Many fashion brands have established brand pages or accounts in social media platforms as a vehicle to promoting brand and managing customer relationship. Customers’ interaction in social media with other customers and brand page maintainers could attract their attention of the brand and inform their purchase decision. Despite the significance of the interaction in social media, there has limited attention on the social media using experience specified in fashion brand area. Drawing on theories and concepts from diverse areas including social media marketing, consumer psychology, and fashion brand management, this study propose four dimensional of social media using experience to understand how the experience with fashion brand page could enhance customers’ fashion consciousness and status consumption behavior. Data collected from customers who following main fashion brand pages in Instagram and used to test the hypotheses. Implications for research on social media marketing of fashion brand are discussed.

While the aesthetic alteration of the body has long been practiced in global cultures, from feet binding in China to scarring and piercing in Africa to face tattooing in New Zealand (Vlahos 1979), only lately has the idea of selective aesthetic alteration through cosmetic surgery materialized, supported by sturdy mainstream demand. Operating in a growing and competitive market, plastic surgery has redefined itself, and its original narrow mission of “fixing” deformed bodies and enhancing the features of celebrities has widened to include supporting the physical beauty of “normal” bodies. Surgeons, in turn, have redefined their individual identities to include the category “artist” as well as “scientist.” Some of them tend to treat the body as “a canvas” to be manipulated into a form artistically conceived by a surgeon; others approach the body as a form already created by nature, yet in need of being scientifically rebuilt, reshaped or returned to an improved and youthful condition. Patients, arguably, favor the “surgeon as an artist” premise and even expect medical offices to resemble fine art galleries: “Our patients want us to be artists” (Swanson 2013, p.182). It is this statement that has guided the author’s research in the direction of examining the artistic aspect of cosmetic surgeons’ identity. If cosmetic surgeons are artists who use human bodies as their medium, then they create living art that “can be seen walking among us in the form of revamped faces and figures.” (Cotter 2009). As such, these transformed bodies should be manifesting fashion trends in their newly reshaped body parts. Following this assumption, this work aims to conceptualize plastic surgeons’ role as agents of fashion, whose creative results “are judged, admired or criticized by observers.” (Bryan 2005, p. 6). How surgeons understand their function as “agents of fashion” is the guiding research question. In the search for answers, the author turns to the channels of marketing communication employed by cosmetic surgeons and examines their online presence on social media platforms. This work focuses on social media with the purpose of analyzing the digital identities of the plastic surgeons and the extent of their artistic side.

Introduction In the contemporary business environment, fashion companies ought to cope with fundamental changes marketing communication has conventionally been performed. In response to shifting socio-demographic, environmental and market-related conditions, gradually new forms of fashion promotion have evolved (Fill, 2006). Nowadays, the global fashion industry experiences a reduced dependence on mass media advertising and an enlarged reliance on dialogic, relationship-oriented and digitally grounded communication methods (Chitty, Barker, Valos & Shimp, 2012). Against this backdrop, it is irrefutable that social media technologies have been remarkably transforming the ways in which modern-day fashion communication is practiced (Brennan & Schafer, 2010; Funk et al., 2016; Dillon, 2012; Saarinen, Tinnilä & Tseng, 2006). The competitive and widely saturated apparel market is facing an era of intensive proliferation of brands, an epoche of awe bombardment of advertisements, which makes a well-though-out communicational strategy ever more imperative, particularly in a cross-cultural context (Dillon, 2012). Yet, studies that analyze the importance of social media in relation to traditional means of fashion communication are scarce. Even though, empirical introductions start being made to this explicit issue, considerable research deficiency subsists in the realm of cross-cultural fashion communication and social media optimization. Therefore, the rationale of this paper at hand is to contribute to balance out this research gap by providing evidence from four countries.

E-commerce is a global phenomenon that reshapes retailing and the appropriate multinational corporations. The goal of this study is to get a better understanding of the relationship between online customer reviews (OCRs), sales and sales after returns in the cross-national and cross-cultural context. We discuss our hypotheses by empirically analyzing a large and unique data set from a European fashion e-commerce company. This study links a wide range of transaction data (0.8 billion page clicks, 17 thousand different products, 499 brands, 50 product categories, 22 million sold and 11 million returned items) from six different countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland) with a large set of OCRs (0.7 million). Our results show that positive OCRs can lead to higher sales and sales after returns with considerable cross-country differences. We argue that differences in culture provide a substantial explanation for these effects by using Hofstede's cultural framework.

The main objective of this study is to compare the difference of consumers’ perception on brand context. The focal factors are brand equity, brand personality and perceived customer value. This would enhance the knowledge of cross-cultural brand equity and brand personality, especially in Fast-Fashion industry. In addition, the findings of this study show that, for a brand in different marketing context, how customers perceive the brand and contribute it to their value. The sample size of 800 consumers is applied (400 Japanese consumers and 400 Thai consumers. The focal brand is randomly selected by the researcher. The Structural Equation Modelling with multiple group analysis would be conducted for examining the differences of consumer perception on a Fast-Fashion brand. All major model fits indicator would be evaluated. Finally, the results of the study would be discussed.

Fast fashion refers to a strategy to respond to the latest fashion trends by short production and distribution lead times, limited supplies and rapid inventory turnover rates. Whilst research on fast fashion mostly investigates producers’ side, e.g. supply chain, scholarship exploring consumers’ side of fast fashion remains limited. In addition, research on fast fashion consumption tends to neglect similarities and differences of consumers (e.g. needs, wants, desires, and demographic characteristics) in different parts of the world, particularly developed and developing economies. The aim of this study is threefold: Firstly, by focusing on the emergent Turkish market and the established Finnish market, it analyses and compares fast fashion consumption of Turkish and Finnish consumers. Secondly, through qualitative and quantitative studies, it reveals the components of fast fashion consumption, which include appearance management, repeat visiting behavior, product use duration, interaction with social media, impulse buying, willingness to pay full price, hedonic consumption, and fashion involvement, and develops a scale for measuring fast fashion consumption. Thirdly, it evaluates the impact of each component and examines the influence of demographic variables on fast fashion consumption. The findings demonstrate both personal and national differences in the components of fast fashion and point to a need for an in-depth, cross-cultural study on ethical and environmental issues related to fast fashion consumption.

Price has always had a key role in the luxury fashion market, because high prices are linked to the prestige of luxury products. Because of this, scholars have neglected the possible existence of unintuitive and controversial pricing strategies followed by luxury firms. This article deals with this literature gap, analysing the odd even price strategy. With the direct observation of physical and digital store windows of 20 luxury brands, this research examines the relationship between odd even price strategy and the luxury level of fashion brands considering both offline and online channels

City-branding is usually a topic that practitioners, official bodies and academic researchers have approached from the marketing perspective, i.e. the deliberate strategy set to better “sell” a city-location to various stakeholders, from tourists to investors. The idea is to shape the city image which, as any location image, is a multidimensional phenomenon involving cognition and emotions. It has been defined as the aggregate of impressions, expectations and thoughts related to a definite place (Kotler et al., 1999; Ulaga et al. 2002). However, some scholars have found that places are “like a blank canvas upon which a series of representation are layered producing a place that is uniquely identifiable” (Staiff, 2014). Such representations include poetry, painting, film, travel writing, postcards, novels, maps, guide books and advertising. They build some imaginary of the place with physical buildings as metonymic characteristics of it, producing in the end some hyperreal meaning of the city, an iconic one (Ellul, 1988; Staiff, 2014). Therefore, studying the successive ways of staging a city in advertising, one should be able to identify the iconic elements of the city, the overall city-image implicitly built (and congruent categories of products) and in the end the culturally-built current visual imagery of the city, i.e. the one being currently promoted by city-branding marketing strategies. Particularly, fashion advertising is, as a creative industry (Howkins, 2002), part of some cultural-expression and cultural-building processes. Regular reuse of a setting would simultaneously shape the imaginary of this setting, while borrowing some of its features and facets. The setting would thus become quite quickly an iconic representation of itself (Greimas, 1966), ultimately becoming hyperreal. We use Venezia as the field of study. Our objective is to show the hyperreal nature of the current city-image, with the disappearance of distinctions between signified and sign (Baudrillard, 1994), thanks to the successive reproduction of preceding reproductions of reality in fashion ads using Venezia as a setting. To do so, we use semiotics, building some analytic grid. Particularly, we study: the general impression/feelings when observing the ad; denotation; iconic semiotic analysis including gestalt elements; lexicographic analysis of the text present on the ad; enunciation and emitter’s position; whether the ad is opaque or transparent; the connotations that derive from all previous; and the ultimate classification of the ad depending on its ideology (Floch, 1990). The final results will be ready by the time of the conference. Some interesting trends already emerge, for instance the regular empowering nature of the city for human beings represented in the ad, or the transparent nature of the ad. Besides from providing interesting conclusion on Venezia and on fashion advertising systematically using some setting, we believe the added value of the research is also in the methodological approach that could be used by official entities to understand how their city is iconically represented and craft consistent city-branding strategies, esp. when the city has some historical linkage with fashion and luxury history. Similarly, fashion marketers and advertisers would benefit from knowing about the processes behind systematic reuse of a setting with insights for all fashion-related or luxury-related cities (Paris, Milan, Florence, New York, etc.).

According to this tendency, Japanese fashion consumption was characterized as conventional and normative. From a historical point of view, the norms on which the Japanese based their fashion choices were mainly imported from American and European countries or the fashions of movie stars and fashion magazines. However, lifestyles and fashion consumption in Japan has increasingly become diversified and personality-driven, leading Japanese consumers to enjoy fashion based on their individual lifestyles. This has resulted in individuals considering various clothing norms and keeping away from fashion magazines depicting the latest fashion trends in Japan. This currently poses a serious threat to the fashion business, as magazines are the main marketing tools in this industry. Therefore, in addition to a rise in Internet media and decreasing incomes, the sales of many fashion magazines, with the exception of a few, continue to drop. However, some magazines have managed to increase their sales circulation slightly. Through interviews with directors of fashion magazines, I found that the key to increasing sales is focusing on non-celebrity endorsers. Existing studies (mainly advertising studies) declined that celebrity endorsers (e.g., actors, models, and spokespersons) lead to consumption (e.g., Atkin & Block, 1983; Baker & Churechill, 1977; Callcott & Phillips, 1996; Debevec & Kernan, 1984; Friedman & Friedman, 1979, Kahle & Homer, 1985; Langmetyer & Walker, 1991; McCracken, 1989; Pornpitakapan, 2003). This study observes the importance of non-celebrity effects on fashion consumption. I conducted internet research on the declining relationship between fashion consumption and non-celebrity effects. In addition, I compared celebrity and non-celebrity effects for readers of fashion magazines (n=613). As a result of ANOVA (comparing readers committing to foreign celebrity, foreign non-celebrity, national celebrity, and national non-celebrity), significant differences were confirmed in all items of consumer’s evaluation of endorsers

State of the Art: Sustainability Integration in the Luxury Fashion Industry Introduction to Luxury Fashion ‘Luxury’, which comes from the Latin word ‘luxus’, refers to exaggerated life, glamour, comfort and wealth (Dubois, Czellar & Laurent, 2005). In the ancient world, luxury was associated with wealth, exclusivity, and power. After the 17th century, European countries’ economic democratization contributed to the reduction of existing sumptuary laws. Trade increased and larger segments of the population began to afford luxury products. Consequently, luxury moved from being limited to serve the common good to being a satisfaction of private needs. At the end of the 19th century, following the second industrial revolution, luxury earned its modern meaning of being enjoyable beyond the necessities of life (Fionda and Moore, 2009). The democratization of luxury resulted in mass luxury in which luxury brands have extended themselves to affordable offerings (Cristini et al., 2017). Luxury was long associated with the premium quality (Brun and Castelli, 2013), whereas today the technical reproduction of luxury is indulged by mass-produced brands (Cristini et al, 2017). Thus, one could argue that commercial drivers have taken over the industry whereby executives are increasingly seeking ways to transform creativity into profitability. Accordingly, the luxury market has experienced noticeable growth. The global luxury goods market reached a value of € 1.081B, with a growth rate of 4%, in 2016 (Bain & Company, 2016). Nevertheless, despite growth and high profit margins, the global fashion market is affected by macroeconomic, socio-political and natural events. For example, the short-term doubling in cotton prices brought many problems in 2011. Furthermore, scarce natural resources and rising commodity prices greatly challenge the ability of luxury fashion companies to remain profitable. The new luxury paradigm of being more accessible challenges not only sustainability but also operational aspects. The reputation of the luxury industry suffers from consumer concerns over poor labour standards in production, blood diamonds, irresponsible gold-mining practices and animal cruelty in global production networks (Hennigs et al, 2013; Moore, 2011). We therefore question how and to what extent luxury could play a positive role in our mass-consuming generation to slow down the pace for materialism and to better implement sustainability in globally dispersed production networks. Whilst sociologists, marketing and branding experts, have shown interest in luxury management, researchers in the field of operations and supply chain management have paid little attention to the topic: the first paper in the field appeared less than a decade ago (Brun et al., 2008), and furthermore, as of January 2017, there appear to be only 87 papers published in Scopus-indexed journals with ‘‘supply chain OR oper*’’ AND ‘’luxury’’ in the keywords. Henceforth, the current financial, environmental, economic and cultural crises could be considered significant drivers for how luxury operations could be advanced in the move toward sustainability. The focus of this paper is luxury personal goods such as fashion and accessories. The Relevance of Sustainability for Luxury Fashion Following the supply chain revolution of the 1990’s (Mohanty and Prakash, 2013) and the removal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement in 2005, the fashion industry has become a global force in production and distribution. Globalisation has led to increasing outsourcing of production by fashion companies to a network of suppliers and subcontractors. The industry is characterized by shorter product life cycles and highly volatile market demand (Choi, 2013) alongside downward price pressure, international sourcing, high product variety and low predictability (Perry and Towers, 2013). To this end, fashion companies rely on sophisticated information and logistics systems to remain competitive in the market. Nonetheless, the fashion industry is somewhat inflexible toward major external changes outside the organizations’ direct control (Kozlowski et al., 2015). There is also a potential conflict between corporate responsibility and overarching commercial pressures in the fashion industry (Perry et al., 2015). According to the definition of sustainable development by The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987), current needs should be met without endangering future generations’ rights to satisfy theirs. Luxury fashion companies must therefore acknowledging resource scarcity and other sustainability issues, and take collective actions for an authentic shift to create unique and sustainable businesses. To be profitable and sustainable, “luxury companies must adjust their definition of excellence that is no longer associated with shallow glamour but with positive engagement and deeper values” (Hennigs et al, 2013, p.33). An Overview of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) Sustainability in SCM has captured academics’ interest since the early 1990s. Despite the growing interest, some fundamental issues still need to be addressed to provide novel models. The majority of the practices that make up green supply chain management (GSCM) models are modifications of existing practices (Pagell and Wu, 2009). However, earlier studies also stress that these programs might not be sufficient to become sustainable. Hence, it would be insightful to examine which components and which practices are required to make ‘sustainable’ chains. Social sustainability also requires deeper consideration. Wu and Pagell (2011) investigated how organizations deal with short-term pressures to remain economically viable during sustainability implementation, but did not consider social aspects of sustainability. Lee and Klassen (2008) identified the important drivers and enablers which promote environmental management capabilities in SME suppliers, but did not address social sustainability or specific measures for suppliers’ environmental management capabilities. Zhu and Cote (2004) and Vachon and Klassen (2006) demonstrated how to extend green practices, but again social aspects were not encompassed. Similarly, Caniato et al (2012) identified drivers that push companies to adopt green practices, various practices that could be used to advance environmental sustainability and environmental performance indicators measured by fashion companies. However, the social component was excluded. The recognition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a business activity is highlighted by the launch of ISO 26000; nonetheless, as illustrated earlier, extant SCM literature has mostly neglected the social aspects of sustainability. Despite a number of studies on aspects including social responsibility and consumer trust (Castaldo et al., 2008), sustainability reporting (Lozano and Huisingh, 2011), sustainable supply management (Ageron, Gunasekaran, & Spalanzani, 2012), and supplier selection problems (Jia et al., 2015), social issues demand more investigation (Perry and Towers, 2013). Sustaining an efficient global supply chain without compromising social responsibility (Perry et al., 2015). Embedding social and environmental management into SCM is needed yet challenging. Significant progress has been made in studies of the buyer-supplier relationship over the past decades, however despite some notable exceptions on green SCM (Zhu and Cote 2004; Zhu et al. 2008; Yu et al. 2014), the development of SSCM literature appears to focus on a single entity rather than the entire chain or network. Social and environmental performance of suppliers is an area of mounting concern, and collectively, sufficient coordination between supply chain partners is greatly needed. Many small and medium-sized suppliers encounter challenges in responding to environmental pressures due to limited capabilities and available resources (Lee and Klassen, 2008), and the most critical environmental and social issues in supply chains are generated by suppliers located in the second tier or further upstream (Tachizawa and Wong, 2014). Therefore, a holistic examination of the entire chain is required. In this vein, Pagell and Wu (2009) examined the chain as an entirety by explicitly addressing both environmental and social outcomes and by asking what unique behavioural patterns are needed for SSCM. However, the adoption of some of the practices is quite limited, which suggests the existence of additional contingencies. Their study called for future studies to explore the role of specific industries e.g. textiles. To this end, Ho and Choi (2012) investigated why fashion companies go green and evaluated sustainable supply chains. Nevertheless, the study was a single case study and did not consider potential differences in terms of antecedents affecting small and large companies. Curwen et al. (2013), interestingly, sought to document current challenges the fashion and apparel industry faces while developing sustainable apparel. Yet again, an imperative need arises to further explore the connections among product design, production processes and supply chain stages through a multidisciplinary approach. On the whole, the phenomena of sustainability has been interpreted in a variety of ways, ranging from a philosophical perspective to business management approaches (Ahi and Searcy, 2013), but more research is needed to show more than how to be ‘less unsustainable’. Traditional business research must go beyond studies focusing on profit with a rather short-term orientation and instead embrace components of how to create truly sustainable businesses. Considering the aforementioned gaps observed in the extant literature, the following research questions were formulated to investigate the phenomena of social and environmental sustainability at supply chain level within the luxury context, where ethical aspects are becoming increasingly critical for success (Brun and Castelli, 2013). RQ1: How do luxury fashion companies integrate sustainability into their supply networks? RQ2: How do contingent factors impact sustainability integration in luxury fashion supply networks? RQ3: Which behavioural patterns could be used to develop a sustainable supply chain configuration for the luxury fashion industry? Research Methodology Data was drawn from case studies of two Italian supply chains producing luxury silk and leather goods, encompassing 10 companies, with a focus on the individual supply chain as the level of analysis. These two supply chain were theoretically sampled to provide diversity in organizational characteristics and supply network relationships that could explain different approaches to the integration of sustainability into the entire chain. The research design followed Yin (1994) and previous studies in operations and SCM. Face to face interviews were conducted with senior managers of different functions in each supply chain during 2015-16. In most of the companies, responsibility for sustainability was divided and integrated into the jobs of multiple managers, meaning that there was no single individual assigned to sustainability. Additionally, the managers interviewed were often in charge of one or more functions, which helped reduce the number of interviews but increased interview content. The interview topic guide was developed from the literature review, and the theoretical constructs underpinning the interview protocol were then used to create an initial coding scheme for data. Data analysis was done inductively, by developing a framework from the cases while exploiting the theoretical concepts in the categorization of codes. The coding process was followed for all cases as an iterative process to assure consistency. Coding was not considered complete until a consensus was reached on each construct. Data analysis involved within and cross-case analysis. Results: Toward a Framework for Sustainable Luxury Supply Chains This study explored the luxury fashion industry from supply chain and operations management standpoint. Findings revealed seven key categories by which luxury fashion companies integrated environmental and social sustainability into their operations: Category 1: Sustainable product design, Category 2: Operations management, Category 3: Performance measurement, Category 4: Sourcing management, Category 5: Decent work and labour management, Category 6: Commitment to sustainability and organisational perceptions and Category 7: Longevity of suppliers. Firstly, natural resource scarcity was acknowledged by all 10 companies. To this end, some practices, including use of eco-friendly materials, hazardous chemical elimination, textile waste reuse, were applied to the fashion design stage with an attempt to mitigate the environmental impact of subsequent operations. Life cycle assessment (LCA was observed to be a significant tool among sample companies. Nonetheless, higher investment costs to employ more innovative solutions and to advance laboratory tests, higher prices for more ecological materials, and lack of knowledge in terms of fibre and textile components due to supply chain complexity prevented companies from advancing product stewardship. Regarding operations management, water emerged as a significant area where sample companies implemented incremental techniques, including natural tanning, on-site wastewater treatment, water purification and water reuse. Nevertheless, vertical integration, which was getting weaker in the luxury fashion industry, resulted in fashion companies having difficulties in the execution of their suppliers’ environmental performance. Practices implemented in this category were individual company attempts rather than collective action plans. It was not quite feasible to mitigate the environmental impact of independent networks where the buying firm outsourced its business functions to third party suppliers. In order to deal with lack of control and monitoring, sustainability must be understood as a concept to be integrated into the core business strategy with measurable indicators. Furthermore, traceability emerged as a pivotal topic. However, the complexity of global luxury fashion supply chains brought complications. Both supply chains showed that there was lack of knowledge about products’ production history. Due to globalization, countries with low operational costs appeared to leverage their competitive advantage. Changing market conditions resulted in the loss of, for example, silk production in Italy. Silkworm cultivation did not take place in Italy any longer, resulting in confusion regarding outsourced materials’ environmental and social records. High product variety and fragmentation of the production network made it difficult for companies to ensure full traceability. To this end, trust and knowledge transfer were weak, which could be improved to link non-economic goals with financial objectives. Another interesting result was that supplier audits were mostly made within first tier direct suppliers’ facilities. In some cases suppliers were provided with online self-assessment tools that were monitored by buying firms. Yet, buying firms and manufacturers required more efficient inspection methods and more realistic mitigation strategies. Ensuring social sustainability is hindered by complications such as lack of visibility and financial burdens. Consequently, technical and motivational dynamic capability development needed to be proactively initiated by focal companies. As stressed by earlier studies, sustainability must be a shared effort within all functions of a company and across its supply network. Sustainability could be disseminated across the chain only when all supply chain actors, including retailers, suppliers and sub-contractors, connect, understand and collaborate with each other. Correspondingly, it became clear that sustainability management required strong organizational commitment for which an alignment between financial and non-financial goals was greatly required. Hence, education and training activities received growing attention. In conclusion, the sample companies asked their supply chain partners to become sustainable for two main reasons, (i) to make the chain stronger, and (ii) to jointly learn and improve performance. Long-term relationships and supplier stability, as evidenced in the leather supply chains, could cultivate trust, which would result in advanced organizational and operational performance improvements. Supplier engagement and collaboration associated with knowledge dissemination could further enable companies to improve sustainability, and lastly innovation capabilities were imperative.

This study focuses on exploring how to close attitude-behavior gap of consumers with regards to both recycled and upcycled fashion products. Specifically, this study is to explain the purchase gap between purchase intention and purchase experience of these sustainable products. Although many consumers had positive attitudes toward sustainable products, they often ended up not purchasing them. Factors including perceived values, risks, environmental concern, perceived consumer effectiveness, subjective norms, and demographic variables were examined to understand the discrepancy. The results indicate that antecedents of purchase intention were different from those of purchase experience and that influencing factors for recycled products were different from those for upcycled products. This study provides insights into understanding consumers and developing effective strategies to encourage desirable behaviors.

The present research examines how a CEO exposed to the public through social media (e.g., Facebook) influences the trustworthiness of the CEO and his/her firm. In particular, we focus on and measure the consistency of a CEO’s fashion style across different occasions, and test the impact of the ‘fashion’ consistency on respondents’ perception on the CEO’s trustworthiness. Based on the previous literature on impression management, we define the consistency of a CEO’s fashion style as how similar (rather than different) the style of his/her clothes across multiple media exposures. We then manipulate the similarity of a CEO’s fashion style, which is the focal independent variable, and measure the subjects’ trust toward the CEO, which is the focal dependent variable. Study 1 is a scenario-based study in which participants read the description of either a fashion-consistent or -inconsistent CEO, and indicated the CEO’s perceived trustworthiness. We find that perceived trust is higher for the fashion-consistent CEO. Study 2 is an experiment in which participants read four news articles of a CEO featured on a social media (i.e., Facebook). Unbeknown to participants, fashion consistency was manipulated such that half of participants saw the news on a fashion-consistent CEO whereas the other half saw the news on a fashion-inconsistent CEO. Interestingly, the interaction between CEO gender and fashion consistency becomes significant, suggesting that for a male CEO, fashion consistency increased trust whereas for a female CEO, fashion inconsistency increased trust. The present research complements to the literature on the roles of fashion of employees including top managers on impression management. We also discuss other interesting and important implications of the results on the mechanism of the ‘fashion consistency’ effects.

By adopting transactional social commerce functions from mobile apps, individuals can sell products and services directly to friends on their contact list. This drives micro entrepreneurs with fewer than ten employees and less than a €2million annual balance (European Union Law, 2013) to become key drivers for economic growth (Paoloni & Dumay, 2011). In particular, individuals aged 18-34 become inspired by images on social networks for clothing and fashion products. Hence, fashion products are popular business items for micro-entrepreneurs. Despite potential benefits for social commerce, micro-fashion entrepreneurs in many countries are still unaware of apps’ use in social commerce to sell products, and to create and manage social capital for their business. This exploratory research aimed to investigate how micro-fashion entrepreneurs adopt transactional-focused social commerce and utilize social capital embedded in network ties for their marketing and sales, based on innovation diffusion and social capital theory. Research questions included: (1) How do micro-fashion entrepreneurs adopt social commerce? (2) How does social capital in network ties contribute to marketing and sales in social commerce? To answer these research questions, qualitative data from phone interviews with 16 micro-fashion entrepreneurs selling fashion products through WeChat in China were analyzed, adopting a thematic analysis. Data indicated micro-fashion entrepreneurs have positive attitudes, based on their experience and knowledge of WeChat. They adopt social commerce to (1) sell products in a new way, (2) connect with customers, and (3) reduce financial risk, while an innovative channel for entrepreneurship. Also, operating a business through WeChat required less time commitment compared with brick and mortar, and online stores, because accessing services like WeChat have payment systems, share images and messages. Free calls and messages are already available. The interview data demonstrated micro-entrepreneurs have an advantage when adopting social network ties in WeChat and implementing social capital embedded in marketing sales networks. Structural, relational, and cognitive capital contribute to micro-entrepreneurs’ marketing and sales interactively. An individual could access target customers, based on networks already established social media platforms and facilitate entrepreneurs’ adoption of social commerce. Also, since trust, shared goals, and languages exist on these network ties, there exists an increase for entrepreneurs’ accessibility to use social commerce to initiate their business, while decreasing business operating expenses, promoting products, and building relationships with customers. In addition, relational capital built by interactions with each customer brings cognitive capital to promote products and strong network ties.

Introduction “The success of a 21st century business will be defined as much by who it is as what it does.” (Keller and Richey 2016, p. 47) Traditionally, branding has been a staple interest among fashion marketing research, although this has been mostly looked from the perspective of business-to-consumer markets. However recently, in the general marketing literature, there has been a growing interest towards understanding also the business-to-business aspect of branding (see Seyedghorban, Matanda, and LaPlaca 2016 for bibliometric review). By and large, this perspective of branding is also significant in fashion business as industrial customers have a double role as consumers and fashion professionals, as their decision-making process leans on both rational judgement and intuition. Recently, increased product and service homogeneity and digitalisation have been factors that have led to the emergence of a growing body of literature in business-to-business branding (see Leek and Christodoulides 2011a for review). This shift can be observed during trade shows, which are losing their significance in terms of sales, and, in turn, becoming more important for building relationships with customers and partners (Sarmento, Farhangmehr, and Simoes 2015) as well as cultivating the brand image of exhibitors (Hansen 2004). In particular, in fashion, trade shows are an example of activities that are inarguably geared towards building brand value among buyers and other actors in the market. By and large, previous work in marketing during fashion trade shows has been limited to few studies on trade show experience (Rinallo, Borghini, and Golfetto 2010), knowledge processes (Cheng, Koivisto, and Mattila 2013), market making (Rinallo and Golfetto 2006), semiotics of communication (2003), and their influence on fashion consumers (Aiello et al. 2016). However, while the importance of branding in fashion industry has been widely recognised, there is no studies on branding in business-to-business context in fashion. This forms an interesting research gap to observe branding in the context of international fashion trade shows. In this vein, the purpose of this article is to provide a new perspective to trade shows. The key research questions we hope to respond are: How does corporate branding occur in fashion trade shows? and What are the characteristics of branding in trade shows? To answer these research questions, 18 fashion start-up companies that have attended trade shows have been interviewed. Previous studies have shown how B2B brands should communicate the value of their brands to a range of stakeholders if they are to leverage their full potential (e.g. Mudambi 2002, Baumgarth 2010, Ohnemus 2009). In this light, recognizing and understanding the significance of business-to-business branding in the fashion industry is important, as it enables brands to engender trust and develop both cognitive and affective ties with stakeholders (Lynch and de Chernatony, 2004). Business-to-business branding Brand is defined as “a name, sign, symbol or logo that identifies the goods and services of one seller and differentiates them from others” (Webster and Keller 2004: 389). Moreover, brand implies ”a cluster of functional and emotional benefits that extend a unique and welcomed promise (de Chernatony and McDonald, 2003)” of the offering. Traditionally, branding literature has overlooked the significance of branding in business to business markets (Saunders & Watt, 1979, Sinclair and Seward 1988) due to the belief that industrial buyers are unaffected by emotional values corresponding to brands (Leek and Christodoulides, 2011b). However, recently the influence of branding has also been acknowledged in the more formalised B2B decision making processes (Lynch & de Chernatony, 2004) where branding increases buyers’ confidence in and satisfaction with their purchase decision (Low and Blois, 2002) and reduces their level of perceived risk and uncertainty (Bengtsson and Servais, 2005). Webster and Keller (2004) suggest that in business-to-business, it is advisable to use corporate branding strategy. Corporate branding takes a holistic perspective to branding as its focus is on managing the reputation of the whole company over individual product lines in order to add value to its offering (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). Moreover, house branding has been common practice in luxury fashion, where it has been used to build customer loyalty and boost corporate reputation (Chevalier and Mazzalovo 2008). As branding practice, corporate branding is applicable to business-to-business branding as it emphasises the role of employees in the branding process and maintaining the brand reputation over time (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). In this view, brand management involves managing the gap between corporate identity and reputation (de Chernatony 1999) to provide firm with sustainable competitive advantage and increased customer loyalty (Hatch and Schultz 2003). First, corporate identity is “organization's presentation of itself to its various stakeholders and the means by which it distinguishes itself from all other organizations” (Markwick and Fill 1997: 397). In the business to business context, the dimensions of brand identity include employee and client focus, visual identity, brand personality, consistent communications and human resource initiatives (Coleman et al. 2011). Moreover, key areas of corporate branding include brand vision and culture, positioning, personality, relationships, and presentation (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001). Brand equity refers to “buyers’ willingness to pay a price premium for their favourite brand [and] to recommend that brand to peers and give special consideration to another product with the same name” (Bendixen, Bukasa and Abratt 2004). Moreover, this consists of brand awareness, brand performance, brand preference, and long-lasting relationships (Keller 1993). In particular, the importance of relationships is considered the cornerstone of the brand in the industrial marketing literature (Campbell et al. 2010) due to the interpersonal nature of the market (Bengtsson and Servais, 2005). Moreover, it has been shown that customer experience has a positive effect on the four dimensions of brand equity in business-to-business setting (Biedenbach and Marell 2010). Branding in trade shows Business to business branding is an important concept to understand the role of trade shows in marketing. Trade shows have been defined as “short-term events, typically less than a week in duration that take place on a regularly scheduled basis. Trade shows enable various members of a certain market or industry to meet face- to-face and share ideas, new product innovations, technical updates, industry information, connect with customers and prospects, as well as, in some cases, consummate sales.” (Bettis-Outland et al. 2012, p. 385). For many fashion start-ups these are excellent ways of developing relationships with customers and partners (Sarmento et al. 2015), as well as to enhance their brand image (Hansen 2004), and collaborate with a variety of stakeholders (Cheng et al. 2013). Traditionally, trade shows have been instrumental in consummating sales (Kerin and Cron, 1987), but recently the role has been mostly shifting towards building relationships as well as to build product awareness and image (Pitta, Weisgal, and Lynagh, 2006). This holds true as casual contact with current customers, manufacturers and buyers can easily be made at one location in a relatively short time (Han and Verma, 2014). Moreover, trade shows and meetings with sales representatives greatly affect the earlier parts decision making process of buyers (Blombäck and Axelsson, 2007). This suggests that trade shows could well fulfil the purpose of forming new relationships with the long-term goals of selling. What is more, another non-buying objective for attending trade shows is promoting corporate image (Kerin and Cron, 1987). The facet of corporate visual identity, as part of B2B brand identity, refers to symbolism, symbols or logo and even more to physical cues such as clothes employees wear and their premises (Coleman et al., 2011). Methodology and data As the study was explorative in nature, qualitative research method was chosen (Silverman, 2006). The data collection consisted of two phases; primary data were acquired through semi-structured interviews, complemented by observational data acquired by means of an ethnographic observation at major trade events (Geertz, 1973). 15 Finnish fashion trade show exhibitors and 3 professional buyers were interviewed for the study. All of the respondents from exhibiting companies were responsible for sales and marketing activities, and took part in the trade shows in person. Moreover, for observation, the team attended four major fashion trade shows during September 2012 and January 2013: Premier Classe Who’s Next and Capsule in Paris, Gallery int. Fashion Fair CPH in Copenhagen, and Capsule in New York. As the study is explorative by nature, data-driven approach of grounded theory (Strauss and Corbin 1990) was applied in the analysis of the interview data. Here, the data collected thorough interviews and observations is analysed by utilizing a systematic set of procedures to develop an inductively derived grounded theory about a phenomenon (ibid.). Findings – branding elements in fashion trade show The research investigates business-to-business branding occurring at fashion trade shows and its perceived benefits. To better understand this, findings will be presented in three sections: (1) Main elements of branding at trade shows; (2) characteristics of business-to-business branding in trade shows. (1) Main elements of branding at trade shows From the data, elements of trade show branding include people, brand presentation, and brand story. In the following, these are briefly illustrated. Brand story. Brand image is conveyed through the brand story that is the essence of the brand and it differentiates the brand from the competitors: “The clients are looking at what you do, listening to story, because the story is the key right now. If you don’t have a story, they will go for some other cheap stuff.” This story ties together all the elements of a brand. During the trade show, the story of the brand is conveyed to the attendees through a variety of tangible brand elements such as people, products, stand decorations, and marketing communications. People. The people have a crucial role as mannequins for the brand. The first impression of the stand, which is mostly about the people occupying it, determines if there will be any further interaction as well as sets the tone for it. For this reason, give out the right image: “We receive a lot of feedback that we look and feel like the brand. It’s very important that the sales people can channel the brand into this kind of environment” explains the head of a shoe brand. Moreover, their behaviour has a crucial role in communicating the brand essence and for this reason it is important to maintain the right type of energy at all times: “If you stay sitting and do like that (plants head into hands) in terms of branding is a killer. You won’t give the right image. If you are standing up especially on the heel, that will give out the right attitude.”. What is more, the presence of the designer is an important part in this communication, too, as is described by one buyer: “The presence of the designer matters. It brings depth and meaning into the presentation. And it also shows that they have their feet on the ground, that they are willing to work. hard. In fashion, there is all this hype and glamour, even though it's a trade among others. I give extra points if the designer is there.” Finally, it is important to have the right people on duty to enable the right type of interaction. For instance, to build relationships with all stakeholders including customers in the recurring events: “It’s a big reason that we meet the customers half yearly and it’s really fun seeing, really genuinely, it’s super nice seeing people because most of them are so nice people”. Indeed, this ludic element and experiencing things together enables deeper, and more trusting relation, which in turn facilitates further collaboration between parties. Brand presentation. At the stand, the buyers and other stakeholders get to experience the brand in its all splendour. It is very important to set up the stand in such manner that it lures in customers and provides an extraordinary experience. For instance, one of the exhibitors we interviewed went over the top with their display: “We’ve used a bus where we can make a showroom at the back. That’s been useful in Berlin alongside the trade shows, directing people from the trade show to the bus with bar and drinks as a kind of lounge and extra that we are remembered for.” Indeed, one interviewee even went as far as claiming that a generic product set up in a gorgeous stand would attract more customers than a perfect product on a dull stand. In this vein, a lot of attention is given to the stand as it needs to be aligned with the overall brand image: “Because our look it pretty rough and manly, we’ve used a lot of wood and metal on the racks when building the stand. Materials are chosen so that they ooze our brand and we never order basic stuff. Last time, we used wood on walls and built a bar with raw metal on the floor. The look has to match and communicate the brand.” Another important element are the products that are on display. From an exhibitor perspective, it is important to choose the right products that communicate the key attributes of a brand to the buyers. Moreover, even though the buyers are not buying for their own needs, it is important to have the possibility to feel the quality and fit at the spot. This is further explained by one of the interviewed buyers “It’s of course an advantage getting to try on the product and when you get to put the hat on, you get the wow effect of how well it fits. It’s easier to sell the product this way when someone gets to try it on compared to just buying it online.” (2) Characteristics of business-to-business branding in trade shows For new brands in particular, trade shows are important places to get noticed. As many of our interviewees note, trade shows are no longer places where orders are written. Instead, buyers go there to get inspired and to spot new brands: “As a new label, it is very recommended you go to trade shows because there is no way you can get, if no one knows about you, visibility or even the contacts.” In this vein, one of the key branding functions of trade shows is building awareness for the brand. Subsequently, to position the brand, showing up in the right company is important. The decision on which trade shows to attend is of paramount importance: “It is important for the brand that you consistently go to the same trade shows that position you correctly, that you are there with brands that are on the same level as you are or in the higher scale and you are not there with brands that should not be associated with your brand.” Finally, to convince the buyers and to build relationships with all stakeholders, continuity is important: “Big customers don’t ever order when they see you the first time, they want to see continuum at least 3 times so you’ve built your presence, then they look at you more seriously because you don’t seem like a one-season case who might just disappear.” This consistency means making long-term commitments to both the trade shows attended as well as the branding activities. Corporate branding in fashion tradeshows is parallel to Keller’s customer based brand equity model (1993), where branding follows a four step process. First, brand identity entails raising the salience of a brand among stakeholders and creating association with products. Being visible at trade shows attaches brand to a certain product category and creates awareness among stakeholders. Second, brand meaning involves linking a variety of tangible and intangible associations to the brand in the customer’s mind. This involves telling the story of a brand and providing the opportunity to touch and try the products. Third, brand response conveys brand judgments and brand feeling, of which the former is more relevant in an organizational context (Kuhn and Alpert 2004). Here, the interaction with people and products occurring during the trade show plays and important role as they enable the formation of emotional and rational judgements of a brand. Final step is about establishing an active and intense relationship between stakeholder and a brand. This particular aspect has the most significance in business-to-business context (Kuhn and Alpert 2004), which is also highly salient in the fashion world. Conclusions In fashion, branding is a prominent practice with regards to business to consumer markets. However, it is worth noting that branding is and has to be done also on business to business context as the buying decision is not purely rational but relies greatly on intuition and relationships. Here, a successful B2B brand is of great importance – and a great commitment as well as it involves a long-term planning and resilience to attend trade shows from season to season. This exploratory article has provided a first glimpse to the branding activities occurring at fashion trade shows. First and foremost, business to business branding in fashion involves the brand relationship between buyer and seller as well the brand story conveyed through the holistic brand experience at the trade show. Indeed, the resulting trust and loyalty between the brand and a stakeholder have implications for further buying behaviour as well as then the further marketing efforts towards the end-consumer. In this vein, trade shows provide a great opportunity to increase brand value through their positive influence on brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty that are part of the brand equity construct (Aaker 1991) and can lead to increased trust and loyalty, which, in turn, help to moderate risk and decrease transaction cost (Ford 1980). Limitations of the study and further directions for research Although the study has been able to illustrate the branding activities occurring at fashion trade shows, there is still significant opportunity for improvement. The study is limited to only a handful of fashion start-ups and within a certain market. From this perspective, it would be interesting to study if branding also has similar significance for more established firms. Moreover, it would be interesting to study the performance outcomes of branding, how these efforts support the internationalisation, as well as the implications of business-to-business branding to business-to-consumer markets. Moreover, it would be interesting to compare the brand images between buyers and consumers in a given market. What are the things the consumers look at, and are the buyers different?

Fashion and apparel industry is facing difficult challenges due to several factors such as technology development, environmental changes, inherent characteristics of fashion industry itself, fast changing demands, supply chain, and consumer’s expectation of seamless purchase process. Consumers have the power in that fashion retailers need to provide variety and new products, to build brand loyalty, to provide corporate responsibility and sustainability, and to develop inventory intelligence (Beswick 2016). That said, enhanced efficiencies in those will grant fashion retailers and firms with sustainable competitive advantages. Such efficiencies are often based on digital technology development, creating a new trend. In this study, we examine and compare three big trends in the fashion industry along with an advance of technology in digital marketing. First, Ritzer (1993) observed a process by which the four principles of the fast-food restaurant began to increasingly dominate several aspects of American society. The four principles are efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control, based on the observation of McDonald’s daily operation. He labeled this process and phenomenon as McDonaldization. In other words, any society or subsectors of society can be very successful with the four principles of McDonaldization, including the fashion industry. Second, in addition to McDonaldization, Netflix added one more, yet an extremely important aspect of such operation, that is personalized suggestions. Personalization becomes essential for most services and even for lots of products (personalized T-shirts, bags, etc.). Based on customers’ history of what they had watched, Netflix provides personalized suggestions of next movies, dramas, or episodes. More importantly, instead of physical DVD, Netflix provides online streaming services with personalized suggestions. Thus, an online order system with personalized suggestions for clothes would be an important aspect of fashion industry and retailers, which can be called as Netflixization. Lastly, from the case of Stitch Fix, we’d like to propose a new concept, that is, Netflix of fashion. Stitch Fix is an interesting firm in the fashion industry. The firm uses customized stylists for each customer based on the responses from style quiz. Thus, it focuses on personalization of what customers really want and need in terms of occasions and preferences. Second, it delivers, by mail, five clothes to customers so that customers can choose one or more from the five clothes or choose nothing. By doing this, the firm provides not only convenience, but also choice options for customers. Third, the firm guarantees customer satisfaction with an easy return policy. A more important thing is the fact that the firm can accumulate intelligence based on the customers’ feedbacks of why customers did not like the suggest clothes and decided to return. Thus, the firm can build a “Big data” for better understanding of customer’s needs and wants. In other words, the firm develops a new concept of “your fix.” I would label the whole process of Stitch Fix as Stitchfixization. In sum, any fashion industry and retailer that adopts the concept of Stitchfixization of efficiency, calculability, predictability, control, personalization, feedback, convenience, and intelligence building, would be well accepted by current tough customers throughout the world.

This paper aims to monitor brand image of two important fashion cities on social media (Instagram). Through a content analysis of pictures and texts authors attempt to identify the main associations that various actors have of London and Florence, both traditionally strictly related to the fashion system. As recent literature has argued for brands or products, even for places and cities (Gilboa et al. 2015), it is important to monitor the perceived city brand image resulting from the overall online experience (Choi et al. 2007), especially on social media. Indeed, it is demonstrated that word of mouth on social media is able to strongly affect users’ perceptions (Gretzel, Yuan, and Fosenmaier, 2000), thus contributing at the construction of the city brand image. This paper is one of the first one that applies content analysis on Instagram in city/place branding, where the core of communication is based on images. Therefore, differently from previous studies (Andéhn et al. 2014; De Moya and Jain, 2013), this work principally focuses on visual communication, as form of textual paralanguage communication (Luangrath, Peck, and Barger, 2016), for the construction of city image of London and Florence.

Luxury goods are characterised by a series of traits such as exclusivity, rarity, premium price, high quality and aesthetic value, but also to specific methods of production that focus on notions of excellent workmanship carried out by expert craftspeople. This paper focuses on the problematic relationship between craftsmanship and the luxury fashion industry by examining how representations of craftsmanship are employed by luxury fashion labels in their communication strategies. In particular, the strategies employed by Dolce&Gabbana will be examined. It will be argued that the label has emphasised in its online communication the craftsmanship involved in the creation of its products, but it will be observed how that element is presented only in association to limited categories of goods, and not to the totality of products that are associated to the name of the fashion brand. The case study of Dolce&Gabbana will be explored with regards to the role that the label's online communication strategies attributes to notions of Italian handmade craftsmanship, and in this sense those practices will be examined in terms of national identity. This phenomenon will also be contextualised in terms of the contemporary marketing strategies employed by luxury fashion labels and the relationship they hold with regards to traditional conceptualisations of luxury.

Some clothing manufacturers and retailers use attractive endorsers on their advertising. However, according to recent research, consumers with low body esteem evaluate the clothing items more negatively when they try them on in the fitting room and find that they are inferior to the attractive advertising endorser wearing the same items (Dahl, Argo, & Morales, 2012). Is it always true? Should clothing companies not use attractive endorsers? When Dahl, et al. (2012) emphasized the negative impact of an attractive endorser and discussed body esteem, they implicitly assumed body-related consumption, in which consumers wear clothing items to enrich their physical appearance. However, other research on fashion has suggested that consumers often wear clothing items for self-expression (e.g., Piacentiti & Malier, 2004). Luxury fashion brands have been particularly regarded as symbols of wealth, so consumers wear luxury fashion clothing items to show off their high status (Shavitt, 1989; Wilcox, Kim & Sen, 2009). Thus, status-related consumption should be considered in addition to body-related consumption. Considering status-related consumption, this research introduces another kind of self-esteem, i.e., status esteem, which refers to how confident consumers are in their status. Assuming that there are two types of self-esteem, body esteem (or external esteem) and status esteem (or internal esteem), both of which are related to clothing, we hypothesize that consumers low in status esteem will evaluate a status-related product more positively than consumers high in status esteem when their consumption aligns (vs. when it does not align) with an attractive endorser even though they are low in body esteem. To test the hypothesis, we conducted three laboratory experiments. The result of multiple regression analysis showed that our hypothesis was supported. By suggesting that even consumers with low body and status esteem can evaluate status-related product positively, when finding that they are inferior to the advertising endorser in terms of body, this research expands our understanding on how attractive advertising endorsers affect consumer evaluation of clothing items focusing on two kinds of selfesteem, body and status esteem.

This study addresses how agency costs influence the sustainability of different types of corporate governance. The luxury fashion brand could spend large sums of money on maintenance of magnificent brand image, thereby increasing the agency cost. On the contrary, the brand may hold down wasteful spending to report a gaudily financial achievement. Agency costs are defined either to vertical costs arising from the relationship between stockholders and managers, or to horizontal costs associated with the potential conflicts between majority and minority stockholders. Agency costs are measured by the value of the principal component. The study conducted regression analysis of each agency cost index, luxury fashion brand dummy and a set of control variables. The findings show that the agency costs of the firms with luxury fashion brand exceed those of control group.

Introduction This paper presents an exploratory investigation into the use of coopetition by fashion supply chains (FSCs) as a sustainable, risk-reduction strategy and enabler for competitive advantage. Bengtsson and Kock (2000) proposed coopetition as a state where two companies cooperate in some activities, such as a strategic alliance, while at the same time competing with each other in other activities. While coopetition is usually considered as a horizontal integration strategy (Hingly et al., 2011), it might also be used vertically in a supply chain and possibly including third-parties to alleviate issues of confidentiality (Dari, 2010). Such lose relationships and partnerships may also be undertaken between companies for joint product development, to share research and development (R&D) costs, to restore corporate image, to increase environmental responsiveness of suppliers, for differentiation, to reduce costs, to reduce supply chain waste, and to develop sustainable materials, alternative or substitutes (Caniato et al. 2012). In a dynamic business environment such as fashion the ability to integrate processes across the functional boundaries of a company is considered a key to competitive advantage (Sull and Turconi, 2008). It is also important for companies in FSCs to share a common goal and work in the same direction to achievement supply chain integration (Fernie and Grant 2015). De Brito et al. (2008) suggested that the best performing companies effectively manage internal and external relationships between functions and organizations through improved coordination and highlighted a need for partnering with supply chain partners and different stakeholders including working groups in the industry, relationships management, having highly skilled people, and resource sharing especially in transport equipment and warehousing and the use of coordination tools such as collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR). While such alliances build up relationships and partnerships for the betterment of all partners (Lacoste, 2014), many companies remain reluctant to share too much for fear of affecting their trade secrets or competitive advantage, and so maintain a corporate transactional mindset (Grant, 2005). Thus, there is a need to investigate whether FSC firms are aware of or using coopetition principles, and if not whether they have a propensity to do so. Research Design Our investigation was exploratory as it addresses the how and why questions consistent with criteria for qualitative research (Bryman and Bell, 2015). Our unit of analysis for conducting this study was seven UK FSC case companies (CCs). Our sample was selected based on criteria of having in the UK a manufacturing or sourcing base and a retail or wholesale presence and some major operations such as customer service, distribution and warehousing and a brief description of each CC is provided in Table 1 below (Yin, 2014). Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with 68 people across the seven CCs. These were supported further supported by a number of means, for example, visits to the manufacturing sites, head offices and other important operational places, navigating around the working environment, specifically the factory or shop floor and distribution centers, making observations and chatting to workers in the factory cafes, car parks and surrounding areas. Both within-case and cross-case analysis analyses were conducted and three themes emerged: capacity sharing, cooperation for risk reduction or a response to an adverse event, and information sharing to build relationships. We now discuss details pertaining to each theme in detail. Findings Capacity sharing: Time-based competition, demand volatility, increased disruptions and retailer pressures are some of the reasons that stimulated fashion companies and supply chains to share capacity. However, the case companies also believed high supply chain cost led fashion supply chains to benefit from each other’s resources and leave competition for the shop floor or better customer service. CC1 respondents mentioned that at a particular time they had to replace their ‘plasticisers’ and during this replacement process CC1 used competitor ‘plasticisers’ and hides. CC1, CC2 and CC4 respondents mentioned that their companies also gets help from its competitors in the international market to source skilled labor force in case of full capacity. They further mentioned the use of machines, sharing raw materials, technology, warehouse, containers, testing facilities and other facilities at competitors’ plants in different countries: “We can’t do everything on our own, especially on a global basis, so we talk to our colleagues and if they have those facilities we will ask their help; we will pay less and they will get what they have invested for” (CC1 supply chain manager). CC2, CC3, CC4 and CC6 respondents further mentioned that departments which were formerly perceived as competing each other are now sharing workforce according to demand. Respondents also suggested that problems of quotas, price fluctuations, raw material shortages, customs and distribution could be overcome by sharing materials and capacity with competitors: “If China goes over their export quotas we could be left with fibers stuck in China indefinitely until the quotas have re-balanced so in the interim its managed by sharing materials with competitors here in the UK or in our suppliers’ markets” (CC2 sourcing manager). CC2 and CC4 respondents also mentioned how in the past their companies managed to retain a cluster by offering people a business space in their premises. CC4 also offers apprenticeships to other manufacturers and suppliers, reflecting the company’s belief that the industry needs to pool resources. CC3 and CC5 respondents mentioned that sometimes their companies derives benefits of economies of scale in terms of raw materials and some sub-processes by sharing capacity with competitors: “We buy in bulk to get economies of scale, sometimes just to make sure we don’t run out of supply but there are quite a lot of businesses in our product category so we always have someone to share to get rid of dead money” (CC3 sourcing manager). CC5 and CC7 also mentioned that their companies also use supply chain partners’ facilities such as quality checks, storing products at their sites and arranging capacity for CC5 and CC7. Cooperation for risk reduction: Respondents from CC6 described many instances where coopetition emerged when supply risk or disruptions occurred. One disruption shut down trading but CC6 was able to resume trading in just two days, partly due to the help from its competitors, customers and outside service providers. Respondents mentioned that a high street retailer offered space in its warehouse, another sent its workforce to help evacuate materials and another sent containers, while a service provider converted all standard orders into next day delivery. Within CC6 itself, drivers were willing to work extra hours, even at the weekends and some other departments also sent their workforce to help the logistics and distribution functions, which were affected most by this incident. Respondents also mentioned the frequent use of containers, materials, suppliers, factories and vehicles of competitors and some facilities at main sources: “If they’ve got a container let’s say 60% and we have got the other 40%, we don’t want another whole container; we will join the retailer, historically, you wouldn’t even talk to them because they are competitors, you know, compete on shop front” (supply chain manager). Information sharing to build relationships: Increasing sustainability risks and motives for costs savings, resource development, to avoid legal penalties, to be pro-active and to develop supply chain knowledge drove the case companies to information sharing, building relationships even with competitors and with organizations outside the industry. Case companies shared many practices and processes where they demonstrated an increased move to share information and relationship building with competitors. Respondents from CC1, CC2, CC3, CC4 and CC6 mentioned their companies have established close relationships and constantly share information with companies that were perceived as biased towards the industry or competitors in the past, such as NGOs, companies on CSR, external companies for testing and auditing, working groups in the industry and material and service providers. Respondents mentioned that this has helped them to manage issues such as legislation, working standards, ethics, national and international regulations, country laws and law on chemical use, testing and auditing, to develop supply chain knowledge, to identify sustainability risks and to design their mitigation strategies. Respondents further mentioned that, over the years, their companies have increased information sharing and relationship building with competitors who helped the company with market analysis and to re-shape its business strategies: “I think information sharing with some of those forces, where it was once perceived as a threat is now considered essential, you will manage most of your risks beforehand” (CC2 project manager). CC3 and CC5 respondents maintained that fashion in general and fast fashion in particular requires having as many sources of information as possible, as this will help businesses to increase the number of options. This will further help their companies to explore alternatives and substitutes, ultimately minimizing risks such as dependency and improving customer service: “You need to talk to your partners, talk to your competitors, talk to those who have the slightest relevance to what you do; you need to be open minded; this will increase your options and then you can say yes, I can sustain, I can continue” (CC3 ethical compliance manager). CC2 and CC4 respondents mentioned building relationships with some European premium quality manufacturers who were perceived as competitors in the past. Respondents mentioned that the company is also trying to build strong relationships with small and medium companies of its type in the UK so that a common strategy can be developed for the government to help revive the UK textile and garment industry: “As an industry we’re joining together, whether we are joining together with our competitors or what could be perceived to be a competitor or not, it doesn’t really matter, the fact is we are joining together to pool our resources in terms of trying to attract new people into the industry and get some help from the government”(CC4 supply chain manager). However, CC5 respondents expressed concern about sharing trends or design related information to some competitors of its size but admitted that CC5 also gets help from its competitors: “He (supply chain manager) will pick up the phone and let them know which trend is in demand, which colour customers like; in the beginning I found it unusual but then I saw some of them coming to us and asking for some units to try” (CC5 design manager). CC6 respondents mentioned that a recent disruption has demonstrated how important it is to have relationships, even with competitors. Respondents reported that their service providers converted standard deliveries into next day just because they perceived CC6 as a family and it was good relationships with them that enabled CC6 to provide good customer service and maintain its image as a responsible online fashion retailer: “We had relationships with them so they were willing to go to the extra mile; we see them as a family organization although some might say competitors” (CC6 supply chain manager). Conclusions The literature asserted the need for coopetition in order to survive and compete in a demand driven and volatile market place however issues of maintaining confidentiality and competitive advantage may inhibit companies in FSCs from adopting coopetition principles. However, our study found that due to increased uncertainties, disruptions and risk the seven CCs we investigated have embraced coopetition in some way as a strategy mechanism to manage their supply chains. Thus, we conclude that coopetition appears to be a driver to stimulate organizational capacity sharing, risk reduction and information sharing to build relationships with multiple stakeholders even if they are competitors. However, we note that this study was exploratory and only investigated seven FSC companies in the UK and hence the findings may not be generalized across all companies. Further research should expand this line of enquiry to do so.