Building and communicating fashion brands of sustainable ethnic identity

Brand identity, authenticity and quality foster consumer loyalty and may also sustain an ethnic culture, especially for countries of low popularity and in a financial crisis. However, their perceived meanings were not studied in correlation by existing literature, and so this paper proposes a new meaning: the ethnic brand identity which relies on indexicality authenticity. A grounded theory approach was chosen to interpret the conducted interviews with fashion designers, marketing managers and retailers to provide fresh insights about brand building and brand communication. Based on the findings of the current study, the sustainable ethnic brand identity is translated into traditional garments, uniqueness, positive emotions and authenticity. About ‘ethnic indexicality’, producers and retailers of ethnic fashion products perceive it to be of high-quality production standards, traditional and regional production methods and folklore designing inspiration. The above aspects enforce consumer awareness and emotional engagement with the brand as long as they are adequately communicated, like through celebrity endorsement. Consumer awareness and loyalty can be achieved if designers communicate to the audience that they: collaborate with artisans, are helping local communities, produce fashion lines of high-quality and which are ethnic indexical authentic