To Market Sustainability: A Holistic Approach

Image by Morgane Sansay, 2021 Graduate Diploma Interior Design, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL

My curiosity and passion for the ‘second skin’ we wear, clothing, have led me to take part in the fashion system in Colombia and now in the UK. Having gained experience in various roles across the sector, I have developed a well-rounded perspective of the fashion industry. I have worn the lenses of the designer, the design coordinator, and the lecturer; roles that have consistently allowed me to connect visions with realities. At the same time, sustainability, a concept that has struggled for decades to attain a shared meaning and continues to reveal new nuances to researchers and practitioners, has become my client. For this reason, I found the MA in Fashion Marketing and Sustainability, at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, to be the perfect next step back into academia, offering a space to explore how to market sustainability within the fashion sector. 

Throughout my professional path, I have consistently observed business leaders striving to implement more sustainable practices within their organisations. Yet, as in many parts of the world, these efforts often lacked the market support needed to achieve economic sustainability. This experience led me to realise that marketing and sustainability must coexist within the same concept. When I met my Master’s classmates, individuals from diverse cultural, geographic, and academic backgrounds, I discovered that many of us shared the same concern: how to push the needle towards sustainable consumption.

This journey has shown me that not only must industrial and production practices evolve but also business and marketing strategies and tools. Although it promotes environmentally friendly products and nudges consumers towards sustainable consumption, green marketing remains a form of weak sustainability (Fischer et al., 2021), as it does not guarantee long-term behavioural and mindset change. Unlike green marketing, sustainability marketing goes beyond the commercialisation of sustainable products. Instead, sustainability marketing takes a broader, systemic approach that supports institutional transformation. Scholars have identified three forms of sustainability marketing: auxiliary, reformative, and transformative (Kemper and Ballantine, 2019). These types differ in how they define the roles and responsibilities of governments, companies, and citizens in addressing the planetary crisis (Richardson et al., 2023). These forms range from targeting green consumers through traditional marketing to fostering sustainable lifestyles and, ultimately, driving institutional change through shared accountability. 

To market sustainability effectively, dialogue among all stakeholders must be encouraged. As sustainable fashion marketers, we must communicate across multiple domains: with consumers through sustainability communication, with employees and NGOs via Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communications, with boards and shareholders through Environmental Social Governance (ESG) initiatives, with social and cultural contexts through Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), and with the Earth through the planetary boundaries. This holistic perspective allows us to translate sustainability strategies throughout the value chain, build bridges between its actors, and safeguard the achievement of sustainability goals. 

As part of my Master’s degree, I took part in Governance for Tomorrow, a multi-phase interdisciplinary programme investigating new and alternative models of governance in luxury fashion, developed by Centre for Sustainable Fashion (CSF) and supported by CSF’s long-term partnership with leading luxury group, Kering. Through this work, my classmates and I explore the concept of corporate governance and learned how to progress and advise on advanced sustainability strategies. The project integrated the multiple sustainability marketing ‘languages’, auxiliary, reformative, and transformative, and strengthened my capacity to critically prioritise actions that improve and maintain organisations’ sustainability strategy. Despite its complexity, I believe that maintaining a clear strategic vision is key to driving the transition towards sustainability. 

Working for this ‘client’, sustainability, requires adopting new mindsets. Marketing sustainability extends beyond consumers; it must be embedded across multiple levels, managerial and executive as well. Discussions around sustainable consumption often focus on issues such as overconsumption, a systemic problem rooted in pervasive throwaway culture, or the attitude–behaviour gap, the discrepancy between consumers’ declared sustainability values and their actual purchasing decisions. However, I was surprised to discover the limited sustainability literacy at the governance level (Rasche, 2024). How can we confidently expect boards of directors to deliver robust ESG stewardship when a significant sustainability competence gap exists? This is a critical challenge as according to Rasche (2024), effective ESG oversight requires directors to possess a basis of cognitive competencies, which are rooted in four knowledge pillars: Sustainability Regulations, Stakeholder Engagement, Sustainability-Strategy Link, and Corporate Purpose. Moreover, successful implementation of a sustainability strategy requires corporate brand alignment that builds the organisational identity, one that integrates strategic vision, organisational culture, and stakeholder image (Hedegaard, 2015). 

This realisation led me to explore sustainability at a systemic level. I chose to focus my Master’s project on how circular ecosystems addressing post-consumer textile waste in Colombia could foster sustainable consumption. Circular ecosystems are collaborative structures formed by heterogeneous yet interdependent organisations

that achieve circularity more effectively through cooperation. These ecosystems can guide consumers to engage in the three dimensions of their role within the circular economy: as buyers, users, and end-of-life product holders (Shevchenko, et. al., 2023). Within these ecosystems, communication plays a central role, both internally among participating actors and externally with consumers. 

Although I recognise the complexity of the work ahead with this ‘client’, I also see an industry undergoing profound transformation. Marketing plays a crucial role in building relationships between stakeholders (Kemper & Ballantine, 2019), and two-way, symmetrical communication offers an effective means of steering and connecting sustainability efforts across the value chain (Morsing & Schultz, 2008). This dialogue, based on the exchange and co-creation of knowledge, allows the fashion industry to develop shared meanings, hone new skills, and collectively promote the transition to living well within planetary boundaries. 

Reference List 

Fischer, D., Reinermann, J., Guillen, G., DesRoches, C., Diddi, S. and Vergragt, P. (2021) ‘Sustainable consumption communication: A review of an emerging field of research’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 300, p.1-14. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126880 (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Hedegaard, S. (2015). Sustainability-Focused Identity: Identity Work Performed to Manage, Negotiate and Resolve Barriers and Tensions that Arise in the Process of Constructing Organizational Identity in a Sustainability Context. Copenhagen Business School [Phd]. PhD series No. 08.2015. Available at: https://research-api.cbs.dk/ws/portalfiles/portal/58810379/Stine_Hedegaard.pdf (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Kemper, J. and Ballantine, P. (2019) ‘What do we mean by sustainability marketing?’, Journal of Marketing Management, 35, pp. 1–33. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1573845 (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Morsing, M., and Schultz, M. (2008) ‘Corporate social responsibility communication: stakeholder information, response and involvement strategies’, Business Ethics: A European Review, 15, p. 324-338. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313090994_Corporate_social_responsibility_communication_stakeholder_information_response_and_involvement_strategies (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Rasche, A. (2024) ‘Bringing Sustainability into the Boardroom - Structure, Mindset, Competencies’, DJØF: Copenhagen, pp. 281-303. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385753759_Bringing_Sustainability_into_the_Boardroom_-_Structure_Mindset_Competencies (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Richardson, K., Steffen, W., Lucht, W., Bendtsen, J., Cornell, S. E., Donges, J. F., Drüke, M., Fetzer, I., Bala, G., von Bloh, W., Feulner, G., Fiedler, S., Gerten, D., Gleeson, T., Hofmann, M., Huiskamp, W., Kummu, M., Mohan, C., Nogués-Bravo, D., Petri, S., Porkka, M., Rahmstorf, S., Schaphoff, S., Thonicke, K., Tobian, A., Virkki, V., Wang-Erlandsson, L., Weber, L., and Rockström, J. (2023) ‘Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries’, Science advances, 37, p. 0-16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458 (Accessed: 14.11.2025) 

Shevchenko, T., Saidani, M., Ranjbari, M., Kronenberg, J., Danko, Y. and Laitala, K. (2023) ‘Consumer behavior in the circular economy: Developing a product-centric framework’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 384, 135568. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135568 

Visser, W., Matten, D., Pohl, M., and Tolhurst, N. (2010) The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility. Available at: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+A+to+Z+of+Corporate+Social+Responsibility%2C+2nd%2C+Revised+and+Updated+Edition-p-9780470686508#evaluation-copy-section (Accessed: 14.11.2025)