The phenomenon of greenwashing in the fashion industry: A conceptual framework

The fashion industry stands as one of the most environmentally damaging sectors globally. Moreover, there are phenomena that worsen this impact. One of these is greenwashing. The purpose of this paper is to analyse greenwashing in the fashion industry domain in the scientific literature and to define a framework through which this phenomenon can be recognised by the stakeholders. A literature review was performed using the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol, aimed at assessing to what extent the topic is addressed in the scientific literature and defining the fundamental elements of the proposed framework. A five-element conceptual framework was defined, intending to encompass the key facets that enable the identification of greenwashing practices within a company. With the definition of such scheme the authors aim to bring a novel approach in the identification of greenwashing, proposing a common framework to allow comparisons between different works on the topic. Knowing how to recognise such actions, through the proposed framework, would have a direct impact on companies, raising their awareness of concrete actions in terms of sustainability, and on consumers, who can avoid purchasing products with higher than expected impacts in terms of sustainability, from companies that engage in greenwashing. Finally, an overview on the main consequences of greenwashing and recommendations on possible solutions to it have been discussed.