Navigating the Social and the Commercial: Marketing Fashion-Based Social Enterprise

In an era where new fashion-based social enterprises FSEs are emerging alongside the unbridled growth of fast fashion, this thesis explores the challenges of fashion marketing for FSEs. Over the last two decades, the fashion sector has been heavily criticized for issues over environmental sustainability, exploitation of cheap labour, and negligent health and safety practices. This sector, therefore, presents challenges for the social enterprise model primarily due to the historically inherent power relations rooted in the origin and methods of fashion production and consumption. By combining both social welfare and market logics, FSEs forge a new approach to fashion marketing, challenging conventional strategies and fostering a greater level of consumer awareness of the social and environmental implications of fashion consumption behaviours. This project examines the research question: How do fashion-based social enterprises (FSEs) navigate the marketing of both the commercial and social aspects of their business? The methodology of this thesis adopts a paradigm of pragmatism to facilitate a comprehensive exploration of the Research Question. The research employs a multifaceted approach of qualitative research that encompasses both conventional and scoping literature reviews as well as semi-structured in-depth interviews with industry professionals. Interviewees were selected from a broad range of geographic locations enabling the inclusion of diverse cultural, social, and economic perspectives. Data was then analysed using thematic coding and categorisation, allowing for a nuanced exploration and enabling the emergence of cohesive and interpretive themes. The sixteen interviews explored how FSEs leverage their social mission as a unique selling point (USP) that adds value to their fashion product offering. This involves a new approach to fashion marketing, reimagining the emotional appeals of fashion products and incorporating the narratives of beneficiaries and social impact into brand storytelling. This study uncovers how the hybrid nature of the FSE model results in a significant departure from traditional fashion enterprise marketing. It demonstrates that while FSEs can present more responsible forms of fashion consumption, empowering consumers to effect social change, there are also ethical risks involved, including inadvertently commodifying disadvantage, and engaging in exploitative representation of beneficiaries. Moreover, the research highlights the paradoxical nature of pursuing a social mission from within the confines of fashion systems intertwined with the economies of capitalism. The implications of this research extend beyond the theoretical, offering both practical and social contributions. FSEs present an important avenue for the disruption of industry norms, promoting responsible consumption while aiding and increasing awareness of social ills and drawing attention toward environmental consciousness. FSEs therefore have the potential to encourage consumer engagement with social and environmental issues and may serve to motivate activism and political engagement/action. Amidst increasing consumer demand for the fashion sector to address its social and environmental impacts FSEs offer a valuable alternative business model encouraging traditional fashion enterprises to examine and re- evaluate their own commitment to social and environmental sustainability. The adoption of marketing strategies that can encompass both commercial and social aspects are, however, vital to driving, supporting and improving the FSE sector and its effectiveness.