Dear Colleagues,

The term “sustainable fashion” refers to a process of promoting change in fashion products and the fashion system that features ecological integrity and social justice [1]. This process is distinct from traditional approaches within fashion that are primarily focused on economic gain. Though the fashion industry has lagged behind the food and other industries in developing and promoting sustainability [2], significant efforts and reforms have been made in recent decades. Regardless of these reforms, the fashion industry is still considered the second most harmful industry to the environment (following the oil industry) due to the excessive use of water and non-renewable energy, toxic chemicals and manufacturing waste entering the environment, and post-consumer waste ending up in landfills [2]. In addition, the violation of human rights globally in the fashion industry has become a pressing social justice issue. Creating truly sustainable fashion supply chains requires strong commitments by both practitioners and consumers as well as the implementation of well-designed plans with multiple interrelated strategies leading to social, cultural, and environmental changes [3].

Although research addressing sustainability within the fashion industry exists, research is still required to achieve sustainable fashion, and the time is right for research collaborations by all parties involved: public, private, and voluntary sectors; law- and policy-makers; and academics. Given this background, we are pleased to announce a Special Issue of Sustainability with the theme of Sustainable Fashion: Culture, Management, and Consumption. The purpose of this Special Issue is to facilitate an in-depth discussion on sustainable fashion and provide a forum for discussing research findings to highlight critical issues. For this Special Issue, we will focus on the impact of lifestyle and culture on sustainable fashion; the strategies needed and implemented for the sustainable development and management of innovation and businesses to advance circular fashion systems; the successful implementation of sustainable business-related solutions; and enhancing sustainable consumption. It will cover the holistic integration of economic, environmental, social, and cultural sustainability issues in all aspects of the fashion industry and allow scholars to offer valuable insights into various sustainability issues. We are open to both conceptual studies and empirical analyses based on qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches.

Possible topics for contributions include but are not limited to the following:

• The circular fashion system;
• The slow fashion movement;

• The impact of lifestyle and culture on sustainable fashion;

• Sustainable fashion business models and strategies;
• Corporate social responsibility and sustainable fashion business;

• Sustainable practices employed in the fashion industry;

• Ethical consumers;

• Sustainable fashion and well-being;
• Alternative materials and innovative processes for sustainable fashion design and development;
• Sustainable technologies;
• Environmental impacts of fashion production and consumption;
• Sustainable marketing, merchandising, and distribution/retailing;

• Social inequalities and human trafficking in the global fashion industry;

• Sustainable supply chain management strategies;
• Challenges or barriers to advance sustainable fashion;
• Social enterprise and sustainability in the fashion industry;

• Sustainability education;
• The future of sustainable fashion.

Dr. Eundeok Kim
Guest Editors

References

1. Fletcher, K. Sustainable fashion and textiles: Design journeys, 2nd ed. Routledge: London, UK, 2014.
2. Di Benedetto, C.A. Corporate social responsibility as an emerging model in fashion marketing. J. Glob. Fash. Marketing 2017, 8, 251–265.
3. Burns, L.D. Sustainability and social change in fashion. Fairchild Books: New York, NY, USA, 2019.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• social responsibility
• sustainability
• sustainable consumption
• sustainable culture
• sustainable fashion
• sustainable management