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Localism refers to a concept that encourages local production, consumption and promotion of goods. It is a movement to encourage consumers and businesses to purchase from locally owned, independent businesses that has grown rapidly in the past decade. However, localism remains understudied by researchers. This study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the localism movement by capturing the dynamism of fashion localism in the context of the Sri Lankan fashion retail sector.

Adopting a qualitative exploratory approach, the authors conducted a series of in-depth interviews with 12 fashion practitioners.

Based on the findings, the authors propose a conceptual model of fashion localism consisting of eight themes: fashion localism design approach, locally sourced staples, land ethic, employee development, community development, consumer, regulations and limitations and future opportunities.

This research sheds some light on localism literature by capturing the dynamism of fashion localism. In particular, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first study in marketing to propose a conceptual model of fashion localism. This research further points out certain managerial implications by illustrating a few practical approaches to the concept of localism within the Sri Lankan fashion retail sector.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how national cultural context may be harnessed to support corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation when sourcing fashion garments from developing country manufacturers.

A qualitative case study approach was adopted, using purposive sampling to select seven export garment manufacturers of varying size and business model in Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected through on‐site, face‐to‐face interviews with managerial level and operational level informants within each company and through non‐participant observation within factory environments.

It was found that harnessing the local cultural context can support and progress CSR implementation at the factory level: in Sri Lanka, the Buddhist philosophy provided the moral underpinning and hence facilitated supplier engagement with CSR implementation. The presence of governmental support reduces the likelihood of CSR transgressions by adding an extra level of accountability for suppliers. Furthermore, the level of socioeconomic development also affects CSR implementation, as managerial competency increases with higher education levels.

Analysing the success of CSR implementation in the Sri Lankan export garment manufacturing industry enables the identification of country‐specific factors which support CSR implementation. The managerial perspective taken within the research would be of use to fashion brands and retailers that are looking for ways of progressing CSR implementation in their global supply chains.

This paper presents industry‐specific data from a key global garment manufacturing country on a commercially sensitive subject. It identifies factors within the national cultural context that support CSR implementation in the fashion supply chain.

Plus size clothing is becoming a fashion trend worldwide due to the body positivity movement sparked off by the growing obesity rates and fat shaming incidents reported around the world. Although the problems relating to plus size clothing in the global context have been addressed, thereby establishing certain norms in the market, none of this work has proved helpful in assessing the level of customer satisfaction in the Sri Lankan plus size market. In view of this lacuna, this paper aims to probe customer preferences and identify the problems currently prevailing in the plus size women’s wear fashion market in Sri Lanka.

Data were gathered through both qualitative and quantitative methods. For this purpose, visits were made to several fashion outlets in the Colombo area offering plus size clothing to observe the available product categories, size ranges, fabrics, finishing methods and designs at each outlet. A closed-ended questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the perception of the customers on the current plus size fashion market. Semi-structured interviews with designers working at selected Sri Lankan fashion brands that catered to the plus size market were carried out to acquire an understanding of the current plus size fashion industry from the garment manufacturer’s perspective and to learn about the current construction techniques in the industry.

The results indicated that 55.6% of the plus size women who participated in the survey were either dissatisfied or only moderately satisfied with the current products available in the Sri Lankan market. The major cause for the dissatisfaction was the inability to find well-fitting clothes to suit their body proportions and the unavailability of trendy, fashionable clothes. Ideally, they preferred fashionable, comfortable, well-fitting and good quality garments. Unavailability of standardized sizing methods and lack of up-to-date information on the female body were identified as the main issues in the Sri Lankan plus size women’s wear market. Therefore, the necessity for a standardized size chart for plus size women based on Sri Lankan anthropometric data was emphasized by designers.

The findings will be useful for the Sri Lankan apparel producers as well as retailers as they will have a better understanding of not only the fit and aesthetic preferences but also the overall shopping preferences of plus size women. This will help them to develop marketing strategies to cater to this Sri Lankan niche market segment, as currently there is no documented information on plus size Sri Lankan women’s clothing preferences.

The person who works in an office starts his or her day with a choice of attire. The way they look in the office depends on the decisions they make on their clothes. This study aims to identify the challenges faced by employees in the management positions in the Sri Lankan apparel industry who regularly come into contact with customers when they have to decide upon the most appropriate work attire for the position they are occupying in their organization.

Collection of data was primarily achieved through a well-structured questionnaire containing a mixture of open- and closed-ended questions. Targeted employees were managers, designers and merchandisers belonging to Generation Y whose total number was sufficient to obtain 50 feedbacks. Six more interviews were conducted with the intention of finding out more about this matter.

The majority of employees in the management positions in the Sri Lankan apparel industry who have regular contact with customers prefer to dress in “smart casual attire”, which means semi-formal clothes. Lack of availability of certain varieties of business attire in Sri Lanka proved to be a major challenge for some employees. Overpriced clothing, less comfortable clothing and lack of the right fabrics and designs were also challenges. These findings highlight the importance of manufacturing a wider variety of business attire using moderately priced but comfortable fabrics to make affordable and good quality products. There is a need to have a persuasive merchandising method to achieve good sales and provide a pleasant shopping experience to the customers.

Sri Lankan workwear retailers as well as apparel designers can benefit from the findings of this research as there is no evidence of any other studies on this subject. Therefore, this will help them to fill the market gap for business attire by addressing these challenges.

This paper seeks to identify the inhibitors and drivers of CSR implementation in fashion garment manufacturing from a supply chain management perspective.

A qualitative case study approach was adopted, using purposive sampling to select seven export garment manufacturers of varying size and business model in Sri Lanka. Primary data was collected through on‐site face‐to‐face interviews with managerial level and operational level informants within each company and through non‐participant observation within factory environments. Data analysis was conducted manually.

Adopting SCM principles supports CSR implementation in supplier facilities in global fashion garment supply chains by overcoming the negative effects of retail buying practices. It also progresses supplier CSR performance beyond that which is achievable via a coercive, compliance‐based model by encouraging suppliers to be innovative and take ownership of the CSR agenda. Hence, aspects of supply chain relationship management may be more critical in progressing CSR implementation than traditional bureaucratic monitoring and auditing mechanisms.

In an industry sector facing unique pressure on cost as well as lead time, fashion retailers must understand how to align CSR implementation with the unique competitive challenges of the sector. Analysing the success of CSR implementation in the Sri Lankan export garment manufacturing industry enables managers to identify barriers and supporting factors to CSR implementation in global fashion supply chains.

This paper presents industry‐specific data from a key global garment manufacturing country on a commercially sensitive subject. Its contribution to extant literature is the development of a CSR framework that identifies inhibitors and drivers to CSR implementation from a fashion supply chain management perspective.

This study aims to evaluate the adoption of four types of supplier sustainability risk management (SSRM) strategies, namely, risk avoidance (RA), risk acceptance (RAC), collaboration-based risk mitigation (CBM) and monitoring-based risk mitigation (MBM) in Sri Lankan apparel and retail industries, and to investigate their effect on supply chain performance (SCP).

This study uses the dynamic capability view (DCV) to develop its hypotheses. Data collected from 89 firms were analysed using partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling and PLS-based multiple group analysis.

Sri Lankan apparel and retail firms adopt RA and MBM strategies relatively more than CBM and RAC strategies, whereas there is no significant difference between the two industries in terms of the use of SSRM strategies. The path analysis revealed significant effects of RA and RAC strategies on SCP of both industries. The effect of CBM strategy on SCP is moderated by industry, while MBM has no significant impact.

While managing supplier sustainability risks effectively, RA and RAC strategies provide more opportunities for managers to improve SCP. In achieving SCP, CBM strategies are proven to be more effective for retail industry compared with the apparel sector. Although MBM strategies offer sustainability advantages to firms, their contribution to improving the performance of apparel and retail supply chains is not significant. This research is limited to only two industries (apparel and retail) in Sri Lanka, where the evidence for the effects of SSRM strategies is not available for other contexts.

Either the effects of the four types of SSRM strategies on SCP or the moderating effect of industry on these effects have not been empirically confirmed in the literature. Evaluating the extent to which different strategies are implemented in Sri Lankan apparel and retail industries is another significant contribution of this research. Furthermore, this study contributes by using DCV to a sustainability-based supply chain risk management research.

The fashion industry has been accused of being the second largest environmental polluter in the world. Millions of tons of post-consumer waste are dumped in landfills and garbage disposal sites each year. However, environmental concerns are emerging as a mainstream issue among modern-day consumers. This critical problem has prompted fashion retailers and brands to embrace sustainable practices to address consumers’ environmental concerns by reducing pollution. Given this background, this research aims to understand consumer’s perceptions of value towards second-hand fashion consumption in the context of Sri Lanka.

This exploratory study uses a qualitative approach to understand consumers’ perceptions of value towards second-hand fashion consumption.

This research uses the theoretical model of the means-end chain model and shows five consumer’s values of second-hand consumers: price-consciousness, consciousness on emotional bonds, comfortability consciousness, quality and brand consciousness and social and environmental consciousness. Furthermore, the authors show non-second-hand fashion consumers’ values as social status consciousness, hygienic consciousness, comfortability consciousness, quality and brand consciousness and self-expressive consciousness.

This research sheds some light on the emerging knowledge of second-hand consumption. This research further points out certain practical implications by drawing attention to a few opportunities and challenges associated with the second-hand fashion business within the Sri Lankan fashion retail sector, in particular when launching new fashion brands catering to second-hand fashion consumers.

Developing countries engaged in apparel value chain are going global, seeking opportunities to upgrade the industry through providing higher value-added products and services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how Sri Lankan apparel industry designers interact with the western fashion world in the apparel value chain process, and how they acquire, adapt and apply the knowledge needed to develop high-value fashion products in their fashion design practice.

The study adopts a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews conducted with fashion design and product development professionals in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. An inductive thematic analysis is used in identifying participants’ experience of the western fashion world within their fashion design practice.

The study proposes a “fashion knowledge bridge” illustrating the ways in which Sri Lankan designers acquire and merge high-value fashion consumer culture and lifestyle knowledge with the manufacturing industry, through multisensory and virtual experience, termed “exposure”, in their interactions with the western fashion world as well as the manufacturing culture of the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Designers’ exposure improves the feasibility and reliability of their apparel products, aligning to the end-consumer needs. The study also proposes a “designers’ exposure framework” that illustrates gains made by the Sri Lankan apparel industry resulting from knowledge enhancement through the designers’ exposure.

The study is based on a qualitative methodology that has potential subjective biases on the part of the researchers; in this case only the Sri Lankan designers’ perspectives were used in synthesising the findings.

The findings propose frameworks with theoretical and managerial implications for developing designers’ capabilities in apparel manufacturing countries that seek industrial upgrading through value-added fashion design practice.

The purpose of this study is to assess sustainability across the handloom industry in Sri Lanka and identify opportunities for sustainable innovations supporting new markets, development of small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and growth in the Sri Lankan craft sector.

Using a multiple case studies methodology, 10 case studies and 37 semi-structured interviews were analysed along with the triple-layered business model canvas.

The study reveals the handloom industry to be fundamentally sustainable but with structural barriers that hinder both innovation and growth. The environmentally conscious production process and social inclusion within weaving communities are the key driving forces of sustainability in the sector; however, the structure of the industry and lack of access to markets and information act as barriers to both innovation and growth. The incorporation of design interventions, closed-loop manufacturing strategies and the encouragement of community-based entrepreneurship would support sustainability-orientated business innovation in the handloom industry.

The rapidly increasing market share for high-quality, hand-made goods indicates the potential of the creative industries to accelerate socio-economic growth. Handloom textiles is attracting growing interest in fashion markets because of increasing concern about exploitation in production, thus encouraging interest in the economic benefits of fairly traded, high quality materials and the potential contribution of handloom to sustainability in the fashion industry. The results of this study will support the handloom industry and policy-makers in developing support for sustainable innovation in the handloom industry.

This study seeks to examine the fashion consciousness of young consumers in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and to explain the impact of gender and education on fashion consciousness of young fashion consumers.

A survey design was used to collect the data and 215 youngsters below 25 years of age were selected for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to examine the fashion consciousness of respondents. Three factors of fashion consciousness were suggested by exploratory factor analysis procedure, and they were established for further analysis based on the results of confirmatory factor analysis. The study tested three hypotheses to examine the degree of fashion consciousness and the impact of gender and education on fashion consciousness.

The survey results showed that respondents have a fair level of fashion consciousness and their fashion consciousness was affected by the gender and education. It was highlighted that the fashion consciousness is context‐dependent and the fashion consciousness of young consumers in Sri Lanka is mainly related to their consciousness about Western fashions.

The study stresses the inseparability of fashion consumers' mental status and his/her socioeconomic and cultural surrounding, especially in the post‐colonial context.