Environmental concern has escalated as the climate crisis is an increasingly prevalent issue for the global society. Further catalysed by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer behaviours are shifting, materialising in greener purchasing behaviour and heightened expectations of environmental brand practices. This phenomenon is affecting consumer attitudes and behaviour towards fashion brands. As such, credible environmental marketing strategies are increasingly central to brand success, influencing brand credibility perception.

This research was conducted to explore how fashion exhibitions, in this case with a historical and cultural foundation, and big events can be an impactful channel of marketing communications with digitalization and social media. Exhibitions and events are featured as meaningful communications channels to diffuse the culture and businesses sectors.

This paper considers the standardisation-localisation debate and analyses qualitative data from 22 luxury fashion retailers to reveal the decision-making process for marketing strategies that support entry into China, in terms of balancing the ‘global-local dilemma’ in an emerging marketplace alongside the need to maintain exclusivity of brand image across markets.