An explorative study and comparison between companies’ and customers’ perspectives in the sustainable fashion industry

Sustainability has become quite a common discussion topic within the fashion industry. Many fashion companies started to incorporate sustainability aspects into their products since there is an increase of awareness toward this issue, especially in the last decade. However, despite the increasing popularity, there is only little improvement in the sustainable fashion market share. Therefore, this study aims to find out about each side’s point of view, analyze the gap between them and looking for a solution to overcome this gap. A qualitative method such as an in-depth interview is used to gather data from both sides. This study found that there is a gap of perception in marketing strategy and attitude towards pricing between companies and customers. This study-proposed several solutions to lessen this gap such as (1) approaching customer through emotional-based marketing, (2) create a new business model such as collaborative fashion consumption, (3) making a friendlier image of sustainable fashion, and (4) information exchange regarding sustainable technology development between companies. This study provides insights and suggestions for sustainable fashion companies to gain a bigger market share in the industry and also provides a reference for future qualitative study for service quality gap study in the future.