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The fashion industry is diverse and demands a high amount of resources and labor for its operation. It has powerful tools that can positively impact the environment and society as a whole. In this sense, it becomes necessary for fashion to adopt sustainable strategies quickly. One way would be the adoption of eco-innovations by companies in the sector. The objective of this research is to identify the main eco-innovation initiatives carried out by companies in the fashion sector and to verify what the trend is in the sector in relation to the types of eco-innovation, whether technological or non-technological in nature.

To meet the objective, the sector’s sustainability reports are analyzed based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) initiative. The method used to treat the data is content analysis. The authors chose to use the GRI-G4 and GRI-Standards versions of the GRI structure, as they include topics relevant to its stakeholders. The analysis based on these criteria considers 18 reports prepared by four companies (Cia Hering, Grupo Malwee, Dudalina and Lojas Renner).

From the data analysis, it was noticed that eco-innovations of technological trends prevail in Brazilian fashion, in the first place, those of process (24.56%), followed by eco-innovations of product (10.53%). The pressure exerted by internal or external stakeholders will be fueled by the current scenario of sustainable development, positively influencing the adoption of eco-innovation. This characteristic can be attributed to the fashion sector, since technological eco-innovations overlap with non-technological ones in all the years that make up the analysis.

As limitations of this research, it is worth mentioning the availability of GRIs in the fashion sector. Even considering it a step forward, noting that larger companies support the adoption of these reports, it is important to highlight that only four companies make up the available database (Cia Hering, Lojas Renner, Dudalina and Malwee). From the adoption of the dissemination of sustainability reports by other organizations, the base could be expanded.

From this study, practical questions emerge that can contribute to managers and companies in the Brazilian fashion sector. Initially, the focus on eco-innovations is predominantly related to the technological component, with an emphasis on process eco-innovations. In this sense, business actions seek to resolve the accusations normally attributed to the sector, such as the adoption of unsustainable practices. For example, in cotton production, firms use large amounts of pesticides and water, despite the sector being accused of not taking proper responsibility regarding sustainability related issues.

Investment in eco-innovations indicates a positive attitude and change resulting from pressure and the need to return the market to society’s demands for more sustainable production technologies with less environmental impact.

The originality of the study lies in the systematization of a GRI analysis model applied to measure eco-innovations in fashion. Through the applied methodology, it is possible to emphasize that eco-innovations of technological trend prevail in the industry, first in processes and then in product development.

The purpose of this study is to identify retailers selling sustainable apparel goods on the internet and examine their sustainable initiatives in the supply chain based on the United Nation's Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), one of the most widely used sustainability reporting guidelines.

A total of 156 sustainable apparel websites were content analyzed based on presence or absence of the website contents. A systematic coding scheme was developed based on previous research on the sustainability of the apparel industry and the GRI.

Findings of this study support the GRI as a useful framework to assess sustainability in online apparel retailers. The most commonly addressed aspects of the GRI that were addressed by companies in this study were the environmental and social aspects. Few sustainable apparel retailers on the internet made initiatives in all three areas of sustainability addressed in the GRI.

This study provides general characteristics of websites as well as endeavours along the supply chain to illustrate a full overview of sustainable apparel retailers online. The initiatives discussed in this study are meant to serve as a guide and inspiration for future researchers, companies and consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the reported indicators in corporate sustainability reports, other documents and the web sites of 14 apparel brands belonging to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC).

A content analysis of the corporate sustainability reports, other documents and web sites of the 14 SAC apparel brands was conducted to identify indicators related to sustainability. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected on all reported sustainability initiatives, actions, and indicators. A normative business model was developed for the categorization of the indicators and a cross-case analysis of the apparel brand’s sustainability reporting was conducted.

In total, 87 reported corporate sustainability indicators were identified. The study finds that there is a lack of consistency among them. The majority of the indicators dealt with performance in supply-chain sustainability while the least frequently reported indicators addressed business innovation and consumer engagement.

This paper provides one of the first in-depth reviews of the indicators reported by apparel brands within their web sites and other forms of corporate sustainability reporting.

The purpose of this research is to identify the sustainable practices of luxury fashion brands through their communications via official reporting documents to classify practices used for communicating sustainability performance.

This research uses the qualitative content analysis of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-oriented sustainability reports to examine the sustainable practices of 31 companies within the top 100 global luxury brands.

The authors classify the sample into four clusters: sustainability driven, sustainability newcomers, sustainability potential and sustainability passive. Results indicate that companies in this sector are focused on the issue of sustainability even though there is a remarkable fragmentation in terms of practices.

The study contributes to a better understanding of sustainability reporting activities and approaches in the fashion luxury industry by describing best practices and the effect of sustainability in corporate communications.

Drawing upon Abrahamson's (1991) typology of innovation diffusion, this study aims to investigate the factors underpinning diffusion of sustainability key performance indicators (SKPIs) in a developing country.

A qualitative study was conducted in Sri Lanka involving semi-structured interviews with managers, as users of SKPIs (demand-side), and both consultants and academics, as agents in diffusion process (supply-side).

Diffusion of SKPIs was found to be driven by efficient-choice considerations, with fashion motives intertwined with these. The diffusion was influenced by developing country context issues relating to market competition, education, government and culture. It was somewhat surprising that market forces played a key role to the extent they did. Minimal stakeholder pressure was found to undermine the diffusion process, contrasting with developed countries in which key stakeholders act as catalysts. The developing country context appears to slow down the pace, rather than alter the pattern, of diffusion of SKPIs.

This study is limited by its focus on SKPI adopters, which does not permit to draw insights regarding motivations of non-adopters.

This study draws upon Abrahamson's typology to explore the diffusion of SKPIs in the poorly understood developing country context. The findings provide insights into driving forces behind diffusion of SKPIs, suggesting the developing country context creates “stickiness” that influences pace rather than the pattern of diffusion of SKPIs.

By responding to scholarly calls, this study examines the environmental reports of LVMH and Kering. The study extends legitimacy theory to ascertain the credibility of the aforementioned luxury conglomerates' commitment to environmental sustainability.

A corpus-assisted discourse analysis centred upon the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines is used to examine the environmental disclosures of LVMH and Kering.

The findings show inconsistencies due to the lack of brand-level reporting and reporting quality falls short of comparable sustainability reporting within each conglomerate and with one another. Selective and unbalanced reporting along with symbolic management undermines the legitimacy of sustainability efforts by LVMH and Kering.

Despite the increased attention paid to sustainable luxury, few studies critically analyse how luxury brands formally report on sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting has any direct and positive impact on environmental sustainability performance, and more specifically on CO₂ emissions of the reporting companies.

The authors analyze the CO₂ emissions data from 40 A-level GRI-reporting companies, over a period of six years and across five industry sectors, comparing them with a control group of 24 non-reporting companies, to assess any direct impact of reporting on emissions. Using one-way analysis of variance statistical analysis, the authors perform a cross-industry analysis of the five-year cumulative change in absolute emissions and emissions intensity for both groups of companies from 2008 to 2012.

The authors find that for both metrics, the p-value between the two groups of companies far exceeds the threshold of 0.05, hence strongly favouring the “null hypothesis” that there is no correlation between GRI-reporting and sustainability improvement. More specifically, the authors find that the mean of the five-year cumulative change for the GRI group is an actual increase of about 6 percent in absolute emissions and a decrease of 15 percent emissions intensity, while the mean for non-GRI entities shows a decrease of about 3 percent and a decrease of 17 percent in absolute emissions and emission intensity, respectively.

The authors are limited by the small sample of companies that have five or more years of reliable reporting of CO₂ emissions at Scopes 1 and 2. Nonetheless, a normality test shows that the sample size is sufficiently representative of the entire population.

The lack of any correlation between GRI reporting, which often consists of the lion share of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment, and any material improvement in CO₂ performance, suggests that the current CSR strategies are futile as far as environmental sustainability is concerned, and hence need to be drastically modified.

This work is the first of its kind to investigate quantitatively, and using rigorous statistical methods, the correlation between GRI reporting and carbon emissions performance.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the sustainability performances of apparel, footwear and accessory (AFA) B Corps, providing companies, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with reasonable suggestions on how to incorporate the concept of sustainability efficiently.

This study focused on 117 AFA B Corps. B Corps’ overall sustainability performances consist of their performances in the five areas of governance, workers, community, environment and customers. First, the 117 B Corps’ performances in these areas were compared. Second, multiple regression models were built to predict the B Corps’ sustainability performances based on their inherent characteristics (headquarter location, age, size and industry sector). Third, according to the B Corps’ performances in the five areas, the B Corps were clustered using the hieratical clustering method.

This study found that the B Corps’ performances in different areas were significantly different and their performances in the area of the community were better than in the other four areas. The B Corps’ characteristics were correlated to their sustainability performances. For example, company size was positively related to the B Corps’ performances in the area of workers. Additionally, Clusters 1, 2 and 3 were identified and characterized by their competitive performances in the areas of governance, workers and community, respectively.

This study contributes to the knowledge of AFA B Corps’ sustainability performances, identifying the weakness and strongness of the sustainable practices accepted by existing AFA B Corps and lending insights regarding how to predict and improve sustainability performances.

This study aims to investigate the adoption and diffusion of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based sustainability reporting practices within the global financial services sector.

The approach draws on the sociological construct of social contagion theory (SCT) to explain the drivers of diffusion of GRI-based sustainability reporting. Based on a longitudinal study of GRI adoption over a period from 2000 to 2016, thematic content analysis of sustainability reports and media articles was used to refine information gathered that related to nature and spread of GRI-based sustainability practices within the global financial services sector.

This study finds that the early adopters of GRI-based sustainability reporting and the accompanying media attention influenced the institutional diffusion of GRI-based reporting in the financial services sector. This growth was isomorphic as companies copied best practice models to reduce uncertainty and maintain legitimacy.

This paper focuses on the institutional diffusion of sustainability reporting practices within the global financial sector. It explores the notion of social contagion as an institutional dynamic to understand the drivers for the adoption and diffusion of GRI-based sustainability reporting across national borders. In doing so, the study contributes to the accounting literature on diffusion of innovations in reporting practice, but also, more generally, to the field of diffusion of new ideas in organisations using the unique approach of SCT.

This paper explores the subpolitical role and main characteristics of a specific accounting technique, sustainability reporting boundaries. Its focus is on how the sett2ing of sustainability reporting boundaries affects the definition and distribution of social risks along the supply chain, particularly the risks related to working condition and human rights.

The paper draws on Beck's (1986) exploration of the ways in which techno-economic spheres offer opportunities for the politicisation of new areas. It is argued that the sphere of sustainability reporting offers that opportunity for the politicisation of supply chains. Using the case of Inditex, the historical context of initiatives relating to the ready-made garment (RMG) industry at global, European and industry level as well as media coverage on the entity are analysed; this is correlated with the analysis of boundary setting in relation to sustainability reports, focusing specifically on working conditions.

The analysis suggests that accounting technologies that set contested boundaries are subpolitical, that is, defined outside traditional political processes. The paper finds that the way social risks are framed along the supply chain renders them invisible and impersonal and that the framing of these risks becomes endless as they are contested by different groups of experts. Setting sustainability reporting boundaries has subpolitical properties in producing and framing those risks, whilst is simultaneously limited by the inherent politicisation of such an exercise. The questionable legitimacy of sustainability reporting boundaries calls for the construction not only of discursive justifications but also of new possibilities for political participation.

The analysis is limited to working conditions along one organisation's supply chain.

The contribution of this paper is threefold: (1) It studies in-depth how working conditions in global supply chains are portrayed in sustainability reports. (2) It answers the call to study accounting technologies themselves, in this case sustainability reporting boundaries. (3) It extends Beck's work on global ecological dangers to working conditions in global supply chains to explore how sustainability reporting boundaries are subpolitically involved in the definition and distribution of social risks along the supply chain.