South African fashion design entrepreneurs’ awareness and practices of sustainable fashion supply chain operations

(First published May 2023)

Abstract

The textile and clothing industry intensifies pollution through the production of fast fashion clothes. The increase in fast fashion clothes imports in South Africa has led to the closure of textile factories and consequent loss of jobs. Sustainable development is a pathway to reducing socio-environmental, cultural and economic harm. Sustainable processes and products create new employment. Fashion design entrepreneurs are often involved and have influence in every supply chain of their business and are thus in one of the best positions to implement sustainable fashion supply chain operations. This qualitative study aimed to investigate South African fashion design entrepreneurs’ awareness and practices of sustainable fashion supply chain operations. Participants were selected purposively, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that most of the participants were aware of sustainable fabrics through personal research. Half of them source and produce sustainable garments on a small scale due to the high price of sustainable fabrics. All the participants had limited knowledge of sustainable design methods. All the participants save their fabric offcuts, and only half of them are motivated by environmental concerns. Furthermore, the results indicated a lack of systems to manage the recycling of fabric offcuts. Given that there are few sustainable fashion design entrepreneurs in South Africa, the study recommends that textile and clothing industry leaders, especially sustainability practitioners, disseminate knowledge and training across the board on sustainable supply chain operations.