Planetary Boundaries (PB) and Circular Economy (CE) are becoming the paradigm for sustainability. There is an increasing interest to operationalise PB into a framework for businesses to maximise profitability within environmental limits. The context of the cotton textile industry makes a good setting for understanding the casual chain of connections between the socio-economic system expressed by extensive global supply chain of cotton, and its ecological interconnection with the Earth’s system that is put under pressure. For this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) is recognised as a suitable approach for measuring the linkages between those two systems. Results show that among all phases of the life cycle of a cotton t-shirt, the usage phase is the most impacting for most of environmental indicators, followed by the manufacturing and farming phase. Production or extraction of raw material as elements considered upstream in the supply chain are the predominant cause of impacts in this case study. Increasing circularity of the system yields to an improvement in environmental performance. However, the system remains largely unsustainable when taking into account the state of the Earth’s system, through the PB. When assessing sustainability through LCA, ecological references like PB, must be considered to understand absolute environmental sustainability a product system. This will reveal whether less impacting options in the system, are still deteriorating a state of the environment as a part of the Earth’s system, which needs to be the area of protection. In conclusion, linking planetary boundaries to life cycle assessment can help assess the absolute environmental sustainability, as opposed to relative sustainability, of a production system. Combining an assessment of the state of the environment (safe, critical/uncertain, at risk), and the assessment of environmental hotspots of the system under scrutiny, will determine where priority for goals and actions of improvements for environmental sustainability needs most attention.

With growing concern around the fashion industry’s socio-environmental impact, the industry has come under intense scrutiny by researchers as well as stakeholders. Research on the industry’s negative impact has focused largely on large, international enterprises, failing to recognize the role of small and medium enterprises. This thesis explores drivers and barriers to the commitment to sustainability initiatives among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Swedish fashion industry. To achieve the aim of the study, semi-structured interviews with SME owner-managers from 11 Swedish small fashion brands were conducted. The data was analyzed using an extended theory of planned behaviour framework.  The study findings identified the influence of customer expectations and market opportunities as drivers while highlighting the role of pro-sustainability ethical values as the most prevalent driver to commitment to sustainability initiatives. Important barriers included lack of resources, supply chain challenges and the challenges of overcoming the dominance of fast fashion consumer behaviours. Despite these barriers, the importance of pro-sustainability ethics was underscored in its potential to overcome many of these barriers.

Research on minimalism on the individual level shows the concept to be linked to ecological sustainability by applying methods such as reduction of consumption and valuing of product quality over quantity. In the fashion industry, concepts like ‘capsule wardrobe’ propose a reduced but high-quality, timeless wardrobe. It challenges the complex and fast-paced fashion industry with its numerous collections, overproduction and overconsumption. The application of minimalism on the business level in the fashion industry has not been researched yet. Therefore, we aimed to explore how minimalism is perceived and applied on the organisational level in the fashion industry and its contribution to ecological sustainability. Based on a developed theoretical framework and data gathered through eleven semi-structured interviews, a practical framework for minimalism as a business strategy is presented. It represents a value-based approach to business by incorporating customers, the organisation and the supply chain. Furthermore, organisational minimalism is not only efficiency-increasing and waste-reducing but also a way to do as little harm as possible, to consume critically while still operating in the existing system. The practical framework can be used to guide companies to implement minimalism as a driver for sustainability in business-making. With this outcome, we contribute to making the fashion industry more sustainable and reaching the Sustainable Development Goals 8, 9, and 12.

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Advertising is constantly surrounding us in different shapes, meaning that companies need to stand out in order to invoke people's attention. Advertising reflects the society's current norms which means that the media and society's values affect each other (Fagerström & Nilsson, 2008). Women have for a long time been objectified and presented in stereotypical roles since sexism is a common component in advertising (Grau & Zotos, 2016). An industry that is frequently being accused of promoting an asymmetrical image of women's bodies is the fast fashion industry (Fay & Price, 1994). It is crucial in both a societal- and business perspective to take responsibility when it comes to sexism in advertising. This study aims to examine female consumers attitudes towards quality attributes in advertising within the female fast fashion industry. Given the research purpose of this thesis, the research questions are: 1) How can the quality attributes in the female fast fashion industry be used to satisfy women as customers? 2) How does quality attributes contribute to customer (dis-)satisfaction in the female fast fashion industry? A preliminary study was organized to state consumers’ different attributes of sexism to use in the questionnaire. Followed by this was the main study with Kano pair questions that included 201 respondents. The pair questions were formulated by the attributes identified in the preliminary study. This study shows how all the presented attributes (“Size zero”, “White people”, “CIS-person”, “Functional variation”, “Unrealistic ideals”, “High level of nudity”, “Erotic way”, “Sexual desire”, “Body focus”, “Behind or breasts” and “Lips or mouth”) were classified as “Reversed” which is an indication of dissatisfaction and an urge for the attribute to be the opposite. This thesis demonstrates the relationship between the quality attributes and theories regarding objectification and portrayal of women. The customers’ attitudes towards the quality attributes correlate with the consequences as results of advertising in a sexist way. Businesses within the female fast fashion industry can prioritise the customer requirements for their advertisements in all assistance measurement and estimation of customer satisfaction in order to rise above the current way of advertising and become more customer oriented and to take responsibility and participation in the development of a gender equal society.

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Returns in the fashion e-commerce industry have experienced a significant increase in recent years, and with the continuous growth of e-commerce, returns are expected to further increase. Companies are faced with the choice of either improving existing return processes or focusing on avoiding returns before a purchase is made. The purpose of this study was to identify methods for avoiding returns by examining returning behaviors and avoidance practices. The feasibility of these methods was investigated for a specific company in the premium segment, allowing conclusions to be drawn about their applicability for similar companies in the same segment. The results indicated that the suitability of a method often depended on how customers perceive the company's brand. Furthermore, the findings revealed a trade-off between providing extensive product information and the risk of damaging the brand image. By implementing suitable methods to avoid returns, the number of returns and associated costs can be reduced, while enhancing customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty. Additionally, a reduction in returns can also mitigate the negative environmental impact caused by a high volume of returns. / Returer inom mode e-handel har ökat drastiskt de senaste åren, och med bakgrund av en växande e-handel kan returer förväntas öka ännu mer. Företag står inför valet att antingen förbättra befintliga returprocesser eller att fokusera på att undvika returer redan innan ett köp genomförs. Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera metoder för att undvika varureturer genom att undersöka returbeteenden och förebyggande åtgärder. Tillämpbarheten av dessa metoder undersöktes för ett specifikt företag inom premiumsegmentet och således kunde slutsatser dras om metodernas tillämpbarhet för liknande företag inom samma segment. Resultaten visade att huruvida en metod var lämplig eller ej oftast kunde kopplas till hur kunder uppfattar företagets varumärke. Vidare visade resultaten att det finns en avvägning vad gäller att tillhandahålla omfattande produktinformation gentemot att riskera att skada sitt varumärke. Genom implementering av lämpliga metoder kan antalet returer och därmed returkostnader minskas, samtidigt som kundens upplevelse, nöjdhet och lojalitet förbättras. Slutligen kan även en minskning av returer också minska den negativa påverkan på miljön som orsakas av ett stort antal returer i allmänhet.

In recent years, CSR has taken on great importance in the life of companies, which are much more aware of the existing social, economic and environmental problems. So, when Ecommerce has taken an important place in the life of different industries, these companies (especially in the world of textiles) have had to adapt and understand how to exist and use CSR to stand out and enter the market. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how companies that make online sales of clothing in France can create one or more competitive advantages by using CSR, and analyze the habits and behaviors of French consumers, understand in depth the standards to which French companies face to create a competitive advantage. The empirical results were obtained thanks to a quantitative study, and a questionnaire of ten questions that could meet the objective mentioned above. The results obtained were then collected and analyzed by the authors in order to find similarities or differences with the secondary data collected previously. The conclusion of this thesis shows that CSR can become a real competitive advantage, and give real opportunities to online fashion companies in France provided that their implementation is done in good conditions. Customers being more and more attentive to ecological, societal and ethical issues, companies are almost obliged to implement sustainable and ethical practices in their practices, from production to distribution in order to develop. In summary, the thesis identified consumer resentment towards these CSRs, and the benefits that French online fashion companies can derive from their implementation in the near future.

Research shows that strong CSR practices have a positive impact on organizational commitment which is crucial when employees are faced with negative events in the organization. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations to adopt CSR practices to retain engaged employees as they are less likely to engage in behaviors disadvantageous to the organization when negative events occur. However, some organizations face difficulties balancing efficiency with sustainable practices and respond to the pressures of CSR by adhering to or actively resisting it. The aim of this study is to explore what employee withdrawal behaviors can be associated with organizations’ strategic responses to CSR. We operationalize this aim by conducting ten semi-structured interviews studying what behaviors employees adopt in reaction to events in the Swedish fast fashion industry. An analytical framework has been created and applied to the findings based on previous research on employee withdrawal behavior and organizations’ strategic responses to institutional pressures. The findings indicate that there is a higher likelihood amongst committed employees to potentially engage in withdrawal behaviors the more organizations actively resisted CSR as a practice. A new dimension of withdrawal behavior is added to complement previous research to ultimately provide inspiration for future research.

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