sustainable fashion and such production issues as ‘opinion leaders for young Internet users’?
Hi Mua,
I agree with your pointers absolutely. I too have the same concerns with regard to green fashion. However, my thought has always been to help mother nature in any way and how so ever percentage we can. Any change is always messy and uneasy in the beginning, and so is buying and wearing green fashion goods. But, if we consider the long term effects of us doing so, we’ll be motivated for good. Similarly, influencers need to keep a positive mindset to facilitate change. Not all at once, but directly the audience to make a change for good, will create ripples for years to follow. I cannot personally guarantee the level of knowledge influencers have, but sure they are concerned for the planet, thus following this arena of fashion influencing.
I believe together we can expand our knowledge by sharing and discussing it, and that’s how influencing works, maybe.
Cheers,
Riya
Hi Riya,
As someone who is studying Fashion Marketing and Digital/Social Media your paper was very interesting to me. I especially loved your use of Goffman’s ‘performed self’ as this is something I discussed in my own paper!
I’m interested to know your thoughts on the idea of greenwashing within the fashion industry. Rauturier (2022) describes greenwashing as “the unjustified and misleading claims from brands that their products are more environmentally friendly than they really are” – something I think is very prevalent in the world of fashion and beauty marketing especially. Do you believe influencers are just unaware that companies are doing this? Or maybe they are being paid so much that they simply do not care as they still seem sustainable o the untrained eye? Some food for thought.
Thanks again for the great read!
Dakota Hanson 😁
Oops forgot to link the reference! (Also a great read overall if you want to check it out!
https://goodonyou.eco/greenwashing-examples/
Hi Dakota,
That’s a really triggering and mind-boggling question. Greenwashing is sadly the truth of the fashion market. This is tricky to reply to as I feel that it can be confidential between the influencers and the company, and the fact that they know about it or not is highly questionable. Both of your assumptions can be true, they might know and choose to keep it confidential for money, or they may actually not know about it at all. in both scenarios, customers are the real victims. But my heart does say that influencing is a responsible job and no creator will abuse their audience’s trust in such a filthy manner.
Glad you liked the paper.
Thanks,
Riya