Klädbranschen är präglad av långa, världsomspännande produktionsled vilket gör det intressant och viktigt att se hur stora, internationella företag arbetar med CSR. Kraven på att företag tar socialt ansvar ökar samtidigt som företag är påverkade av sin historia, kultur och specifika omständigheter som kan påverka vad som är viktigt för företaget. I denna studie undersöks vad fyra klädföretag, H&M, Gap, Uniqlo och Zara, alla från fyra olika länder, väljer att betona i sitt CSR-arbete. Information publicerad på företagens hemsidor samt rapporter har legat till grund för empiri som analyserats utifrån ett teoretiskt ramverk. Den insamlade informationen har ställts mot EU-kommissionens definition av CSR och analyserats utifrån teorierna. Resultatet visade att likheterna gällande företagens valda CSR-betoning var fler än skillnaderna och att imitation kan vara en anledning till att företag väljer att fokusera på liknande saker i sina redovisningar, samt en vilja att ta hänsyn till och verka legitima i alla intressenters ögon.

Studiens syfte är att göra en kvantitativ undersökning av konsumenternas åsikt mot Corporate Social Responsbility med en avgränsning till modeföretaget H&M med målet är att kunna kartlägga en generaliserande åsikt bland konsumenterna. Till hjälp kommer det användas teorier om CSR, Public Relations och innebörden av Varumärket. Studiens fokus kommer rikta sig mer åt områdena inom CSR som är ekonomisk, socialt och miljömässigt ansvarstagande. Den utvalda metoden för att samla in information var med en webbenkät som skickades ut till utvalda Facebook grupper med inriktningen på mode och skönhet. Enkätens struktur består av fyra delar som inriktar sig på olika områden. Första delen handlar om respondentens vanor kring företaget som sedan följs upp av frågor om H&Ms Image i både reklam och nyhetsmedier. Sedan följs det upp av en CSR del men med andra ordval eftersom alla inte har kunskapen av begreppet CSR och avslutningsvis kommer en demografi del. Majoriteten av de som besvarat enkäten har aldrig läst H&Ms hållbarhetsrapport som finns tillgängligt på deras hemsida. Detta kan bero på omedvetenheten om vad CSR är men det som resultatet indikerar är att de ändå har starka åsikter om H&Ms arbete inom hållbarhet. I både frågorna om arbetsförhållanden och mänskliga rättigheter fanns en tydlig tendens att åsiktenen mot H&M är negativ men när det gäller det miljömässiga ansvarstagandet var det inte lika tydlig. Det skiljde sig även mellan könen då kvinnorna var mer kritiska till detta. Det var även en skillnad mellan olika utbildningsnivåer då högre utbildade var mindre kritiska än dem med en gymnasienivå. När det gäller åsiktenen mot den image som H&M speglar sig själva i sin reklam var det övervägande fler som ansåg att den är positiv än negativ. Denna frågan gav även möjligheten att motivera med egna ord. Svaren var delvis splittrade med att H&Ms reklam är modern men även att de använder sig av stereotypiska smala kvinnor kroppar. Det resultat som studien visar är att konsumenterna anser att H&M bör arbeta mer med sitt sociala ansvarstagande.

This study investigates the underlying rationale of environmentally and socially conscious young Swedish consumers for their continued consumption of fast fashion. Furthermore this study assesses influential factors that shape young Swedish consumers’ attitudes and beliefs towards fast fashion. The fast fashion business model is largely based on the exploitation of poor working conditions and lack of environmental protection laws in the production countries. However, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of this dark side of fast fashion and the retailers are addressing their concerns with selective organic clothing collections. In order to gain in debt understanding of young Swedish consumers rationalizations, I applied an inductive research approach based on the philosophy of interpretive social science. More specifically I conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Swedish participants between the ages of 18 and 25. The findings of this study show that the participants prioritize price, quality and how the clothes look over where they have been produced and under what circumstances. Furthermore, the interviewees indicate a high dependency on the Swedish government to punish misconducts of fast fashion retailers. Greenwashing, the Swedish school system as well as a green trend in contemporary Swedish society seem to shape young consumers attitudes and beliefs towards fast fashion. Future research could investigate how the Swedish government and the Swedish school system can take a more pro-active role in educating their citizens and students about the actual negative impacts caused by the overconsumption of fast and disposable fashion towards society and environment.

The Master's Thesis deals with the marketing communication of fashion industry with the focus on two particular global fast fashion brands. The main goal is to identify the specifics of marketing communication strategies of fashion industry, to analyze the approach difference of the two chosen fashion brands H&M and Zara and to define their influence on consumer's body image through qualitative and quantitative research. The thesis is divided into several parts. The first chapter follows up the peculiarities of fashion marketing communication including the use of particular communication instruments and new trends. The second part deals with the pivotal points of marketing communication of H&M and Zara and also analyzes the relations between the fashion industry and the currently much discussed issue of body image. The next section concentrates on the methodology of the research and describes the techniques of data collection and the surveyed group. The last practical part evaluates the results of the primary data obtained by the research with the purpose of defining the impact of fashion brands communication campaigns on the consumer.

The goal of this thesis is to define the fashion industry and identify the key developments that the segment has undertaken over the last two to three decades including the drivers behind these changes. Specifically, the thesis will provide insights into the financial indicators of the industry and review some of the most recent trends such as globalisation of supply chains and internationalisation of fashion retailers. The second section of the theoretical part will try to identify what are the characteristics of fast fashion customers and what influences motivate their shopping behaviour. Specifically, some of the academic concepts will be examined and put into the context of fast fashion -- these include fashion involvement and fashion consciousness, the influence of opinion leadership and the trend of social shopping. The latest part of the theoretical section will examine the contemporary marketing strategies in the fast fashion segment some of which has been spread over the whole fashion market. Amongst the most vital ones is the change in supply chain management strategies, the shortening of the fashion life cycle and its impact on the frequency of stock replenishment. In addition, the theoretical part will examine the rising power of the internet, its effect on online shopping and the overall transformation of media towards digital communication with the growing influence of fashion bloggers. The goal of the practical part of the thesis is to conduct extensive analysis of the fashion strategies of the two selected fast fashion retailers -- Zara and H&M. These were chosen on the basis of their global success and outstanding financial performance even in the period of economic downturn which makes their strategies unique and worth analysing. Each brand has a distinct approach to its marketing strategy and in many of the elements they are fundamentally different, yet both approaches has enabled the brands to achieve international success and build highly profitable businesses. To review the complexity of different aspects of their strategies, the 7p's framework will be used.

Climate issues are engaging both the Swedes and the Swedish media, and more people are making an effort to live more climate friendly. The meat, aviation and clothing industry has, during the last few years, gained increased criticism due to the negative environmental impact. According to the World Wildlife Fund's climate barometer the demand for these products is decreasing. The following study will examine how three companies, from industries criticized for their negative environmental impact, rhetorically use environmental communication in their marketing communication. This through three selected commercials from Tui, Scan and H&M. The aim of the study is to help acquire knowledge for the importance of environmental communication in corporate market communication.   This study has been made through critical rhetoric analysis, inspired by Mral, Gelang and  Bröms analysis model. The result shows that the study objects in different ways avoids the main target of critique and instead presents other parts from their organization which to the contrary, does good. We argue that avoiding the main subject, and instead answering different non-related subjects can lead to a problematic and deceptive discourse. The study objects are influential within their industry and the problematic discourse that is held can bear evidence of marketing communication as a whole, where environmental argumentation is more common than ever.

The study aims to investigate whether there is a discrepancy between how Swedish fast fashion- companies communicate their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) work and how their CSR work is reported in the Swedish news. If differences do occur, we will analyze and discuss what this discrepancy may be due to. The study is limited to only studying one of the world's largest fast fashion companies H&M and examining how H&M choose to highlight their CSR work in their sustainability report and at the website, compared with what is reported in the Swedish news. The study has a qualitative approach with a total study of 13 news articles, H&M's latest sustainability report and H&M's. CSR communication and agenda setting theory have formed the basis of the study's analysis to identify differences and why they may occur. The results of the study shows that there is a discrepancy between the channels depending on whether the customer receives information from H&M's own channels or if they receive information from news media. Moreover, the study shows that H&M communicates their CSR work to their advantage, while the agenda setting theory confirms that news media cover and form the topics that are in the public interest. The question of which information consumers should believe in will continue to remain, and the study can only inform and draw the consumer's attention to the fact that there are differences in the reporting and hope to contribute to future research.

Background: Corporate Social Responsibility has been studied since the 1970s, but was originally controversial and met opposition from e.g. Milton Friedman who viewed a company’s responsibility as being strictly economic. Since then, CSR has grown in scope and importance, especially within the fast fashion industry, and is now a central part of academia and business operations. However, the debate whether companies’ responsibilities are only economic or also include responsibilities such as social, environmental, and transparency- related is still ongoing, and it is therefore interesting to study how companies view their own responsibilities. Purpose: Our research aims to fill the existing research gap regarding how companies view their responsibilities by providing an overview of how the CSR work has changed over time in fast fashion companies. Research Question: How has the focus of the CSR work changed over time in large, international, fast-fashion companies? Methods: A qualitative content analysis inspired by grounded theory was used to answer the research question. The data material consisted of H&M’s sustainability reports from 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2019. The material was categorized into social, environmental or transparency dimensions, along with several under-categories. A simpler analysis of news articles regarding sustainability during the period 2002-2019 was also performed. Results: The results suggest that the fast fashion industry has increased their sense of responsibility as the expectations of stakeholders in the area has grown, and that CSR work increasingly is seen as a possible competitive advantage. The results also show that the most difficult parts to fulfill is the ethical level of the CSR pyramid, due to the difficulty of comprehending and fulfilling the stakeholders’ different expectations and demands, and the social dimension, because of its profound complexity, especially within fast-fashion.

The study “How does H&M Group communicate sustainability in a non-sustainable industry?” examines how the fashion companies H&M, Arket, COS, & Other Stories and Monki, who are part of the H&M Group, communicates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at their websites and how trustworthy their communication is. CSR is about how companies take a greater social responsibility than what the law requires to contribute to a better world. The issue of sustainability is an important question in today’s society and the negative impact on people and planet of the fashion industry makes the topic relevant of its time.  The study is based on the theories CSR, that includes Triple Bottom Line which describes CSR from three dimensions, and A Framework of CSR communication which describes several factors that companies should assume when communicating about CSR. The concept of trustworthiness is also included in the theoretical framework of the study. Based on the method multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) an analysis scheme has been designed. By using the analytical tools lexical choices, word connotations, iconography, attributes and modality in language the companies have been analyzed in an equivalent way.   The analysis resulted in three discursive themes that could be identified in the CSR-communication of the companies in H&M Group. The discursive themes were – “engage consumers to act”, “the environmental dimension in focus”, and “the future fashion industry as circular and somewhat encouraging”. The analysis also showed that the trustworthiness of the communication varies between the companies and that they create trustworthiness in different ways despite being part of the same group. The companies create trustworthiness through transparency, emotions and concrete examples.

Some of the most common threats in society today are climate change, struggling world economies and starving people. Today most consumers seek out sustainable products that are produced under fair conditions. These requirements on companies mean that their work with Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming increasingly important to fit consumers demands. Previous research shows that CSR strategies are consequently used for companies work with marketing communication, partly to cope with crises but also to create a relationship with consumers and create a sustainable message to other actors. Nike and H&M are two companies that have been struggling with crises and criticism for not contributing to protection of the environment, not following standard work environment regulations and for not taking human rights into account. This study investigates, through a multimodal analysis, three separate communication materials from each company which are taken from Nike's campaign “Move to Zero” and H&M´s campaign “Buttons with impact”. This method is used to answer how the companies are implementing CSR into their campaigns. A survey is used to analyze what the consumers think of Nike´s and H&M´s work with CSR and if the two companies' CSR-strategies could be counted as successful. The results show that both Nike and H&M are well aware of how to use CSR-strategies although the customers doesn´t appear to be convinced. Apparently some of the CSR- strategies are noticed but the fact still remains, the companies profile, identity and image are not fully compliant with each other.