Abstract
This chapter analyses the sustainability-oriented transformation of clothing industries. Although sustainability pioneers introduce new products in niche markets, incumbents advance them into the mass market. Together this can lead to the transformation of industries, markets, and consumer habits. We examine the German clothing retail industry with a focus on organic cotton and related sustainable fibres. The analysis covers some of the largest German textile retailers. Data collection is based on publicly available sources. We find that in the late 1970s, Hess Natur pioneered organic cotton practices and supported the development of sustainability standards in the clothing industry. Although in the beginning this was largely a phenomenon in niche markets, some of the organic practices have now diffused amongst mainstream retailers. This is counterintuitive because previous theory suggests that incumbents only adopt practices with significantly lower sustainability standards than do niche companies. The findings can support managers to better understand their organization’s role in the transformation of industries and markets toward sustainability, and—vice versa—understand how the transformation may affect them. Leading the transformation challenge by adopting organic and other sustainable supply chain practices can be an important measure for market success.
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Notes
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The most prominent GMO fibre is Monsanto’s “Bt Cotton” plant which incorporates genes of the bacterium “Bacillus thuringiensis” for the production of a biological insecticide and thus makes the plant resistant to some insects at least in the short term. The introduction of GMO cotton in major production countries, such as the US, China, and India, has often resulted in yield increase and decreased pesticide use (e.g., Krishna and Qaim 2012) and is thus promoted by biotech proponents as a solution to sustainable development. The effectiveness, however, has been questioned as being far from fact because the technology depends on local circumstances (Qaim et al. 2006) and seems to erode over the long-term due to secondary pests (Wang et al. 2008; Zhao et al. 2011) or pesticide resistance (Tabashnik et al. 2012). However, others criticise the technology not for their (in)effectiveness but for their non-technical risks, both ethical and social (Hahn 2012). Overall, the potential benefits of GMO plants are controversially discussed and are linked to overstated benefits, missing evidence on long-term effects, narrow assessment of risks based on simplified cost-benefit analysis excluding many ethical, social and other aspects, and last but not least, unethical marketing practices of biotech companies (e.g., Makoni and Mohamed-Katerere 2006). Considering the lack of scientific knowledge on the long-term impacts and risks of GMO, the precautionary principle should apply (Makoni & Mohamed-Katerere 2006; Zhao et al. 2011).
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Hansen, E.G., Schaltegger, S. (2016). Mainstreaming of Sustainable Cotton in the German Clothing Industry. In: Muthu, S., Gardetti, M. (eds) Sustainable Fibres for Fashion Industry. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0522-0_2
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