From Sustainable to Responsible Fashion
Managing Semantic Tensions in Fashion Communication
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19483351 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cecilia Cornaggia (0000-0002-0219-537X, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Carla Lunghi (0000-0002-5930-6317, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 171 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Societies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2075-4698 • E-ISSN: 2075-4698 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/soc16060171 |
| OpenAlex | W7162286303 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
In recent decades, the fashion industry has attracted mounting attention due to its considerable social, environmental, and cultural impacts. A substantial corpus of academic research has examined these issues, employing terms such as “ethical,” “sustainable,” and “responsible fashion” to describe models that transcend a solely profit-driven logic. These labels, however, are not inherently fixed in meaning and are subject to continuous evolution through public and professional discourse. What, then, do these terms mean? To address this question, the study examines how responsible fashion is defined and framed, drawing on 34 qualitative biographical interviews with Italian fashion communicators. The findings indicate that they ascribe divergent meanings to the concepts of “sustainable” and “responsible” fashion. Sustainability is commonly depicted as an unattainable or utopian objective, whereas responsibility is characterized as more pragmatic and achievable. It is linked to reflexivity and gradual enhancement rather than comprehensive transformation. Even though certain critical viewpoints have called into question the compatibility of fashion with responsibility in itself, the analysis indicates that communicators predominantly construct and negotiate responsibility through specific discursive repertoires. In this regard, responsibility is framed as a compromise, that is, a way of resolving competing demands
Fashion industry · Negotiation · Reflexivity · Social responsibility · Sustainability · Viewpoints · Crafts, Textile, and Design · Environmental Sustainability in Business · Fashion and Cultural Textiles
Culture-Sustainability Relation
The Aesthetic Economy of Fashion
Slow Fashion
Political Virtue and Shopping
Sustainable fashion in the English language mirror
Rethinking Communication in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
Defining defashion
Stumbling on the Heels of My Blog”
Personal Fashion Blogs
Towards an Ethical Fashion Framework
Two Decades of Fashion Blogging and Influencing
Mobilizing Consumers to Take Responsibility for Global Social Justice
Using thematic analysis in psychology
What is Degrowth? From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement
Culture and Consumption
The Role of Trade Fairs in the Global Fashion Business
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |