ABSTRACT
Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It's about doing more good.
Jochen ZeitzChapter overview
Cool brands have been object of interest among many marketing practitioners and sustainable fashion as the concept is being explored in academia. But the challenge lies in understanding how to use cool as a concept for brand building of sustainable fashion brands. This review was inspired by paucity of literature on “cool branding” in context to sustainable fashion brands. Individual and multi-stakeholders are contributing their part by offering sustainable fashion products, but the shift in consumer purchase behavior is slow. Because of present clothing consumption behavior's adverse environmental impact, the rising concern of sustainability issue related to fashion supply chain is the consumption side, which is studied along with understanding the key characteristics of cool. A misinterpretation in regard to the true meaning of sustainable fashion confuses consumers, media and brands, but literature findings also claim that favorable change in regard to sustainable fashion is in the hands of consumers (Beard, 2008). Thus, there seems a potential of connecting cool and sustainable fashion to bring change in the fashion industry. This chapter aims to identify potential of cool branding marketing for sustainable brands. This study will find opportunities by understanding sustainability in fashion relating with cool as a concept and will bring clarity in using these two concepts together. The study moves forward from primarily understanding the key characteristics of cool, indicating a clear influence of cool branding technique on Indian consumers purchase behavior and correlating it with sustainable fashion brands. Complex nature of cool as a concept, and sustainability and fashion as a system is studied closely and intertwined to focus on how cool branding can enhance the sustainable marketing and consumption of fashion clothing.
