Sustainability Marketing : The Implementation of Sustainability Communication in Marketing Related Activities

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how apparel and apparel brands are communicating their sustainability activities through marketing in the respective offline and online retail environments with the support of communication appeals to engage the consumer to purchase clothing items more sustainably. Method: The study implemented a qualititave research nature. Through a semi-structured interview, six department managers of three different apparel companies have been interviewed to give input concerning their sustainability marketing activities and their use of various communication appeals within the retail enviromnment. Conclusion: The communication of sustainability related marketing activities is still a major challenge for the clothing companies. It has been proven however that through the implementation of communication appeals with a focus on sustainability related marketing activities a change in the consumers’ purchasing behaviour can be achieved