SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING AND

MARKETING OF SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING

Case company: Népra Oy

LAB UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED

SCIENCES LTD
Bachelor of Business Administration
Degree Programme in International
Business
Autumn 2020
Nhi Nguyen
 Abstract

Author(s) Type of publication Published

Nguyen, Nhi Bachelor’s thesis Autumn 2020

73 pages, 3 pages of
appendices
Title of publication
Sustainable Clothing and Marketing of Sustainable Clothing
Case company: Népra Oy
Name of Degree
Bachelor of Business Administration
Abstract
As one of the most polluting industries in the world, the fashion industry has a harmful
impact on the planet. Consumers and businesses are two important stakeholders who
need to make changes to the current consumption and production behavior. Sustain-
able clothing, therefore, is a timely solution to existing issues in the fashion industry
that requires stakeholders to take the environment and people into consideration
when treating clothes. Thus, many businesses strive to be more sustainable to meet
customer demands and protect the planet. The objective of the thesis is to get to
know sustainable clothing and marketing of sustainable clothing. The study was com-
missioned by Népra Oy, the case company. The final goal of the thesis is to develop a
development plan which provides suggestions on how the case company can improve
their marketing of sustainable clothing.

The theoretical basis is formed by marketing theory, fashion marketing, green market-
ing, and sustainable marketing. The 4P’s and 4C’s of the marketing are also used to
gain a deeper understanding of sustainable clothing marketing. Maslow’ hierarchy of
needs and buyer decision-making process are also introduced. To support the devel-
opment plan, a SWOT analysis is used to analyse the existing marketing situation of
the case company.

In the empirical section of the study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are
used. The case company’s marketing analysis and a web survey were used as the
data collecting methods.

The research results indicate that the website is the main source customers use to
learn about the company, product information, and sustainability information.
Customers also use other marketing channels to connect with the brand. Besides,
customers favor sustainable products and they prefer to buy from a familiar brand.
When buying activewear clothing products, brand transparency is the most important
sustainability factor. These and other results of the research can be used to create a
development plan for the case company.
Keywords
Sustainable clothing, buyer decision-making process, sustainable clothing marketing
CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Thesis background.................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Thesis objectives, research questions and limitations ........................................... 2
1.3 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................ 3
1.4 Research methodology and data collection ........................................................... 4
1.5 Thesis structure ...................................................................................................... 5
2 SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING ........................................................................................... 8
2.1 What sustainable clothing means ........................................................................... 8
2.2 Why sustainable clothing is good for businesses ................................................ 11
2.3 Top practices and trends in sustainable clothing ................................................. 11
2.3.1 Corporate practices and trends in sustainable clothing ................................ 11
2.3.2 Consumer practices and trends .................................................................... 13
2.4 Challenges with sustainable clothing ................................................................... 13
3 MARKETING OF SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING ............................................................ 14
3.1 What is Marketing of Sustainable Clothing .......................................................... 14
3.1.1 Fashion Marketing ......................................................................................... 15
3.1.2 Green Marketing ............................................................................................ 16
3.1.3 Sustainable Marketing ................................................................................... 17
3.1.4 Marketing of Sustainable Clothing Defined ................................................... 18
3.2 Some Forms of Sustainable Clothing Marketing .................................................. 21
3.3 Challenges of Sustainable Clothing Marketing .................................................... 23
4 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND BUYER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN
SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING ................................................................................................ 24
4.1 Customer’s basic sustainable behavior and needs .............................................. 24
4.2 Buyer decision-making process in sustainable clothing ...................................... 26
5 CASE COMPANY NÉPRA ........................................................................................... 30
5.1 Introduction to the case company......................................................................... 30
5.2 Marketing of the case company............................................................................ 30
5.3 Sustainable clothing marketing in the case company .......................................... 32
5.3.1 Sustainable clothing marketing on the website ............................................. 32
5.3.2 Sustainable clothing marketing on the social media ..................................... 36
5.3.3 Sustainable clothing marketing on other channels ....................................... 38
6 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS ...................................................... 39
6.1 Design and formulation of the empirical research ................................................ 39
 6.2 Data collection ...................................................................................................... 39
6.3 Data analysis......................................................................................................... 40
6.3.1 Quantitative data analysis ............................................................................. 40
6.3.2 Qualitative data analysis ............................................................................... 51
7 DEVELOPMENT PLAN................................................................................................ 54
7.1 SWOT analysis ..................................................................................................... 54
7.2 Action plan for the case company ........................................................................ 59
7.2.1 Increasing brand awareness ......................................................................... 59
7.2.2 Marketing during buyer decision-making process ........................................ 61
8 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 64
8.1 Answers to research questions ............................................................................ 64
8.2 Validity and reliability ............................................................................................ 65
8.3 Suggestions for further research .......................................................................... 66
9 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... 67
LIST OF REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 68
APPENDICES...................................................................................................................... 74
 1

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Thesis background

Humans are facing more environmental challenges than ever before. Global warming,
ozone layer depletion, and running out of resources are just some examples of such chal-
lenges. People’s awareness about enviromental issues have been increasing over the last
few years, which is a positive sign to the current situation. When we play our different
roles as consumers, businesses, leaders and authorities, we are more aware of our influ-
ences to the planet. Thus, we strive to minimise our effects on the environment, which
drives the motivation among the communities to support eco-friendly products and favor
ethical brands. (Rosmarin 2020.)

To protect the planet and respond to customers’ changes in behavior, most of the compa-
nies have been better aware of what they are doing to the planet. Many companies, espe-
cially manufacturing companies have worked hard in the area of sustainability and have
made promises to make positive changes. Many companies working in the fashion indus-
try are also following this megatrend. When fashion is having huge impacts on the envi-
ronment and its people, that stakeholders in the industry are making necessary changes
is important. With raw material exploitation, manufacturing processes and supply chain
activities, the fashion sector is responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions
(Bédat 2019). Being fully aware of this fact, many fashion brands have been proactive in
putting sustainability in the core of their practices, ensuring people and environment are
the priority for each of their decisions. Thus, sustainable fashion is becoming more and
more popular and it is a big trend lately in the fashion industry. Sustainable fashion refers
to fashion items that are produced, marketed and used in the most sustainable ways, tak-
ing aspects of people, planet, and profit into consideration (Green Strategy 2020). Sus-
tainable fashion brands respect their employees’ rights, promote fair working conditions,
take into account eco and ethical production (Bédat 2019). And to promote their environ-
mentally friendly advantage points and make the term ”sustainable fashion” better-known
to the public, marketing is the best tool for them. Marketing in this case involves communi-
cating products’ functional benefits and sustainability features. (Ottman 2011, 43-44.)

The case company, for this study, is a sustainable activewear company called Népra.
Founded in 2015 by two Finnish ladies who are passionate about perfect fit and sustaina-
bility, Népra does not only stand for high-quality activewear but they also want to take part
in changing the current culture of fashion consumption. Integrating sustainable values in
every activity, they have a vision that buying sustainable clothing becomes the norm in the
 2

world. (Népra 2020a.) With such values and purpose, Népra wants to engage more cus-
tomers to become a part of the positive changes seen in the clothing industry. The com-
pany, therefore, would like to grow the customer base, gain more attention, and create
more interest in their sustainable activewear products. The purpose of the study is to help
the company improve their sustainable clothing marketing, thus increase the brand aware-
ness, strengthen the brand image, and reach more customers.

1.2 Thesis objectives, research questions and limitations

The following subchapter will present thesis objectives and research questions. Limita-
tions of the thesis are also presented at the end of the subchapter.

Research objectives express how the researcher intends to structure the research pro-
cess and steps to answer the thesis question (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill 2012, 44). The
objective of the thesis is to bring forth a deeper understanding of the marketing of sustain-
able clothing. The author will present the basics of sustainable clothing, why it has been a
big trend among the public and why it should be promoted more for the sake of sustaina-
ble development. Sustainability marketing and how marketing of sustainable clothing dif-
fers from marketing of traditional clothing will also be analyzed. The author then provides
the reader more insights into the buyer decision-making process towards sustainable
clothing, a concept that has a link to the marketing of sustainable clothing brands.

As a result of the study process and a customer survey, the author will have a develop-
ment plan for the case company. The plan aims to provide the case company with sug-
gestions on how to improve their sustainable marketing practices.

Identifying clear research questions is of much importance to the research process. Re-
search questions present what the research is about or what the issue or problem the au-
thor wishes to study. The clear research questions also determine largely the conclusion
process from the collected data, which is one criteria of the research success. (Saunders
et al. 2012, 40-44.) In other words, defining the right thesis questions provides the inquiry
that would be investigated and answered in the research (Collins & Hussey 2014, 105).

In the thesis, the main research question is:

- How could the case company improve the marketing of their sustainable clothing
products?

The main starting research question can lead to several sub-questions. Answering each of
them will then help the researcher ultimately have an answer to the main thesis question.
(Saunders et al. 2012, 43.)
 3

The sub-questions of the thesis are:

- What is sustainable clothing?

- What does marketing of sustainable clothing mean?

- What are the most important buying criteria for the customers when purchasing
sustainable clothing?

- What is the buyer decision process towards sustainable clothing products?

There are limitations to all researches. The limitations of this research are about the in-
dustry and sample size. The main focus is sustainable clothing so other sustainable prod-
ucts and marketing practices of them are not included in the study. Besides, the case seg-
ment is a sustainable activewear company whose customers are international customers
aged 25-45 who have good purchasing power to afford high-end products and have inter-
est in the sustainable company values. Therefore, the research, especially the survey and
development plan, may not work well for companies with a different customer segmenta-
tion. However, the limitations help to increase the focus level of the study, thus making the
findings, suggestions, conclusions more relevant and suitable for the case company.

1.3 Theoretical framework

Theory helps to explain why certain relationships should be expected in the data. Good
theory can identify underpinning variables, describe the relationship nature, and explain
why the relationship exists. (Saunders et al. 2012, 45-49.)

The thesis aims to give an understanding of marketing of sustainable clothing so the con-
cept of sustainable clothing and theory of sustainable clothing marketing are presented. In
the part of marketing of sustainable clothing, the theories of marketing in general, fashion
marketing, green marketing, and sustainable marketing will also be specifically introduced.
The author then defines the connection between these theories and analyzes the concept
of sustainable clothing marketing.

The thesis also wishes to study customer behavior and their criteria when purchasing sus-
tainable clothing. Therefore, a buyer decision-making process is presented. Relevant the-
ories such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory or buyer’s journey framework are in-
cluded to explain how the decision-making process of customers purchasing sustainable
clothing occurs. Based on both theoretical and empirical research data, a development
plan, which is about marketing suggestions for the case company, is finally presented.
 4

1.4 Research methodology and data collection

There are different ways to conduct research. This subchapter introduces the research
approach, methodology and data collection which are used for the study.

Identifying research approach is the first step to take. There are three types of research
approaches: deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and abductive reasoning. Deduc-
tive reasoning is the approach in which the research starts with theory and the researcher
designs a research strategy to test the theory. Data collection is used to evaluate proposi-
tions or hypotheses related to an existing theory. Deductive reasoning is, therefore, a the-
ory-driven approach. In inductive reasoning, the research starts by collecting data to ex-
plore a topic and the researcher then generates or builds a theoretical explanation. In con-
trast to deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning is data-driven. Abductive reasoning is
the approach that combines deductive and inductive reasoning approach. Researcher col-
lects the data to explore a phenomenon, identifies themes and explains patterns for theory
generation which researcher then tests by subsequent data collection. (Saunders et al.
2012, 144-148.) With existing literature from which the author can develop a theoretical
framework and hypothesis, the chosen research approach is deductive reasoning. The
theory and hypothesis will be thoroughly tested by a data collection process.

After a research approach is chosen, it is vital to select an appropriate research methodol-

ogy. For the thesis, there are two research methods presented, which are quantitative and
qualitative research methods. Quantitative research method presents the data collection
technique or data analysis procedure that generates or uses numerical data. Quantitative
research studies the relationships between variables, which are collected and measured
numerically and analysed using statistical techniques. To ensure generalizability, the
method uses probability sampling techniques. For strategies, experimental and survey re-
search are mainly used. (Saunders et al. 2012, 161-163.)

Qualitative research method, in contrast, refers to data collection technique or data analy-
sis procedure that generates or uses non-numerical data. One of the characteristics of
qualitative research is that the data collection is non-standardised so the questions and
procedures can change or emerge during the research process. Some examples of quali-
tative research strategies include action research, case study research, ethnography.
(Saunders et al. 2012, 163-164.)

The research aims to give more insights into marketing of sustainable clothing and sug-
gests how the case company can improve their marketing practices. Therefore, qualitative
methods are chosen and qualitative data is collected by case company’s marketing
 5

analysis and one open-ended question in the web survey. Besides, collection of quantita-
tive data with numeric variables is also used as numerical data is needed to statistically
analyse customers’ behavior. Closed-ended questions in the web survey are the way to
gain quantitative data.

Both primary and secondary data are used for the research. Primary data is unpublished
data collected directly by the researcher specifically for a research purpose. Secondary
data is published data that has already been collected for some other purposes.
(Kovalainen, & Erikkson, 82-122.) For primary source, data will be collected via a web sur-
vey. Secondary data is selected from literature, published books, and trustworthy elec-
tronic sources which are relevant to the research topic. Figure 1 shows the research ap-
proach, research methodology, and data collection methods used for the thesis.

Research Research Data

Approach Methodology Collection

•Deductive •Quantitative •Primary

•Qualitative •Secondary

Figure 1 Research approach, research methodology, and data collection

It can be seen from Figure 1 that deductive is the chosen research approach. Both quanti-
tative and qualitative methods are applied for the research. For data collection, primary
and secondary sources are used.

1.5 Thesis structure

The thesis is comprised of two main parts which are theoretical part and empirical part.
The structure of the thesis is illustrated in Figure 2 below.
 6

Research Background
Chapter 1 Introduction & Research Question

Chapter 2
Sustainable Clothing

Chapter 3 Marketing of Sustainable Literature Review

Clothing

Consumer Behavior and Buyer

Chapter 4 Decision-making Process
towards Sustainable Clothing

Chapter 5 Case Company Neprá

Empirical Research

Chapter 6 Empirical Research and Data

Analysis

Chapter 7 Development Plan Development Plan

Chapter 8 Conclusion

Research Summary

Chapter 9 Summary

Figure 2 Thesis structure

It can be seen from Figure 2 that there are nine chapters in the thesis. The first chapter
introduces the thesis background, objective, main question, sub-questions, and thesis lim-
itations. Research approach, methodology, and data collection are also presented in
Chapter 1.

Chapter 2, 3, and 4 belong to the theoretical section of the thesis. The second chapter
gives the audience a basic understanding of what sustainable clothing means and why it
 7

matters in the fashion industry. Chapter 3 introduces what marketing of sustainable cloth-
ing is. General marketing concept, fashion marketing, green marketing, and sustainable
marketing are presented. Then the author will provide the definition of sustainable clothing
marketing and how sustainability can be incorporated into marketing practices of sustaina-
ble clothing brands. In Chapter 4, the customer decision-making process is introduced, fo-
cusing on the decision-making process on sustainable clothing.

Chapter 5 introduces the case company Népra. The thesis is case company-focused so
understanding the company context as well as their marketing is important, from which the
author can find out how it can be improved and developed.

The empirical section includes Chapter 6 in which the research data collection process is
presented and results are analyzed.

Chapter 7 brings out the recommendations on how the case company can improve and
enhance their marketing practices. Based on the case company analysis and empirical
section, a development plan is constructed.

Chapter 8 answers the sub-questions and the main question of the thesis. The chapter
also presents the evaluation of the research validity, reliability and the recommendations
for further research.

The last chapter, Chapter 9 summarizes the entire thesis.

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2 SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING

2.1 What sustainable clothing means

According to the United Nation Conference on Trade and Development, fashion industry
is considered as the second largest polluter in the world. For many years, the industry has
grown dramatically and at the same time it has a harmful impact on the environment and
social cohesion. (UN News 2019.) Accounting for 10% of carbon emission in the world,
fashion production pollutes all the sources of the planet, from water, air, to forest and land.
When clothing production has doubled since 2000, 85% of textiles end up in landfills every
year. And when the textiles are dyed by toxic dyes, they can leak into the soil and it takes
many years for them to biodegrade, if at all. Dyeing is also a huge source of water pollu-
tion since water leftover from dying clothes is then often dumped into rivers, which con-
taminate the oceans and threaten the lives of water animals. (McFall-Johnsen 2019.) Fur-
thermore, 1.5 trillion liters of water are used by the fashion industry annually and at the
same time 750 million people in the world suffer from a shortage of water. The loss of for-
ests is also a big consequence of extensive fashion manufacturing. Specifically, 70 million
forests are cut down every year for the clothes we are wearing, which threatens the eco-
system. Consequently, humans have lately seen the damaging wildfires, global warming,
etc. The fashion industry impacts also hit the health of people involved in the supply chain,
from cotton farmers to final consumers who are exposed to chemicals. (Sustain Your Style
2020.)

Human rights are also a big topic when it comes to social problems of clothing manufac-
turing. Behind the clothes we have, many people who make them work in far-away areas
in poor working conditions and with low wages. In 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza
building in Bangladesh killed over 1,100 people including garment workers who were or-
dered to work in spite of the cracks seen a day before. There are many accidents happen-
ing in the garment factories around the world and many workers are treated unfairly. (Per-
raudin 2019.)

Therefore, no one can deny the harmful impacts of clothing. However, it is obvious that
fashion or clothing is important to humans. Clothing helps people achieve not only the pri-
mary needs of wearing but also secondary needs of social belonging, self-actualization.
So, if humans have to look for a solution to this equation of buying clothing and protecting
the planet and its people, the answer must be sustainable clothing. To understand what
sustainable clothing is, it is better to grasp the definition of sustainability and clothing sep-
arately.
 9

Sustainability is all about meeting the needs of the present without affecting the conditions
of future generations. Resources on the planet are finite and the effects of what humans
do today on the world tomorrow must be taken into consideration. There are three pillars
in the concept of sustainability, namely economic, environmental, and social. For a busi-
ness, these three pillars can also be known as 3Ps: profit, planet, and people. It is im-
portant to be aware that these three aspects are interconnected and we have to consider
the relationships of them all when doing every action. Thus, sustainability development re-
quires long-term positive economic and social changes while minimizing environmental
impacts and resource consumption. Regarding businesses, they are important stakehold-
ers who can have an impact on social cohesion, economic growth and especially environ-
ment. It is vital that businesses consider more things than just profits and loss. Sustaina-
bility has to be taken into account in each of their decisions. There should be long-term
development strategies for businesses and it is also advisable for them to have sustaina-
bility goals. (Grant 2020.)

To understand how sustainability and clothing coexist, the author will define both the
clothing and clothing industry. Basically, clothing is things that people wear (Collins Dic-
tionary). As a particular aspect of material, clothing is the supremely material part of mate-
rial culture and visual culture at the same time. Clothing is a vehicle for self representation
in society and it articulates human forms by making bodies into people. (Richardson 2016,
8-9.)

Clothes have their life cycle. When consumers purchase a T-shirt, we just contribute to a
small stage of the entire clothing life cycle. Clothing life cycle is much broader and it co-
vers all the areas that humans have touchpoints with clothes. Clothing industry, therefore,
involves all the activities along the clothing life cycle. It includes the whole process of
clothes production and usage, from cultivation of raw material like cotton, then fiber gener-
ation, fabric manufacturing, finishing the clothes, transport to use, reuse, collection of tex-
tiles, finally to either waste incineration or fiber recycling. Each stage has its own chain in
which plenty of smaller activities are implemented. Also, the clothing industry is labor-in-
tensive and the supply chain accordingly involves a large number of stakeholders like de-
signers, sellers, farmers, factory workers, managers, marketers, etc. (Green Strategy
2020.) Figure 3 demonstrates the life cycle of clothes.
 10

Figure 3 Life cycle of clothes (Green Strategy 2020)

The above figure shows stages in the life cycle of clothes. Each stage involves many ac-
tivities. Each activity in the fashion industry has its own environmental, social and eco-
nomic effects, many of which are negative ones. (Green Strategy 2020.)

For example, Levi Strauss & Co evaluated the environmental impact of a pair of Levi’s ®
501® jeans and found that the cotton cultivation stage in the jeans’s life cycle has a huge
impact on water and energy. Cotton cultivation or fiber generation includes different activi-
ties of farming, irrigating, harvesting, fertilizing, etc. For a single pair of Levi’s ® 501®
jeans, the cotton production consumes 860 litres of water and uses 9.3 m2 land per year.
The stage also has a negative climate change impact when releasing 2.9 kg CO2-e of
global warming potential of greenhouse gases. This is the area of cotton production’s en-
vironmental impacts alone without including social impact and the impact of other areas in
the whole life cycle. (Levi Strauss & Co 2015.)

With a combination of what sustainability and clothing mean, the definition of sustainable
clothing is then presented. Sustainable clothing is clothing that is transparent through the
whole clothing life cycle and addresses environmental, economic, and social impact is-
sues. In other words, sustainable clothing is all about clothing that is produced, marketed,
used and treated in the most sustainable ways, taking into account environmental, eco-
nomic and social aspects. From an environmental perspective, sustainable clothing aims
to minimize any possible negative environmental impact of the clothing industry by careful
use of natural resources, maximizing reuse, recycling, etc. From an economic aspect,
sustainable clothing helps to save costs and support economic growth. From a social per-
spective, sustainable clothing addresses issues such as wage, price, working conditions,
gender equality, animal treatments, and well-being of employees. To achieve sustainable
 11

clothing, all the stakeholders in the chain of clothing life cycle have to be responsible. For
example, businesses can reduce their fabric waste during production, set a sustainability
mission, and have corporate sustainability strategies. Designers can contribute by choos-
ing organic materials which require no pesticides. Consumers who have their own voice
can change their purchasing behavior by buying less, buying clothes that last, and sup-
porting ethical brands. (Green Strategy 2020.)

2.2 Why sustainable clothing is good for businesses

Globalization and neoliberalism of fashion brands have increased the exploitation of na-
ture and labor. That being said, sustainability is now the solution to those issues. (Gwilt &
Rissanen 2011, 22-25.)

Being ethical and sustainable is now really important to remaining competitive. Ninety-six
percent of companies feel the pressure to be more sustainable. (HSBC 2020.) Sustaina-
bility mission, sustainability reports, and Corporate Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) can
also be easily seen in many companies’ websites now. Clearly, incorporating these sus-
tainability efforts into business strategies can bring long-term benefits. First of all, sustain-
ability is good for the brand image and customer loyalty. Consumers are shifting their pur-
chase decisions to sustainable brands. Two-thirds of consumers believe purchasing ethi-
cal and sustainable products is their responsibility. Profit margins can boost then, which is
good for businesses’ financial performance. Also, significant cost reductions can be
achieved when businesses minimise the production steps, reducing fabric waste, and
manage carefully and economically the natural resources like water and energy. There-
fore, sustainability in any fields, including clothing, is redefining the corporate ecosystem
that brings values to all stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, suppliers, cus-
tomers, civil society, and the planet. (Harvard Business Review 2016.)

2.3 Top practices and trends in sustainable clothing

2.3.1 Corporate practices and trends in sustainable clothing

This section presents some corporate practices and trends which are used by clothing
brands that are striving to come closer with sustainability. How the practices are used and
benefits of employing them are both introduced.

The first sustainable trend among clothing businesses is being more transparent to the
public. Transparency is an important issue, with consumers demanding to know more
about the products, from where and how the items are made to design and clothing’s
 12

quality. Consumers are also concerned about other issues in the supply chain, including
fair labor, resourcing, social and environmental impacts of the production process. In
many cases, brands even strive to be more transparent by offering customers insights into
costs of materials, labor, warehouse, transportation. Being transparent helps to create
customer trust. Brands can also audit to define disclosed issues, then make changes to
be more sustainable because customers tend to favor sustainable products. This is how
transparency and sustainability is interconnected. (McKinsey 2020.)

The second practice in the sustainable clothing industry is transforming the clothing sup-
ply chain. In the textile material stage, sustainability can be achieved by increasing recy-
clable materials, getting low-carbon processes, having fibres produced under good work-
ing conditions for growers and processors, or producing materials with minimized waste.
In the processes of converting fibre into fashion garments, many sustainable clothing
brands choose to have their garments undyed and unbleached. Some brands go for the
options of low-chemical bleaching and dying. For example, instead of using chemicals for
dying, using natural fibre colors from sources such as food waste is a more eco-friendly
choice. Distribution process can also be optimized by shifting towards using renewable
fuels. (Fletcher & Grose 2012, 13-58.) For clothing systems, it is advisable to revise the
scale of activities, by moving production or sourcing locally, for example, to cut transporta-
tion costs, create jobs for locals, and monitor better environmental standards (Fletcher &
Grose 2012, 106). Another trend that does good to the supply chain optimization is the
practices of recycling, upcycling which are effective to deal with unsold or used clothing.
Redesigning is also an option which involves creating new clothes from old ones by cut-
ting off and restyling. Clothes made from post-consumer waste are one example of rede-
signing. (Gwilt & Rissanen 2011, 150.)

The last corporate trend towards sustainable clothing that is presented in the section is
slow fashion trend. Slow fashion is opposite to fast fashion. Fast fashion aims at getting
clothing into stores in as short time as possible. Fast fashion consumers expect constant
change so new clothing has to be available frequently. Fast fashion, therefore, triggers
constant purchases and involves unsustainable supply chain activities. ( Bruce & Daly
2006, 329-330.) In contrast, slow fashion is about clothing made to last. For slow fashion,
items are ethically and sustainably produced and marketed. Some brands even have their
garments hand-made. Slow fashion proves to be better for the environment and society.
Customers can also save by buying less and going with higher quality clothes. (The New
York Times 2017.)
 13

2.3.2 Consumer practices and trends

Consumers are important stakeholders in clothing life cycle. The current consumption and
usage behavior of many consumers also contribute to the unsustainable fashion industry
status. However, consumers can choose to buy or not, to discard the used clothes or to
donate to charities, etc. Therefore, how customers are treating their clothes is a big part of
sustainable clothing. (Gwilt & Rissanen 2011, 21.)

Usage phase accounts for much of the environmental impact during the clothing life cycle.
Eighty-two percent of the total energy used is caused by domestic laundering and chemi-
cal additives like detergents. Therefore, consumers can make changes by shifting daily
habits. We can try to wash in full loads, lower temperature while washing, air-dry if possi-
ble, and minimise washing. Storing clothes with care also helps as it reduces ironing. Cus-
tomers can also learn the skill of hand-stitching to repair their own items. At the end of the
clothing life cycle, consumers can lengthen the phases by reusing or upcycling. Partaking
in clothing exchange held by non-govermental organizations, selling to second-hand
stores, donating to charities, exchange with family or friends are among other good prac-
tices that consumers can take to extend clothing’s life. On top of that, consumers can be
more mindful in their purchases by buying less, buying more durable clothes and going for
slow fashion brands. Tracking information of the brands and items prior to purchasing is
also important so consumers can know briefly the overall product information and know to
support sustainable products. Going minimal, hiring clothes, shopping second-hand items
are some of other trends that many people are following. (Gardetti & Torres 2013, 379-
380.)

2.4 Challenges with sustainable clothing

Sustainability is now an important factor affecting customers’ purchase decisions.

However, the “sustainability” term and relevant ones such as carbon footprints, Fairtrade,
green washing are still vague to many consumers. Thus, it is vital for consumers to be
educated of what sustainable clothing really means, then they can have better criteria to
rate sustainable brands and make better purchase decisions. (CNN 2019.)

In fact, sustainable clothing is more complex than people might think. Changes or choices
made by businesses to be more sustainable can be expensive and difficult. For example,
ozone is one new bleaching option to replace chlorine which is highly toxic to the
environment and human health. Ozone can be used without water and the technology can
save 80% of chemicals that are usually used. However, ozone is relatively costly and the
equipment is not worldwide available. (Fletcher & Grose 2012, 35.)
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3 MARKETING OF SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING

3.1 What is Marketing of Sustainable Clothing

For a thorough definition of sustainable clothing marketing, the author will analyse three
separate concepts of marketing: fashion marketing, green marketing, and sustainable
marketing. What marketing of sustainable clothing means will then be presented based on
the combination of the three concepts, which makes the definition as complete as possi-
ble. As marketing is the background concept, the definition of marketing will be first intro-
duced.

Marketing is the process by which individuals and organizations create value for custom-
ers and build strong relationships with customers to capture the value from them in return.
Basically, marketing deals with customers. Marketing aims to attract new customers by
pledging superior value. Marketing’s purpose is also to keep and grow existing customers
by delivering satisfaction. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 29.)

Green marketing and sustainable marketing are among many concepts of marketing that
are relevant to the marketing of sustainable products. There is no official definition of
green marketing and sustainable marketing. Different researchers have different interpre-
tation ways of these concepts. Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995, 3-7) stated that sustainable
marketing aims to promote sustainable products and sustainable customer behavior for
economic and environmental sustainability. Hence, sustainable marketing definition of
Sheth and Parvatiyar does not include social aspects in sustainability. According to Van
Dam and Apeldoorn (1996, 46), sustainable marketing is the marketing within sustainable
economic development. Green marketing focuses on market pull and push toward envi-
ronmentally friendly corporate performance. Together with ecological marketing which is
about marketers’ responsibility to avoid ecological crisis, green marketing and sustainable
marketing link marketing to the environment. (Dam & Apeldoorn 1996, 46.) Van Dam and
Apeldoorn’s interpretation about green marketing and sustainable marketing, therefore,
leaves out the social aspects of sustainability.

Ottman (2011, 43-46), however, links green marketing with addressing consumers’ needs
with new higher environmental and social consciousness. New rules of green marketing
deals with long term-oriented and consist of triple bottom line which are profit, planet, and
people. Ottman’s definition includes all three pillars of sustainability, namely social, envi-
ronmental, and economic pillars, which is also the approach of this thesis towards green
marketing.
 15

For sustainable marketing, Kotler and Armstrong (2016, 627-645) stated that sustainable
marketing is socially and environmentally responsible actions that meet the current needs
and wants of consumers and businesses while maintaining and even enhancing the future
generations’ ability to meet their needs. Furthermore, they directed sustainable marketing
at marketing strategies and actions more than the products that are marketed.

For the context of the thesis, green marketing consists of environmental, social and eco-
nomic sustainability. For sustainable marketing, the author will approach it as the market-
ing concept that focuses more on marketing strategies, which makes it different from
green marketing. Green marketing, as analysed above, concentrates more on the green
or sustainable products that are marketed.

Together with fashion marketing, sustainable marketing and green marketing, therefore,
can be combined to create a complete definition of marketing of sustainable clothing. The
explanation of sustainable clothing marketing will be provided but understanding the three
constituent parts will make the reader better understand the whole concept. Specifically,
fashion marketing, green marketing, and sustainable marketing will be presented in more
detail in the following sections.

3.1.1 Fashion Marketing

Fashion marketing is the marketing of fashion products, particularly clothing products ac-
cording to the thesis’s scope. In other words, fashion marketing is the application of com-
munication techniques and business philosophy which focuses on customers and poten-
tial customers to achieve the organization’s goal. Fashion is associated with changes,
which makes fashion marketing different from marketing of other products. (Babu & Arun-
raj 2019, 24.)

Fashion marketing concentrates on the activities of creating, communicating and deliver-

ing values. Value does not only refer to prices but also means issues that customers care
about or connect emotionally. Hence, value here can be contained within the clothing, the
brand status or overall service. In fashion marketing, it is also of much importance to un-
derstand customer requirements, which is the first step to design, produce, and deliver
fashion or clothing products that satisfy or even exceed consumer expectations. Fashion
industry, an area going with changes, has certain risks. Therefore, building strong cus-
tomer relationships is vital to minimize possible risks and have long-term development.
(Posner 2011, 27-29.)
 16

3.1.2 Green Marketing

There is no such thing as green products because all products are involved in production
and usage which have certain environmental impact. Green marketing, therefore, focuses
on the marketing of greener and more sustainable products. (Ottman 2011, 43-46.) In the
thesis, green marketing is broader than just environmental aspects because it also takes
social and economic dimensions in consideration.

Specifically, green marketing addresses the needs of consumers who have environmental
and social consciousness with two strategies. The first one is about the development of
products which meet consumer demands for quality, price, performance while leaving the
lowest environmental impact and having concerns toward social considerations. The sec-
ond strategy is to create demand for sustainable brands by credible and value-laden com-
munications. Green marketing is now popular and even imperative to many businesses.
Green marketing requires more positive changes in comparison to traditional marketing.
Thus, green marketing model also helps to deal with certain limitations of traditional mar-
keting. Table 1 illustrates the main differences between the traditional marketing and new
concept of green marketing in terms of consumers, products, marketing and corporate.
(Ottman 2011, 43-46.)

Table 1 Traditional marketing and green marketing (Ottman 2011, 46)

Traditional Marketing Green Marketing

Consumers Consumers with lifestyles People with lives

Products Products Services

Globally sourced Locally sourced

One size fits all Regionally tailored

Marketing and Product-end-benefits Values

Communications One way communication Educating and empowering

Paid advertisement Creating community, word of mouth

Corporate Secretive, reactive Transparent, proactive

Independent and autonomous Independent/allied with stakeholders

Competitive Cooperative

Departmentalized Holistic

Short term-oriented/ Long term-oriented/ triple bottom line

(profit, people, planet)
Profit-maximizing

The above table demonstrates that green marketing can bring shifts towards how market-
ing should be implemented. One of the main changes is about products. Products in
 17

green marketing are designed and produced to travel in such endless loops and have re-
generative cycle. Used products are recaptured for recycling, reuse, remanufacturing, etc.
For sustainability purposes, manufactured products are often locally sourced and region-
ally tailored to minimize environmental impacts, save costs and contribute to local devel-
opment. (Ottman 2011, 43-46.)

Therefore, selecting the right green marketing strategy is a vital step for businesses to
compete with other green businesses. It is important for the business to find out the poten-
tial green markets and ways to differentiate their products from the competition. (Cronin &
Smith & Gleim & Ramirez & Martinez 2011, 170.)

3.1.3 Sustainable Marketing

Sustainable marketing is about meeting present needs while preserving the ability of fu-
ture generations of consumers and businesses to meet their needs. Sustainable market-
ing has concern for tomorrow’s customers when guaranteeing the existence and success
of businesses, and all stakeholders involved. Successful sustainable marketing requires a
marketing system in which all stakeholders cooperate for socially and environmentally re-
sponsible marketing actions. Sustainable marketing is a business megatrend which helps
create sustainable businesses. For sustainability purposes, it also pursues the mission of
a triple bottom line. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 627-648.)

Marketing is a two-sided area which gets certain criticisms on how it impacts consumers,
society, and other businesses. For example, modern marketing is criticized for increasing
prices to finance unneeded advertising, sales promotion and packaging. Marketing is also
sometimes accused of deceptive practices making consumers believe in receiving more
values than they do. Marketing is also criticized for urging too much interest in material
possessions by encouraging consumers to buy more, which leaves an unsustainable im-
pact on society. For other businesses, marketing practices can reduce the competitions or
harm other businesses by unfair marketing actions. These are several common criticisms
towards marketing. Thus, sustainable marketing can be the solution to these marketing
issues. Sustainable marketing principles are embraced to create and strengthen customer
relationships. Four sustainable marketing principles, namely consumer-oriented market-
ing, customer value marketing, innovation marketing, sense-of-mission marketing, and so-
cietal marketing are presented in Table 2 below. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 628-644.)
 18

Table 2 Sustainable Marketing Principles (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 628-644)

Sustainable marketing principles How the principle works

Consumer-oriented marketing Marketing activities are organized from consumer’s

point of view, then serving and satisfying present
and future customer needs.

Customer value marketing Marketing that calls for building long-run customer
relationships by putting most of resources into cus-
tomer value-building investments.

Innovative marketing Companies should look for product and marketing

improvements.

Sense-of-mission marketing Companies should define mission in broad social

terms than narrow product terms, which is better for
direction of marketing.

Societal marketing Companies should make marketing decisions by

taking into consideration consumer wants, consum-
ers’ long-run interests and society’s long-run inter-
ests.

It can be seen from Table 2 that the sustainable marketing principles support the market-
ing to take long-run interests of all stakeholders into consideration. Sustainable marketing,
therefore, provides the context that businesses can build and strengthen profitable cus-
tomer relationships by creating value for customers, then get value from customers both
now and in the future (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 648).

3.1.4 Marketing of Sustainable Clothing Defined

Marketing of sustainable clothing is about marketing of clothing products made to meet

consumer need for quality, convenience while being committed to three pillars of sustaina-
bility which are social, environment, and economic aspects. Marketing sustainable cloth-
ing is also about credible and value-laden communications that offer practical functional
benefits of clothing and engaging consumers in sustainability issues. (Ottman 2011, 43-
44.)

Two important steps in marketing sustainable clothing is to have sustainable clothing

products and appropriately communicate the products’ attributes to meet customers’ sus-
tainability demands (Lannuzzi 2018, 180). Communicating product features that empha-
size a brand’s sustainability is a good way to achieve the brand awareness (Lannuzzi
 19

2018, 25). Therefore, it is important for brands to understand customer needs and wants
about sustainability in clothing as well as have marketing actions to communicate the sus-
tainable clothing attributes. Furthermore, successful marketing of sustainable brands also
lies in being authentic, transparent, and credible in marketing efforts. (Lannuzzi 2018,
180-195.)

In today’s context, sustainable clothing brands already have their own advantage points of
being sustainable which is the demands of many consumers. Specifically, fifty-five percent
of consumers from sixty countries in the world are willing to pay more for products or ser-
vices from businesses that are committed to making a positive social and environmental
impact. (Lannuzzi 2018, 173.) Therefore, sustainability is such a substantial competitive
advantage for brands when doing the marketing practices. Many sustainable brands
which are so appreciated by socially and environmentally conscious consumers can make
their way to the top of many more consumers’ shopping lists thanks to word-of-mouth
marketing. When sustainable products are marketed by communications that deliver sus-
tainability values and empowering educational messages, consumers feel good and em-
powered when supporting them. Understanding this customer behavior is also important
for effective marketing actions. (Ottman 2011, 45.)

Sustainable marketing is also a part of successful marketing of sustainable clothing. Mar-

keting of sustainable clothing, therefore, include socially and environmentally responsible
actions that meet current needs of customers and remain the rights and options of future
generations. Not only the products marketed but marketing practices themselves should
bring positive shifts towards brand’s goals and society’s well-being. Sustainable clothing
marketing should not leave any negative impact via high prices, deceptive practices, high-
pressure selling, materialism encouragement or harming other businesses. Sustainable
marketing principles can also be incorporated into sustainable clothing marketing to en-
hance productivity and build long-term customer relationships. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016,
627-644.)

To give the reader a deeper understanding of sustainable clothing marketing, the author
will put this marketing concept into a set of tactical marketing tools called marketing mix.
Marketing mix consists of everything the brand can do to influence the market demands
for its products or services. It is a set of marketing tools: product, price, place, and promo-
tion that are blended into a marketing program to get the company’s marketing purposes.
Figure 4 presents the Four Ps of the marketing mix. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 78.)
 20

Product Price
Goods and The amount of
services offered money
to the target customers pay
market to get the
product
Target
customers

Intended
positioning

Promotion Place
Activities Company
communicating activities
product merits making
and persuading products
customers to available to
buy them target
customers

Figure 4 The four Ps of the marketing mix (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 78)

Figure 4 illustrates four Ps of the marketing mix which is also applied to sustainable cloth-
ing marketing. For sustainable clothing marketing, products are sustainable clothing which
have a sustainably managed supply chain. Besides, they also serve the customers’ basic
demands about clothing regarding style, design, quality. Product in general can also mean
brand name, packaging, features, and services. (Koler & Armstrong 2016, 78.) Therefore,
to reach the majority of consumers, product functional features like efficiency or appeal
must be present. Sustainability characteristics can be great added values (Lannuzzi 2018,
176).

When products are offered to the target market, promotion communicates the sustainabil-
ity attributes of clothing products to the market and persuade customers to buy. Special
promotions, social media, advertising are some ways businesses can utilise to engage
customers with the brand. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 78.) For price, many sustainable
clothing should not command too high price. A number of consumers want greener or
more sustainable products but do not want to pay more for them. (Lannuzzi 2018, 176.) If
some sustainable clothing products are offered at a premium price, it is a must that pre-
mium price go with superior performance or added benefits. For the place element of the
marketing mix, sustainable clothes should be accessible to both sustainability conscious
customers and mainstream customers. (Ottman 2011, 110.)
 21

However, there is one concern holding that the four Ps look at the seller’s view, not the
buyer’s. The four Cs concept are then developed from the buyer’s view. Table 3 illustrates
the four Cs. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 79.)

Table 3 Four Ps and four Cs (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 79)

Four Ps Four Cs

Product Customer solution

Price Customer cost

Place Convenience

Promotion Communication

The above table shows the four Cs developed from customers’ perspective. Marketers sell
products while customers buy values or solutions to their problems. Sustainable clothing
products need to be what customers need, both in terms of function and sustainability
qualities. The first thing to do is create and increase awareness. Customers must be
aware of and concerned about the products and the sustainability issues that products
aim to solve. Besides, the clothes offered should have good features, quality, design,
even better than other sustainable clothing brands or unsustainable alternatives on the
market. (Ottman 2011, 110.) For price, customers now are interested in the total costs of
obtaining, using, and disposing of the product (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 79). Regarding
convenience, it is important for sustainable clothing to be as conveniently available as
possible. Websites and retailers are some of places where sustainable products can be
displayed. (Ottman 2011, 110.) For communications, marketing have to convey clearly the
values and sustainability attributes of clothing products. Marketing actions are imple-
mented for long-term goals of the brand and customer relationships, which will bring long-
term profits to the brand in return. Being transparent, ethical, and holistic is also important
to successful communications. (Ottman 2011, 46.)

3.2 Some Forms of Sustainable Clothing Marketing

It depends on customer segmentation and types of sustainable clothing that businesses

can have different marketing strategies. For the thesis, the author chooses to present two
popular sustainable clothing marketing practices which are eco-label usage and cause
marketing.
 22

Using eco-labels has been increasing in brands that are aware of sustainability issues. An
eco-label identifies products or services proven to be environmentally preferable in a spe-
cific category. Eco-labelling which is practised worldwide is a voluntary means of environ-
mental performance certification and labelling. (Global Ecolabelling Network 2020.)

Eco-labelling is as good as a promotional tool when it helps to educate customers about

products’ sustainability attributes. However, the challenge is that there are more than 100
eco-labels in the fashion industry, which can cause confusion to consumers. (Henninger
2015, 6012.)

It is necessary for customers to understand that each label identifies environmental or so-
cial performance of the product only in a single specific category. For example, if a cloth-
ing product has a label of ”The Better Cotton Initiative” (BCI), it means the products meet
the criteria of growing cotton sustainably. Meanwhile, the label does not tell anything
about, for instance, other sustainability features such as clothing quality or whether the
product is sustainably made in other stages of the supply chain. Some of the best labels
that are credible for sustainable clothing sector are: Fairtrade, The Oeko-Tex Standard
100, The Global Recycled Standard, Certified Vegan. (WWD 2018.)

The second sustainable clothing marketing practice introduced in this subchapter is cause
marketing. Cause marketing exists when a for-profit business and non-profit business co-
operate for a marketing partnership, supporting a social cause. Linking a brand name with
a good cause can bring a positive response from the public. Companies that are involved
in social issues by actions like doing philanthropy can gain customer trust and enhance
their reputations. Cause marketing brings win-win-win relationships. The cause can be
promoted and funded. The business wins by boosting the brand image, driving more sales
and feeling good about bringing changes toward sustainability. Customers win by feeling
positive when making a good choice. (Hethorn & Ulasewicz 2008, 44-47.)

To illustrate cause marketing, the author uses the case of Carlisle company with its pro-
gram “Fabric of Hope” as an example. Carlisle offers clothing and accessories for women.
Every year, the company designs a Fabric of Hope scarf which reminds wearers of the
fashion sensibility and the compassion for people going through the journey of breast can-
cer. Seventy-five percent of proceeds from each scarf sale goes to the National Breast
Cancer Foundation. (Carlisle 2020.) With the cooperation between Carlisle and National
Breasr Cancer Foundation, the cause of supporting people diagnosed with breast cancer
is funded. The business can build a more positive image and drive more sales from peo-
ple who want to do good things. Customers, therefore, feel good when they know they are
making the right choice.
 23

3.3 Challenges of Sustainable Clothing Marketing

There are certain challenges that marketers of sustainable clothing may confront. First of
all, sustainability qualities of sustainable clothing products such as eco-friendly materials
or fair wages may seem insignificant to some consumers. Clear and persuasive illustra-
tions of how sustainability features benefit the environment, society, and consumers is
necessary. Also, sustainable branding is complex and sometimes expensive to do. Costs
can be incurred by, for example, sustainable marketing campaigns, sustainable creden-
tials or eco-labels. (Ottman 2011, 109.)

Credibility also matters when marketing sustainable clothing. Many companies adjust their
marketing to position their products as sustainable products in order to capture customers’
attention. Such cases can create greenwashing. Greenwashing is the environmentally
conscientious acts done by businesses with the greater and underlying aims of raising
profits. Businesses accused of greenwashing communicate exaggerated benefits or have
unsupported claims about the clothing’s sustainability qualities. Legal organizations like
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have then taken actions against such deceptive adver-
tising. For businesses, the FTC even has a requirement as its regulations: all advertising
claims must be supported. It is necessary for customers to have smart decisions and
check the sustainability claims before buying. (Kahle & Gurel-Atay 2014, 43-53.)
 24

4 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND BUYER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN

SUSTAINABLE CLOTHING

4.1 Customer’s basic sustainable behavior and needs

Understanding customer needs towards sustainable clothing is important. One of the big
challenges of sustainable brands’ marketers is to try to change people’s beliefs, values,
and attitudes towards sustainability. The motivation of customers to purchase sustainable
products depends on their needs. Thus, determining customers’ need tiers will help mar-
keters position and communicate sustainability better. It is all about human-centered de-
sign. Understanding the target customers helps marketers to define the right message.
(Lannuzzi 2018, 202.)

A hierarchy named Ogilvy hierarchy of green was developed based on Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs illustrates a five-tier model of humans in hierar-
chical order. The tiers are basic needs, safety and security needs, social needs, esteem
needs, and self-actualization needs. The hierarchy is the set of requirements for an indi-
vidual to reach full development. In other words, the superior needs cannot be achieved
without having the basic needs met first. Figure 5 illustrates Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
(Maslow 1943.)

Self-actualization
Personal growth and
fulfillment
Esteem needs
Achievement, status,
responsibility

Social needs
Family, relationships, affection, peers

Safety and security needs

Protection, security, order, law, limits, stability

Basic needs
Air, water, food, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep

Figure 5 Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1943)

 25

Inspired by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Ogilvy hierarchy of green explores sustainable

impulses hidden within customers. Customers have their thinking and behavior differently
in each tier of needs. To reach the decision of buying sustainable products like sustaina-
ble clothing, customers demand to have their basic needs met first. Customer needs are
also the drivers that affect decisions and behavior of customers before and after pur-
chases. Figure 6 presents the Ogilvy hierarchy of green. (Lannuzzi 2018, 204-206.)

Self-actualization
Motivated by "what is
best for sustainability"
Esteem needs
Motivated by personal
responsibility to take action

Social needs
Motivated by social influences

Safety and security needs

Motivated by "me first" - protecting self and family

Basic needs
Motivated by addressing and fulfilling basic needs

Figure 6 Ogilvy hierarchy of green (Lannuzzi 2018, 204)

It can be seen from Figure 6 that marketers can have suitable strategies to connect with
customers during their different tiers of needs. In purchasing or consumption, the first
thing customers care is whether their basic needs are met. When buying clothes, basic
needs of customers are having clothes to wear. Customers express their secondary
needs of safety and security by having questions like “Is this good for me and my family?”.
Brands need to make customers feel confident in the safety, performance, quality and
price of products. How brands can tap into customer needs to protect themselves and
family and how to have sustainable products offered at prices within reach to customers
are also two other important questions. (Lannuzzi 2018, 205.)

Social needs are the next tier of needs in the hierarchy of green. Social needs are crucial
elements for marketers to take into account. Consumers who are impacted by groups,
peers, social norms, society expectations can be motivated to take more positive actions
towards sustainable clothing if the people in their groups do the same. Also, consumers
often select sustainable options to make a positive impression on others in society. How-
ever, there are certain existing limitations in how some people think about sustainable
products. For example, some males avoid sustainable actions when they think
 26

sustainability is associated with feminine traits. Therefore, it is important to make sustaina-

ble products socially desirable. (White, Habib & Hardisty 2019, 24-25.) Brands can also
consider who are in customers’s ecosystem of influence and how to leverage the influenc-
ers to tell brands’ sustainability story. (Lannuzzi 2018, 205.)

For esteem needs, customers would like to buy products that make them feel good when
making the right choices. Therefore, brands should tap into their needs to be more envi-
ronmentally and socially responsible. Brand image, reputation, labels like eco-labels, sus-
tainability messages also help to make customers feel confident about their choices. Last
but not least, self-actualization, the highest needs tier in the hierarchy of green is moti-
vated by customer needs to do what is best for the planet, for humanity and for environ-
ment. Customers with these needs do not care much about costs, just what is best for
sustainability goals. Therefore, it is vital for brands to build trust in them and leverage their
passion, initiative to influence others. (Lannuzzi 2018, 205-206.)

4.2 Buyer decision-making process in sustainable clothing

After the explanation of customers’ needs towards sustainable clothing, it is necessary for
brands to understand the buyer decision-making process. When buying sustainable cloth-
ing, the buyer decision process can be described in the same way as buying regular prod-
ucts. So the buyer decision process below also applies to sustainable clothing.

According to the traditional buyer decision-making process, there are five stages in total.
The purchase decision is just a part of the whole process and marketers should be in-
volved and focus on the entire buying process rather than only on the purchase stage.
Figure 7 shows the stages of the buyer decision process. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 183.)

Evaluation Post-
Need Information Purchase
of purchase
recognition search decision
alternatives behavior

Figure 7 Buyer decision process (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 183)

As Figure 7 demonstrates, the process starts with the stage of need recognition. Custom-
ers can recognize needs from basic needs or by external stimuli like friends’ recommen-
dations or advertisements. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 184.)

The second stage is information search. An interested consumer can buy the product im-
mediately if the driver is strong enough. Or else, the consumer can undertake the infor-
mation search. Customers can obtain information from many different sources, including
 27

personal sources, commercial sources, public sources, and experiential sources. The
most effective sources are often personal sources such as recommendations from family
or friends. Consumers receive the most product information from commercial sources like
advertisements, sales people, etc. However, personal sources are better at legitimizing
and evaluating products. Now social media with many user-generated reviews make per-
sonal sources even more effective to customers. And when customers obtain the infor-
mation, their awareness of the brands and products increase. Therefore, companies
should identify customers’ information sources and optimize the marketing mix to raise
brand awareness. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 184.)

The third stage in the buyer decision process is the stage of alternatives evaluation in
which consumers process information collected to evaluate and choose among alternative
brands and products. Depending on individuals and buying situation, consumers can cal-
culate carefully, rely on intuition, or turn to others for advice. Marketers should research
how consumers evaluate alternatives, which can help to influence their decisions. (Kotler
& Armstrong 2016, 185.)

The fourth stage is purchase decision stage when consumers decide to buy the most pre-
ferred brand based on evaluation. However, the attitude of other people or unexpected sit-
uational factors can change the intention and decision of the buyers. (Kotler & Armstrong
2016, 185.)

The last stage is post-purchase behavior in which consumers take action after purchase,
based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Whether consumers are satisfied or dissatis-
fied with the purchase are shown by the relationship between consumer’ expectations and
the product’s perceived performance. Customer satisfaction is of much importance as sat-
isfied customers will return and spread good words about the brand. Customer satisfac-
tion which helps to reap customer lifetime value, is decisive in the success of the busi-
ness. Dissatisfied customers, in contrast, can bad words of the brands, which can damage
the brand’s image. Therefore, to make buyers satisfied, it is important that brands promise
only what they can deliver. It is also advisable for brands to encourage customers to com-
plain, which helps to identify what should be improved. (Kotler & Armstrong 2016, 185-
186.)

To most of the buyer’s journey now, however, the process does not stop at post-purchase
but it is more like a circular journey. The postsale stage can be the trial period that deter-
mines customers’ loyalty and likelihood to return. The experience with the product or ser-
vice then helps inform the next decision process. Therefore, whether or not the customers
buy again, the decision process is still more like a circle than a funnel. The communication
 28

is not one-way but two-way. Figure 8 illustrates the decision-making process with four
phases: initial consideration, active evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase. (McKinsey
2009.)

Figure 8 Circular decision-making process (McKinsey 2009)

It can be seen in Figure 8 that the circle decision-making process starts with the stage of
initial consideration set. In the initial consideration set, consumers are aware of their need
and consider a set of brands based on different touch points. The active evaluation in-
volves consumers’ information gathering or shopping then add or subtract brands set. In
the purchase stage, consumers make a purchase when they have chosen a specific
brand. The post-purchase stage then provides consumers certain expectations to inform
the subsequent decision journey. Whether customers decide to buy the product or service
again depends on their satisfaction level with the purchase. That way, post-purchase ex-
perience based on which consumers build themselves brand perception is a driver of the
initial consideration stage of the next decision-making process. (McKinsey 2009.)

Marketers should engage with customers throughout the entire buyer decision process
and take actions to influence positively the customers in each stage (Kotler & Armstrong
2016, 186). The touch points, the moment when customers are open to influence, should
be found out by brands. Focusing strategies and spending on the most influential touch
points is, therefore, important. (McKinsey 2009.) Especially in the current world where the
virtual environment is fast growing, brands can meet customers’ needs or influence cus-
tomers decision-making stages anytime, anywhere (McKinsey 2014). Also, there is a find-
ing that online journeys, particularly in the fashion industry, tend to be longer than in-store
as brands consideration stage takes much longer online. Online shoppers are doing lots
 29

of comparison to choose a final brand for purchase. Therefore, many brands now focus on
delivering a seamless online customer experience. (Harvard Business Review 2018.) For
marketing, digital marketing is the tool. Marketing on digital channels help to tailor the
message, target the right audience, support content-management systems, etc. Hence,
digital marketing operations becomes the most important part of marketing. In the digital
era, digital marketing operations need to know how to exploit and scale the digital chan-
nels’ capabilities in a cost-effective way. Besides, digital marketing operations also involve
the application of processes, structures, technology for targeting, optimization, and per-
sonalization of digital channels. (McKinsey 2015.)

For sustainable clothing brands, the buyer decision process is the same but the interac-
tion and the two-way communication between brands and customers can be even closer.
First of all, sustainable clothing brands can try to educate target customers in all of their
decision stages, especially in the brand consideration one. Sustainability features are pro-
moted so the potential customers realize how a good fit they are. Also, sustainable cloth-
ing is made with the purpose of having a longer life cycle so the engagement of brands
into post-purchase behavior is important. Even some brands engage with consumers in
the post-purchase stage by collecting back the used products for recycling. Another post-
purchase behavior, brands can educate consumers on how to care for the clothes in such
low-impact ways which protects the environment and makes clothes last more. This way,
brands involve the customers in creating more responsible clothing consumption. (McKin-
sey 2016.)

And as in the circular decision-making process, post-purchase experience informs the

next decision process. For sustainable clothing brands, they have one competitive ad-
vantage which is that product quality, corporate responsibility, product sustainability,
transparency can lead to higher returns, closer brand-customer relationships, word-of-
mouth marketing, and better brand image.
 30

5 CASE COMPANY NÉPRA

5.1 Introduction to the case company

Népra is an ethical and ecological activewear brand from Lahti. The company was
founded in 2015 by two Finnish women Miss Anna-Mari Niutanen and Miss Essi Enqvist
who are experts in sustainable textiles and clothing, as well as responsible brand building.
With the vision for a world where buying responsible items becomes the norm, Népra also
possesses such a strong value base that they want to be a part of changing the current
clothes consumption culture. (Népra 2020a.) Table 4 illustrates the core values of the
company.

Table 4. Népra’s values (Népra 2020b)

Holistic Design the items to fit different kinds of activities beyond traditional
fashion and sport-specific labelling.

Minimalist Create a brand and products without seasons.

Ethical Keep the supply chain as transparent as possible

As is shown in Table 4, the company builds a system of values that guide all of their ac-
tions. And the core ones are being holistic, minimalist, and ethical. (Népra 2020b.)

Besides, Népra offers the customers with more than ten activewear product types such as
tops, T-shirts, long sleeves, joggers, jackets, etc, and the feature products are items made
of recycled materials. (Népra 2020c.) The company starts with two people and now the
number of both permanent employees and supporting team is four people (Népra 2020d).

5.2 Marketing of the case company

Népra’s main customers are both men and women aged 25-45 and having good purchas-
ing power to afford high-end products and having interest in the company values. The
main customers are the ones who want to join Népra to make a change in one of the most
polluting industries in the world. Also, the company’s target customers have specific per-
sonal interests in doing sports and placing a high value on ethical, minimalist, high-quality,
and perfectly-fitting multifunctional, sustainable activewear.

With doing and running different marketing activities, Népra sets themselves the goal of
inspiring and educating customers to take actions to change the unsustainable clothing
 31

consumption culture. The marketing goals also include building a community and com-
municating with the audience about products, company, news, etc.

While the company operates online, digital marketing is really important and the brand
takes advantage of all touch points via different channels to engage with the audience.
Specifically, they have a company website, blog site, Facebook account, Instagram ac-
count, LinkedIn account, and Pinterest account. Also, they use content marketing, social
media marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing as the main marketing forms to
achieve the marketing goals. As the main brand touch points, newsletters, blog posts, so-
cial media posts and stories are used on a regular basis. Figure 9 shows the main market-
ing channels used by the company and brief strategic planning for each channel.

Newsletter
• 2-4 times per month
• About blog topics, restocks, launches
• Things to consider: how to increase e-mail list and what exclusive content to offer the newsletter list.
Speak Of The Frog Blog
• Published every other Thursday
• Topics follow yearly communication plan

Instagram
• Post almost daily and daily stories
• Focus on visual and high-quality images
• Stories topic: reposting, restocks, launches, etc.

Facebook
• 3-5 times per week
• Post content, images, linking to articles, events featuring Népra.

Pinterest
• Create boards: sporty boards, collections & launches, our values, motivational quotes

LinkedIn
• 1-4 posts per week
• Focus on: professional content, company information, news resharing.

Figure 9 Strategic planning for the main marketing channels

As it can be seen from Figure 9, Instagram is the most active social media channel of
Népra. They post almost everyday and they have a big focus on high-quality product pic-
tures. There are now 6,254 followers. There are in total 1,468 posts and they posted for
the first time on 19 November 2015. Népra has their own hashtag which is #wearnepra
and there are so far 3,820 posts for this hashtag. (Népra 2020e.)

The official Facebook page of Népra has 2,275 people who like the page and 2,324 fol-
lowers. The page was created on April 29, 2015 and the very first post was written on No-
vember 19, 2015, before the launching time of the company. The Facebook page posts
more content types than the Instagram account. Besides product posts, the Facebook
 32

page also features events, blogs, news, videos, challenges, etc. Also, there is an online
Facebook store which leads customers to the website for checkout. (Népra 2020f.)

Népra’s official account has 441 followers. The posts focus on Népra as a company and
so the content includes company information, company culture, Népra team, news about
the company, or professional content on certain topics. The last LinkedIn post was one
month ago. It is then easy to see Népra is not as active on LinkedIn as on Facebook and
Instagram. (Népra 2020g.)

Another social media channel Népra uses for marketing purposes is Pinterest. There are
78 followers and 1,500 monthly viewers. To inspire people and organize the pins, Népra
creates 14 boards about different topics such as sports, company values, Népra collec-
tions, motivational quotes. (Népra 2020h.)

The blog on the website of the company had the first blog post on April 5, 2019 and the
last one was posted on July 2, 2020. There are many stories regarding the brand, sustain-
ability, audience wellbeing, fashion, etc which are the topics of the blog posts. The posts
are also classified into eighteen categories so the audience can find it easy to browse and
find a post of a specific category. (Népra 2020i.)

Besides, both organic and paid advertising are also utilized to target the right customers
and influence customers via touch points for conversion purposes. All channels are opti-
mized for both organic and paid advertising efforts.

5.3 Sustainable clothing marketing in the case company

5.3.1 Sustainable clothing marketing on the website

As sustainability is the core of the business, Népra makes it easy for visitors to see sus-
tainability information on the website. In every single product page, there is a product in-
formation section that tells the audience important details such as fabric details, special
sustainability features, care instructions, etc. (Népra 2020j.) Figure 10 shows an example
of one typical product page on Népra’s website.
 33

Figure 10 Example of one product page on the website (Népra 2020j)

It can be revealed from Figure 10 that a single product page in the website provides cus-
tomers with necessary product information and sustainability information. Details about
materials, countries of production, care guide, functions, are listed which shows the trans-
parency of the website (Népra 2020j).

Besides, all product pages also include the information of Oeko-tex® 100 Standard Certifi-
cate. Standard 100 is one of Oeko-tex® certifying textile products that is safe from a hu-
man-ecological perspective. Activewear fabrics of Népra have the certificate of Oeko-
tex®, which means no harmful chemicals are used during production. (Oeko-tex® 2020.)

With the important information that all products are toxic-free and there is no harmful
chemical used, the brand can emphasize the products’ sustainability features. There are
also care instructions and size guides included, which guarantees customers can get what
they need and the products can last while leaving minimal impacts on the environment.
(Népra 2020j.)

Also, the feature products of the brand are recycled items. Some recycled products are
made of recycled polyamide (nylon) which is 100% regenerated nylon made of plastic
 34

waste. Other recycled materials include recycled cotton, recycled polyester, elastane.
(Népra 2020c.) Népra even has a blog post presenting the recycling process or the supply
chain of polyamide which are made of plastic waste. Figure 11 illustrates the entire supply
chain of the polyamide yarns. (Népra 2020k.)

Figure 11 Recycling process: how recycled yarns are made (Népra 2020k)

Figure 11 illustrates that the recycling process is described in six main activities which are
nylon waste rescue from all around the globe, waste preparation in Slovenia, depolymeri-
sation in Slovenia, polymerisation in Slovenia or Italy, transformation into nylon, and re-
commercialisation. (Népra 2020k.)

Népra also uses Speak Of The Frog blogs and other posts on the website as an effective
channel to market sustainable clothing items and communicate sustainability qualities of
the brand. Taking transparency into key consideration of the brand’s responsible actions,
the brand is open and straightforward to share business information regarding partner-
ships, pricing, supply chain, etc. (Népra 2020l.)

Regarding the partnerships, Népra provides detailed information about the partners and
their brief company introduction on the website. Most of the partners are manufacturing
companies which make activewear, lazy wear items, socks, sacks, labels, etc. Choosing
partners to Népra is important as it can affect the sustainable supply chain and overall
sustainability of the brand. It is, therefore vital to choose the ones that fully share their val-
ues. For example, Népra’s lazy wear items are made with a Finnish partner called Pure
Waste. Pure Waste is also a sustainable business that has all 100% responsibly produced
items which are made by 100% recycled material. Népra and Pure Waste fully share
 35

values with each other, which can be seen as a criteria to be Népra’s partner. (Népra
2020m.)

About the supply chain, Népra attaches the importance to the whole supply chain when it
comes to the sustainability of an item. The company is open about the supply chain of
their products and in which way they try to be more sustainable. (Népra 2020n.) The
sustainable supply chain of the case company is presented in Figure 12.

Figure 12 Népra’s sustainable supply chain (Népra 2020n)

It can be seen from Figure 12 that there are eleven major steps in the supply chain and
the company tries to be more sustainable in every step. For example, the company chose
all the partners that are close as possible. Fabric is made in Italy, designs & patterns are
created in Hämeenlinna, prototypes are made in Hämeenlinna or Tallinn. That way, trans-
portation is minimised and the company can contribute to especially local development.
And if there are activities that require environment footprints or impacts, Népra is straight-
forward about them. The fabric making step is an example. The fabric making process in-
volves dying processes and different treatments. Chemicals are used as an activewear
fabric without chemicals is not suitable for activewear purposes like long-term sweating.
Népra then tries to compensate for the impacts by using no harmful chemicals, use syn-
thetic materials instead of natural materials as synthetic materials need fewer chemicals
for treatment than natural ones. The company also makes sure the fabric manufacturing
partners can join them to be more sustainable by, for example, dealing with wastewater
properly or controlling the energy used. (Népra 2020n.)

How the company markets their sustainability qualities lies in their high level of transpar-
ency toward the customers and the public. They are open in almost all aspects that
 36

customers might want to know like pricing. Népra is honest about their pricing method, de-
tailed cost system, and what they do with their income. This is also about the profit that
makes up the three pillars of sustainability: people, planet, and profit. (Népra 2020o.)

Other Speak Of The Frog blog posts also help to tell customers the other sustainable
sides of the business. Most of the blog categories relate directly to sustainability such as
#blackfriday, #climatechange, #environment, #human rights, #letsgetethical, #minimalism,
#slowfashion, #sustainability, #water. Other blog posts which are about the team or com-
pany culture also include remarks to sustainability as the core value of their actions. Many
educational posts are found here about different topics of sustainability like ways to save
water, ways to reduce the carbon footprint, ethical brands and ethical shopping guide,
slow fashion, etc. (Népra 2020i.) There are also activities that help customers engage like
the challenge of cleaning up the environment nearby and going for a trash walk which is
called Népra Goes Plogging challenge (Népra 2020p). Besides, it can be found from the
blog posts the strategy of the company to help save the planet and improve the impacts of
the fashion industry. For example, on the Black Friday in 2019, Népra was closed as
Népra does not want to support overconsumption on the day and they want to take part in
the global day of climate action. (Népra 2020q.)

5.3.2 Sustainable clothing marketing on the social media

As mentioned previously, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are the social me-
dia platforms that Népra uses to communicate with the audience. Instagram is the most
active channel for them. The content on Facebook and Instagram is mostly the same but it
is slightly different when it comes to content on Pinterest and LinkedIn. However, on all of
the channels, it is easy to recognize the business’s communications about sustainable ac-
tivewear. Most of the posts on Instagram and facebook are about product promotions
which include keywords about activewear’ key features such as responsible, recycled,
perfectly fitting, ethically made. There are also short educational posts about sustainability
and how people have a more sustainable life. About the brand, there are also giveaways
and challenges that enact the interaction from customers and create a buzz. One of the
latest challenge is Népra Goes Plogging challenge which was also mentioned in all chan-
nels of the company. Other posts about the brand featuring in events, articles, posts about
the team, partners, repost also often give remarks to sustainability and Népra’s sustaina-
ble activewear. Besides, one of the important marketing strategies of the brand is influ-
encer marketing and boosting the user-generated content which is content created by the
brand’s customers. Specifically, working with partners or influencers in the field of sports,
 37

exercises or encouraging user-generated content and reposting them mainly via insta-
gram stories also help the social media growth. (Népra 2020e.)

On Pinterest, there is less text included but most of the content is high-quality product im-
ages. Many pins that promote products also emphasize the brand as a sustainable cloth-
ing one and products as such responsible and ethically made ones. There are three
boards about sustainability topic which are sustainability, ethical, and responsible clothing.
(Népra 2020h.)

LinkedIn content is more professional and they focus on Népra as a company. The posts,
therefore, vary with more posts on the topic of company culture, news resharing, or linking
to events, webinars, articles in which Népra is featured. Like Instagram, Facebook, and
Pinterest, most content posted on Linkedin also reflects and mentions the sustainability
aspects as the core values of the company. (Népra 2020g.)

Using different touch points to engage with customers, Népra does not only produce the
activewear when taking all aspects of sustainability into consideration but they also have
such value-laden communications. The brand wants to connect with the audience
throughout the buyer journey. Especially, the brand engages closely and effectively with
the audience in the inspiration stage which seems to be an extra stage of the buyer jour-
ney. Furthermore, the company has a set of sustainable thinking which includes buy less
& higher quality, sustainable material choices, and transparency. With these values, the
company is ready to share about their concepts, supply chain, pricing, and values. The
important thing is that the sustainable and responsible brand image is consistent through
all channels. They have their own voice and desire to make a difference in the clothing in-
dustry and they want customers to join them in that big mission. (Népra 2020r.) The sum-
mary of sustainable clothing marketing actions of the case company’s social media is pre-
sented in Table 5 below.

Table 5 Népra's sustainable clothing marketing actions on social media

Case company’s social media channels Sustainable clothing marketing actions

Instagram - Promotional content featuring prod-

ucts’ sustainability qualities

- Educational content

- Influencer marketing

- User-generated content

- Paid advertisements
 38

Facebook - Promotional content featuring prod-

ucts’ sustainability qualities

- Share company featuring content

- Paid advertisements

Pinterest - Products and sustainability topic

boards and pins

LinkedIn - Professional product, company, and

sustainability topic content

It is shown in Table 5 that the main social media used by the case company are
Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn. Each channel has different segments of users
so the marketing strategies used by Népra on each channel are also different from each
other.

5.3.3 Sustainable clothing marketing on other channels

Newsletters are another communication method that the case company uses to connect
with the customers. They send newsletters, two to four times a month, to their customers
listed on the customer list. The newsletter can be product restocks, launches, or blog top-
ics about sustainability, etc.

Another useful channel Népra uses to reach a broader audience and to build a stronger
brand image is earned media. Earned media is publicity generated by promotional efforts
and it gives the company the third-party credibility (Chaffey & Smith 2017, 34). The
earned media forms the case company has achieved include word of mouth, conversa-
tions in social networks, blogs or different types of partner like bloggers, influencers, pub-
lishers, customer advocates, etc. For example, some blogging or publishing websites that
have featured the case company for their sustainability performance and vision include
goodnewsfinland.com, sustainablelifestyleblog.com, sustainablyfit.fi, and so on. Being fea-
tured and recognized by the experts or advocates in the field help to establish a positive
brand image and build the position of a thought leader in the area of sustainable fashion.
 39

6 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS

6.1 Design and formulation of the empirical research

As mentioned in the introductory chapter, both qualitative and quantitative research meth-
ods are employed in the thesis. The primary data for the empirical research was con-
ducted by a web survey. The survey is aimed to find out what factors affect the purchase
decisions of Népra’s target audience and how the sustainability aspects affect their deci-
sions. Another purpose of the survey is to look into the customers’ behavior towards the
brand and their opinions on the case company’s marketing.

The survey was done among the existing customer base of the case company. The case
company spread the survey to their customers by social channels including the email
newsletter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

There are twelve multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question in the survey.
The survey can be found from the appendice.

6.2 Data collection

This subchapter presents the data collection stage and different stages of the data collec-
tion process which is illustrated in Figure 13.

August 2020 - September 2020

•Theoretical part of the research

September 2020

•Analysis of the case company's marketing

•Survey design

October 2020

•Collection of responses
•Analysis of the survey results

Figure 13 Thesis’s data collection process

As is shown in Figure 13 the thesis was started in August 2020. The author started the
process by looking for a suitable case company, formulated the research questions,
 40

and started writing the introduction chapter. After the introduction, the author researched
about the topic and collected the theoretical part of the sustainable clothing marketing and
customer decision-making process.

After finishing the theoretical part, the author started designing the web survey in Septem-
ber 2020. Before the survey was launched, it was sent to five people for feedback which
allowed the author to correct the errors or inconsistencies. The survey was then officially
open at the beginning of October and it was open for twenty days in total. The survey was
done using Webropol and the case company spread the survey link via newsletters, a
LinkedIn post, and a Facebook post.

There were 81 responses collected from the niche audience. The number of responses is
enough for the author to make objective analysis of the results. The next chapter then in-
troduced the analysis of the survey results.

6.3 Data analysis

6.3.1 Quantitative data analysis

This subchapter presents and analyses the results of the research survey. There are thir-
teen questions, including twelve close questions and one open question. All the questions
are obligatory to the respondents so the amount of the answers to each question is also
the number of answers, 81.

The first two questions asked the respondents’ demographics. The first one was about the
respondents’ gender. Eighty-eight percent or 71 respondents were female and the 12% or
10 respondents were male. Figure 14 shows the answer data to the first question.

1. What gender do you identify as?

Figure 14 Respondents' gender

 41

The second question asked the respondents’ age. The most chosen group was 26-35
years old, which belonged to 52% of the respondents. Twenty-three percent of the re-
spondents were in the 18-25 years age group and 20% of the respondents were in the 36-
45 years old age group. Four percent of the respondents aged 46-55 years old and the
rest, 1% belonged to the age group of over 56 years old. These numbers show that the
survey was answered by a mixture of people from different age groups. Response data is
presented in Figure 15.

2. What is your age?

Figure 15 Respondents' age

The third question was about how often the customers bought the activewear products.
The third question asked people how much often they bought activewear products. The
most chosen frequency is 2-3 times per year which was chosen by 57% or 46 respond-
ents. Then came every 2-3 months which 23% people chose and every several years
which 11% of the respondents chose. Six percent respondents rarely bought activewear
and 3% of the respondents bought the products once or twice per month. Figure 16 illus-
trates how many respondents choose each option.
 42

3. How often do you buy activewear products?

Figure 16 Respondents’ frequency to buy activewear products

The fourth question asked the respondents to rank the given aspects in order of im-
portance when buying an activewear. The question aimed to find out what aspect matters
to the customers the most when they decide to buy an activewear product. Six was the
highest rank of importance and one was the lowest one. Hence, the higher the average
score is, the more important the aspect is. Suitability of the product was the most im-
portant aspect to the respondents, with an average score of 4.5. Style of the activewear
was the second most important factor of consideration to customers, with an average
score of 4.35, then followed closely by material of activewear, with an average score of
4.27. With an average score of four, product’s sustainability was also an important factor
in customers’ decision-making process. Average score for each option is illustrated in Fig-
ure 17.
 43

4. Put in order of importance (1= least important, 5= most important) the aspects
when buying an activewear. Notice that each number can be chosen only once.

Figure 17 Importance order of aspects when buying activewear

The fifth question’s purpose was to find out how much given sustainability factors affected
respondents’ activewear purchase decision. Five indicated the highest level of importance
and one indicated the least. With an average score of 4.15, brand transparency was the
most important aspect to the buying decision of the respondents. Eco-friendly materials
was the second most important factor, with an average score of 4.06. Employees and
workers’ rights were the third most important, with an average score of 4.04. Then came
recyclability, with an average score of 3.89, and sustainable supply chain, with a score of
3.85. With brand transparency as a core value and eco-friendly material as a brand prod-
uct feature, the case company already fulfills the top sustainability factors. They, however,
can have long-term transparency strategies and be even more transparent in regard to dif-
ferent business aspects. Figure 18 shows more details into the responses to the fifth
question.
 44

5. How much do the following sustainability factors affect your activewear

purchase decision? Mark your opinion (1= does not affect at all; 2= affects
quite a little; 3= affects a little; 4= affects quite a lot; 5= affects very much).

Figure 18 How much the sustainability factors affect respondents' activewear purchase
decision

The sixth question asked respondents what sources they used to find information about
Népra products. Respondents could choose all the options that applied to them. The most
chosen option is the company website which was used by 90% respondents. The com-
pany Instagram page was the second most popular choice which was chosen by 75% of
the respondents. Then came the option of Népra’ emails which was used to find product
information by 62% respondents. The case company Facebook page and product reviews
on social media followed with 21% and 20% respectively. There were three sources that
people list outside the given options, which were their cross fit trainer wearing Népra, so-
cial media influencers, and product reviews on the website. These data showed that
 45

people find information about Népra products via a variety of sources. Also, the website is
the most important to customers so the case company can focus on the website to make it
as inclusive as possible. Figure 19 illustrates the response data of the question.

6. What sources do you use to find information about Népra products? Please choose
all that apply to you.

Figure 19 Sources respondents use to find products information

The seventh question was to find out what factors affect customers’ decision to return to
the case brand. Product quality ranked first, chosen by 95% of the respondents. Sixty-six
people or 81% respondents chose the option brand and products’ sustainability. Then
came the easy shopping experience which belonged to 49% respondents. New products
launched and customer service also affected respondents’ return decision when being
 46

chosen by 32% and 26% of the respondents respectively. Ten people chose the price fac-
tor and one person had no idea. Seven respondents chose others and they listed such
factors as: style, Népra being a Finnish brand, brand uniqueness, when their activewear
were worn out, and their existing loyalty to the brand. From the collected numbers and an-
swers, it can be seen that all respondents choose to buy the case company products
again. To attract new customers and build long-term brand loyalty, the company can im-
prove the less chosen factor. For example, they can have a more competitive price, have
more new products launched, better the customer service, etc. Figure 20 shows the re-
sponse information of the seventh question.

7. What factors affect your decision to buy Népra products again? Please choose all
that apply.

Figure 20 Factors affect respondents' decision to buy Népra products again

 47

The eighth question asked respondents the sources they used to search information
about Népra products’ sustainability and Népra brand’s social responsibility before making
the purchase. The company website is again the most popular option which was chosen
by 88% respondents. The company social media followed when being chosen by 62% re-
spondents. Népra emails are also a useful source to the customers and the option was
chosen by 37% respondents. Ten people, so 12% answers searched Népra products’
sustainability and brand responsibility information via the company being featured in mag-
azines or blogs. It was also quite surprising that two respondents did not do any search
about given information. These numbers also showed that website and social media are
very important to convey to the audience the necessary information about the company
sustainability features. Therefore, these channels should include as much useful infor-
mation as possible to make sure that the customers do not miss any of it. Data of the an-
swers is presented in Figure 21.

8. From where do you search information about Népra product’s sustainability

and Népra brand’ social responsibility before making the purchase decisions? Please
choose all that apply to you.

Figure 21 Sources used to find Népra and products' sustainability information

 48

The ninth question aimed to ask respondents what the Népra’s marketing channels they
found the most favorable. The aim of the question was to ask what channels of Népra
customers found the most useful, convenient, and have positive experiences using them.

eing chosen by 54% respondents, Népra Instagram was the most chosen as the most fa-
vorable channel. Then came the email newsletters which was chosen by 21% answers
and Népra website which was chosen by 20% respondents. Four percent chose Népra
Facebook and 1% chosen Speak Of The Frog blog was the most favorable marketing
channel. As the numbers showed, the case company should continue building Instagram
page and website, newsletter as the useful channels with valuable content, consistent fre-
quency, timeliness, and close engagement with the audience. The case company should
also develop and better the plans to work on less chosen options like the Facebook ac-
count, blog, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Figure 22 presents the anwer data of the question.

9. What Népra's marketing channel do you find the most favorable? Please choose one
option that apply to you.

Figure 22 The most favorable marketing channel

 49

The tenth question asked respondents how much information they got about Népra prod-
ucts’ sustainability. Eighty-five respondents, so 65% of the respondents said that they got
enough information. Nine people, so 11% of the respondents said that they got some in-
formation. Six respondents, or 8% of the respondents said they got too much information.
Only one person had no idea. From the collected numbers, it was shown that Népra is
providing rather enough information regarding the brand and products’ sustainability to the
customers. Details of the answers are shown in Figure 23.

10. How much information do you get about Népra products’ sustainability from
Népra’s channels?

Figure 23 How much information respondents get about products' sustainability

The eleventh question’s purpose was to find out the familiarity level of respondents to the
brand. Forty-six, so 57% of the respondents felt very familiar with the brand. Fifteen per-
cent of the respondents felt extremely familiar and 28% of the respondents felt somewhat
familiar with the case brand. The numbers showed positive emotions of customers to the
brand. However, the case company can maximise this positive metric by engaging more
with people who felt somewhat familiar with the brand. Featuring the brand as a human,
using visual content, interacting with the audience and having ads shown in front of cus-
tomers at the right time are some ways the case company can build better brand familiar-
ity. Figure 23 shows the details of responses to the eleventh question.
 50

11. How familiar are you with the Népra brand?

Figure 24 How familiar customers are with the brand

The last close-ended question asked the respondents to mark their opinion for six given
claims. One presents the lowest level of agreement and five stands for the highest level of
agreement, so the higher the average is, the more the respondents agree with the claim.
The most agreed claims are ”I am willing to pay more if the brand is socially responsible
and the product is sustainable” and ”Népra is a very favorable brand to me” with the same
average score of 4.4. The claim ”All the products’ sustainability qualities are clear and
specific” got an average score of 4.2 so people tend to agree with it. With an average
score of 4.0, the claim ”I see Népra products’ sustainability features on the website and I
am aware how they are beneficial to me” was also agreeable to the respondents. It is also
important to note that people would rather buy products from a familiar brand than an un-
familiar brand, with an average score of 3.8, and respondents often go to Népra’s online
shop to see the products without buying anything, with an average score of 3.6. There-
fore, people tend to trust and buy products from the brand they already know and they are
willing to pay more for the sustainable products. Therefore, increasing brand awareness
and brand familiarity is important. The case company can also be more clear on the web-
site and on other channels about how the sustainability features specifically benefit the
customers. Figure 25 presents the average scores of each option.
 51

12. Mark your opinion in the following claims (1=completely disagree; 5=com-
pletely agree).

Figure 25 Respondents' opinion on give claims

6.3.2 Qualitative data analysis

This subchapter presents and analyses the collected data from the open-ended question
of the survey. The question asked directly the respondents what marketing aspects they
need the case company to change or whether they had any suggestions that Népra could
improve the marketing performance. The question was compulsory so there are 81 an-
swers but there are 33 respondents who did not give any text answers as they had no
idea or nothing came to their mind that time. Out of the 48 text answers, there were 12 an-
swers from which people felt good with the case company’ marketing and they all said that
there was nothing to improve with the existing marketing performance. The rest of the re-
sponses, so 36 responses give quite specific suggestions on how the case company can
better their marketing. Five examples of the respondents’ suggestions are presented in
Figure 25.
 52

Table 6 Some of the respondents' suggestions to improve the case company's marketing

“I really can't think of anything substantial. I think it's great as it is, transparent and honest
compared to all other labels. Maybe I'd like to see different types of people more in the ads, the
models are quite young and crossfitty when in reality the garments are used by many different
types and ages of people in many situations. When I get older, I might feel I'm not in the target
group of Népra a anymore. I like to be represented in the ads”

“You really excel in marketing. But when I look back, I think your marketing pretty lacks the
hearing factor. It is going to boost the engagement and makes us remember more than just the
text.”

“Even more transparency e.g. regarding pricing.”

“I have been spreading word-of-mouth about Népra because nobody on my friends haven't
heard of Népra. I hope you can add awareness somehow!”

“I live in Lahti and the brand is also based in Lahti but I do not want such a great brand to just
stop at being online. I want a sense of touch and closer connection. Have you ever considered
opening a workshop, a store, or some other kinds of offline marketing?”

The most suggested idea is about the size of the products. Five respondents suggest the
company to feature the models in a more diversity of sizes, ages, shapes, genders, not
only fit female models. One respondent said that when she got older she still wanted to be
seen as target audience of Népra and she wanted to be represented in social media posts
or ads. Also, there was one person who would like to see the model measurements when
they are featured in Népra’s marketing materials. Besides, one male respondent wished to
see the Népra activewear products to be more ”unisex” and diversified in sizes for male as
well. From those answers, it can be told that the case company should consider having
models or sizes in a more variety of shapes, sizes, age, colors, races so customers in
different sizes, shapes, ages can still feel they are the target audience of the brand. Then
they may feel more favorable and emotionally connected with the brand.

Another popular suggestion was about social media post formats of the case company.
Three respondents would like to see more diversity of media formats in Népra’s marketing
channels, like videos or even short films. One respondent suggested the case company
tried using new video tools of Instagram such as Reels or IGTV. Specifically, there was
one person who said that some greeting videos from the factories or partners would be
nice. Another person suggested some illustrations to make the brand feed fresher and
more creative. Also regarding social media, one respondent wanted to see more
 53

Instagram stories and two respondents wished to join more games or interaction activities
from the case company. Giveaways, quizzes, games can help the brand interact more
closely with the customers and create some buzz to the wider audience.

Regarding the company’s transparency, there were two answers who expected more
brand transparency about the prices and where the fabrics came from. About the content
marketing, one respondents said the emails were too long. Another respondent wanted
the company to be more careful in checking the spelling of the content as even some
minor spelling errors can make the content harder to understand.

About the website optimization, one answer suggested the brand should have a better
mobile friendliness. Another answer was about the website and other marketing channels’
language. He/she said that there should be Finnish language on at least the website so
Finns can find it easier to navigate on the website.

One respondent thought the case company can invest more to boost the brand
awareness as many friends of his or her have not heard of the brand. Besies, there were
two people who gave constructive ideas on the company’s offline marketing. They wanted
physical connection with the brand via a store, pop-up store, workshop, events, or offline
promotions for some sport events.

The last suggestions were more for the purpose of product development, but they still
affected the marketing aspect somehow. Specifically, some respondents wanted the
brand to have more competitive prices, more new products launched, free shipping, better
returning system, and suggestions on how customers can keep products to make them
last longer.
 54

7 DEVELOPMENT PLAN

7.1 SWOT analysis

Based on the analysis of the case company’s current marketing performance, a SWOT
analysis will be presented in the subchapter. Together with theoretical data and empirical
data of the thesis, SWOT analysis will also be used to build a development plan for the
case company’s marketing.

This subchapter will analyse the case company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats by using SWOT analysis model. SWOT which stands for strength, weakness,
opportunity, threat is the analysis tool to evaluate and audit the current marketing situation
of a business. Analysing strengths and weaknesses which means evaluating the internal
environment of the business helps the business to create a competitive advantage and
overcome the weaker points by delegating them to the partners or define areas of im-
provement. A macroenvironmental or external environment analysis identifies the opportu-
nities and market threats that the business can influence but can not directly impact. By
defining megatrends or factors of the industry, market, and competitors, the external fac-
tors determine opportunities that the business can invest and threats that the business
should monitor. SWOT analysis helps businesses to gain a more critical understanding of
their own forces and the mega factors, and subsequently position them relative to their
competitors. Strategic planning, marketing decisions, appropriate market strategies can
then be made to employ the analysis. (Kruger 2015, 1-3.)

The following figure is the SWOT analysis summary of sustainable clothing marketing of
the case company. The SWOT analysis is based on the theoretical and empirical research
of the thesis, especially the case company marketing analysis and the web survey. The
detailed explanation will be followed as well.
 55

STRENGTHS WEEKNESSES
- High-quality sustainable activewear products - Lack of men as customers
- Activeness in marketing channels, especially social media - Few different target customers' sizes, races, shapes, colors
platforms represented my models
- Website's usefulness - Some existing areas lack of attraction for customers' retention
- Instagram as the most favorable social media channel to (eg. price, customer service)
customers. - Lack of marketing media formats
- Positive brand image - Lack of Finnish language version for the website
- High customer retention rate and high customer loyalty - Low brand awareness
- Managers and employees' knowledge about the field - Lack of physical connection with customers
- Providing enough sustainability information
SWOT
Analysis
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
- Frequency of customers buying activewear - Covid-19 or international economic instability influencing the
supply chain
- Customers favoring sustainable products
- Competition with other sustainable activewear brands,
- Customers attaching importance to related sustainability factors
sustainable clothing brands and cheaper, unsustainable clothing
- Customers search and get to know the brand via many channels brands.
- Expansion of online shopping and mobile usage

Figure 26 Case company's SWOT analysis

As it can be seen from Figure 27, the first strength of Népra lies in the high-quality
sustainable activewear products. One of the responsible values of the company is to
encourage buyers to buy less but high-quality products. The supply chain is also
optimized and made to produce sustainable and enduring activewear at the same time
(Népra 2020r.) Besides, when being asked what factors affected customers’ decision to
buy Népra products again, 95% of the respondents selected the products’ high-quality.
High-quality products are what keep customers stay and also what the case company is
aiming to do for the sake of more responsible fashion consumption.

Another strength of the case company is their activeness in using marketing channels. As
analyzed in Chapter 5, the main marketing channels used to connect with the audience
include the company website, blog, emails, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
All of the channels have their own frequency planning of posting. Some channels are
updated or posted on a weekly basis and even daily basis like Instagram. Besides
posting, Népra also interacts and connects with the audience by reposting customers,
posting stories, or replying to customers’ comments, etc, which shows how important
marketing channels are to such an online company. Népra’s customers also use the
company’s marketing channels to find information about products and sustainability
features of the products before making a purchase decision. Marketing channels,
especially social media are, therefore, very potential places to approach new target
customers or interact closely with existing customers.
 56

Another strength of the case company’s activewear marketing is their useful website.
Their website is inclusive of all important product information, size guides, company
information, and blogs as well. Ninety percent of the respondents in the web survey used
website to learn about Népra products. Eighty-eight percent of people used the website to
search information about the products’ sustainability and the company’s responsibility
before purchasing. While company website is the most useful channel to customers,
company’s Instagram is the most favorable channel to them. That means people find the
website inclusive and informative and the Instagram account interactive, engaging.

Two other important strengths of the case company’s marketing include positive brand
image customer loyalty. With strong sustainability values and high-quality activewear
products, Népra has been building such a good brand image. Most of the posts, activities
on social media, especially on Instagram, always get positive engagement from the
audience. One hundred percent of the respondents in the survey said that the brand is a
favorable brand to them. Fifteen percent of people said that they are extremely familiar
with the brand. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said that they are very familiar with
the brand and 28% of people said that they are familiar with Népra. Also, 100% of
respondents in the survey decided to buy the Népra products again, which shows how
much the case company has created trust to the customers.

Another strength of the case company lies in the expertise of founders in the sustainable
fashion industry. The two founders, Miss Anna-Mari Niutanen and Miss Essi Enqvist have
professional knowledge in sustainable textiles and clothing, as well as responsible brand
building. They are passionate about the field and they have a big vision to change the
existing fashion consumption, which helps to establish the company value base. (Népra
2020a.) It is important that the people running the business and the employees have good
knowledge about products and passion about sustainable products, which help them
better in educating customers, or producing quality products.

The last mentioned strength of the case company’s sustainable clothing marketing is that
they provide customers with enough product sustainability information. It is easy for sus-
tainable brands to either overwhelm customers with too much information or provide lack
of necessary information regarding sustainability feature information. Eighty percent of the
respondents said that they got enough knowledge from the case company’s channels. All
respondents also said that the products’ sustainability qualities are clear to them and they
are aware of how those features benefit them.

The first weakness of the case company’s marketing is that they lack the number of men
as customers. Eighty-eight percent of the respondents are female. Besides, one customer
 57

suggested the company should make the activewear to be more unisex by offering more
size and color options. The target customers of the brand include both men and women
so the brand should diversify their products or have suitable marketing strategies to attract
more male and keep them stay.

Also regarding the diversity factor, some customers want the case company to have more
sizes available to them. Especially, they want the more models of sizes, shapes, colors,
gender, ages, races to be featured in marketing materials. People in different groups such
as older people would like to see their image to be represented by Népra so that they can
feel they still belong to the target customers of the company.

Another area of improvement lies in some aspects to retain customers. One question in
the survey asked respondents what listed factors affecting their decision to buy Népra
products again. Respondents can choose all the options that apply to them. Only twelve
percent of the people chose price and 26% of the respondents chose customer service,
which means the areas of pricing and customer service can be improved for better cus-
tomer experience. One respondent in the open question also suggests the company
should have more competitive prices. Therefore, the case company can consider having
more competitive prices and enhancing the customer service.

Lack of marketing media formats is another important weakness of the case company.
The most used format in marketing channels currently is text and image. To help create
more effects, get more engagement from a wider audience, or just increase the brand lift
call, the case company can try using different media formats that have sensory effects like
video, GIFs, short films, or Instagram REEL, IGTV, etc. Some customers also suggest
that they want to have more hearing factor from the company’s marketing.

Another weakness mentioned here is that the website does not have a Finnish language
version. When answering the open question, one person suggested the brand should in-
vest in Finnish-language marketing or at least have a Finnish language version for the
website. Also, another person said that the reason they bought the Népra products again
is because Népra is a Finnish brand. Hence, interacting with Finnish customers some-
times in Finnish or at least having a Finnish language option in the website may make
Finnish customers feel more like home, then feel more comfortable to navigate the web-
site.

The last two areas of improvement for the case company are to increase brand aware-
ness and have physical connection with customers. When asking what aspects of the
case company’ marketing to improve, one person said they company shoule increase
brand awareness as his or her friends have not heard the brand. Two other respondents
 58

want the brand to have physical connection with customers by having a pop-up store or
conducting some workshops to engage with loyal customers in certain places.

The first opportunity for the case company in marketing is the frequency of buying active-
wear from customers. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents in the survey bought active-
wear products 2-3 times per year and 23% bought the products every 2-3 months. The
frequency shows that customers buy activewear on a consistent and frequent basis, which
allows the company to market the products in the whole year.

The biggest opportunity for the case company lies in the customers’ interests in sustaina-
ble products. Sustainability is an important aspect to the survey respondents when they
purchase activewear. Respondents are also willing to pay more if the brand is socially re-
sponsible and the products are sustainable. When being asked how much the listed sus-
tainability factors affect people’s decision to buy activewear products, all the factors get a
3.11-4.15 average score. Factors like eco-friendly materials, brand transparency and em-
ployees and workers’ rights got bigger than four as the average score. These survey an-
swers show how customers favor sustainable products and sustainability qualities, which
poses such a potential opportunity for the case company to expand their marketing to
wider target markets.

Another opportunity is about the advantage of various marketing channels. Customers

use different channels to learn about the brand and search for activewear products before
buying like website, social media, emails, product reviews on social media or magazines,
blogs, advertisements, family or friends’ recommendations, etc. Approaching different po-
tential customers via different channels is now easier and it is important for the Népra to
be active and engaging in all potential channels.

The final opportunity posed in the research is the development of online shopping. Lately,
especially due to Covid-19 and social restrictions, consumer shopping online has in-
creased significantly. Many categories including apparel have expected 15% customer
growth. (McKinsey 2020.) As an online company, Népra can expand more into the online
shopping world by broadening the market scope or trying using technology via having a
mobile shopping application for a more integrated online shopping experience.

Also due to Covid-19 and current international economic instability, the case company
supply chain can be further affected. The negative effects on partners, the cost increases
or other possibilities in the coming unknown period can pose a big threat to many con-
sumption businesses, including Népra.
 59

Another threat is about the strong competition in the activewear or general clothing indus-
try. Both sustainable activewear brands and unsustainable activewear brands are all com-
petitors in the field. Especially the sustainable brands producing the same lines of prod-
ucts have similar target customers and similar marketing efforts are threats to the com-
pany. And when sustainable products are now more of a trend among many groups of
people, new companies are trying to enter the potential market. With such strong competi-
tion, it is crucial for the companies to keep loyal customers and continue working on their
competitive advantage which are high-quality products, strong sustainability values, and
close relationships with customers. In general, Népra needs to monitor the threats care-
fully and have appropriate strategic decisions if the threats can affect further in a negative
way.

7.2 Action plan for the case company

7.2.1 Increasing brand awareness

This subchapter will provide ideas and suggestions on how the case company can im-
prove the marketing of their sustainable activewear products. As mentioned in the SWOT
analysis, increasing brand awareness is a big area of improvement for the case company.

As website is the most used channel that existing customers or target customers use to
learn about the brand and products, the case company can grow the Search Engine Opti-
mization (SEO) to drive more organic traffic to the website. Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) is the practice and science of customizing elements of the website to have the best
search engine ranking, then maximise the visibility for relevant searches. Such internal
and external factors as anchor text, site popularity, keywords, content, language, etc all
affect the ranking results of the website or the pages of the website. (Ledford 2007, 18-
19.) Especially, Népra can boost their domain authority by having more guest blogging or
writing content for other companies’ website in other words. They can also gain more traf-
fic or backlinks by encouraging people to share the blogs.

Then, it is important for Népra to try and diversify more types of media formats across the
marketing channels. The main used formats now of the case company are text and im-
ages. The customers also suggest in the survey open question that more types of media,
especially audio and video should be utilized. In general, sensory marketing should be
employed to level up the existing marketing situation of the case company. Sensory mar-
keting is the marketing that affects and appeals to all senses of customers when they ex-
perience the brand. Multi-sensory experience or different sensory impressions help the
brands to win customers’ attention and impact their perception of the brand and the
 60

products or services. That being said, the case company can have appropriate sensory
marketing strategies to impress the customers and build a memorable brand image even
at their first experience, then build the brand awareness. Specifically, the sensory market-
ing plans can be aimed at appealing five senses of humans which are smell, sound, sight,
taste, and touch. (Hultén 2011, 261-264.) As an online clothing brand, the taste factor can
be excluded so the focus can be put on other senses. Regarding the smell sense, Népra
can create a good scent experience by adding some kinds of natural or organic scents,
fragrances to the activewear so the smell can immediately later remind customers of the
brand. Another marketing idea is to add the customer value by cross-selling or giving or-
ganic fragrances gifts to activewear customers so that they feel they are cared for. Sound
is an important factor that the case company should add to bring a more immersive cus-
tomer impression. Népra can start trying video or audio formats like video storytelling,
podcast channel, short films about brand story, Tik-Tok, video tools of Instagram like
REEL, IGTV, to reach a wider audience and impact their sound sense. Sensorial sound
strategies help create memories and reinforce the brand image. The sound media types
like short videos are more shareable than text so they have more chances to reach more
target audiences. Activewear style, color options, website design, brand identity, packag-
ing are all included in the sensorial sound impression and experience of customers. (Hul-
tén 2011, 266-267.) According to several suggestions of customers in the survey, they
want the case company to offer more color and sizes options. Then the overall sight expe-
rience can be better to customers’ perception. Regarding the touch factor, the soft and
tactile quality of the activewear products can help to create first positive feelings to cus-
tomers. Combining these above four sensorial strategies, the case company can deliver a
more immersive impression, especially to the potential customers to increase the brand
awareness.

Besides, it is important for Népra to maximise and optimise both organic and paid social
media presence. Maximising organic social media presence includes having relevant con-
tent, using more marketing media types, organically interacting with the audience by sto-
ries, games, give-aways or quizzes, etc. The case company should be active in all chan-
nels as well because the target customers can be anywhere in the available marketing
channels. Using paid brand awareness advertisements also help the company to show
the ads to the potential people who are likely to be customers.

As mentioned and analysed in the empirical data analysis subchapter, the female custom-
ers outnumber the male ones. Therefore, the case company can implement effective strat-
egies such as social media paid advertisements to target male customers as well. The
 61

organic presence like media formats, content can sometimes feature male and their sto-
ries to connect emotionally with male audiences, then trigger their purchase intent.

7.2.2 Marketing during buyer decision-making process

As presented in Chapter 4, the buyer decision-making process is now more circular. This
subchapter will introduce suggestions on how the case company can influence customer
touchpoints, affecting their behavior and intent throughout all stages of the buyer’s jour-
ney. The ideas and suggestions will be provided to affect customers’ four main stages
which are initial consideration, active evaluation, purchase, and postpuchase.

Regarding the stage of initial consideration, it is important that the case company affects
the potential customers’ need recognition and information search steps. Running paid ad-
vertisements in different marketing channels, encouraging product reviews among existing
customers, and influencer marketing are among some ways the brand can do to support
customers in realizing their needs. The case company should encourage more people to
give product review on website and social media. Then reposting them on the Népra’ so-
cial media channels means giving them rewards and respect. Besides, it may be a good
idea for the case company to maximise influencer marketing possibilities by partnering
with more influencers. They can be micro influencers in the sport or lifestyle nichebut they
have a certain number of followers and they an influencers their followers’ purchase be-
havior. These specific strategies help customers in their need recognition stage.

For the information search step, the survey revealed that website and social media are
now the main sources of company information, product information, and sustainability in-
formation to customers. Therefore, it is important to make these channels as inclusive as
possible. Other channels like emails or less used social media like Pinterest also should
be provided with more information in case the potential customers use these channels for
information search.

The next stage is active evaluation. As a suggestion to the case company, it may be a
good idea for them to have an evaluation tool on the website to compare products and
feature their different benefits or care guides. More comparison posts on other marketing
channels like social media can also be useful to customers. For example, some custom-
ers may feel confused to choose between Fortuna Logo Top and Fortuna Top so a post to
tell them apart in regard to qualities, sustainability features, prices, materials, etc can be
useful to the customers. The survey also showed that customers favor all the related sus-
tainability factors such as eco-friendly materials, sustainable supply chain, timeless de-
sign. Therefore, posting different products and providing information on their supply chain,
 62

design, materials, life cycle, etc can better educate customers, increase brand transpar-
ency, and help customers in product evaluation.

For the purchase stage, the case company can deliver retargeting advertisements to peo-
ple who have abandoned the carts or people who visited the shop without buying any-
thing. Reminding customers of their intentions can help them return and make a final pur-
chase decision.

The postpuchase is an important stage that the case company can have a closer relation-
ship with existing customers and turn them into brand advocates. For a sustainable brand,
it is crucial for the case company to educate customers how to take care of the clothing to
lengthen their life cycle. How to deal with old clothes should also be guided so customers
have enough knowledge to be more responsible. Old Népra items now can not be recy-
cled in a closed loop cycle. Customers can deal with them by more sustainable ways like
exchanging with a friend, selling them to secondhand shops, etc. (Népra 2020n.) As a
suggestion, the case company can work with non-profit organizations who can take care
of receiving old clothes from the customers and deal with them by donating to the people
in need, moving them to industrial waste factories, selling to secondhand shops, etc. Hav-
ing a shared place for all customers to deal with the used activewear can create a trans-
parent system and more sustainable cycle for the clothes.

To connect and engage with existing customers, the case company should add more val-
ues to keep them stay. They can connect customers in a group such as a Facebook group
where a community of brand supporters can be established. Customers can be further ed-
ucated, connected, shared. Another way to educate and connect with customers is to en-
gage them in brand activities like Podcast, live streams, etc. For example, the company
can open a podcast about activewear or sustainability topics then collect customers’ ques-
tions for podcast’ topics. Customers may want to know more about the company so sto-
ries about company, founders, designers, or even customers can engage the audience.
The case company can also invite experts in the industry for inspirational talks or inter-
view. That way, customers can gain more knowledge about sustainable clothing and how
to consume more responsibly. Stories and inspiration are what influence customers posi-
tively.

Creating a workshop to connect with customers physically is also an idea to create more
real sensations. There is one customer in the survey question saying that he or she
wishes to have more real physical connections with the brand. An pop-up store, event or
workshop in a city may give the relationship between the brand and customers to the next
 63

level. Besides, to incentive repeat purchase, reward programs should be launched to en-
courage customers to come back and be a loyal customer.

All the above ideas and suggestions are based on the theoretical and empirical research
of the thesis. SWOT analysis also helps to complement and finish the development plan.
The summary of all suggestions for the case company’s marketing of sustainable clothing
is presented in the table below.

Table 7 List of suggestions for the case company

Stages of buyer decision-making process Development ideas

Brand awareness - Better SEO performance

- Implement sensory marketing

- Improve both organic and paid social

media marketing

- Do more marketing to male customers

Initial consideration - Run paid advertisements, encourage

product reviews, implement more influ-
encer marketing for customers’ need
recognition

- Make all channels more inclusive for

customers’ information search

Active evaluation - Product evaluation tool on the website

- More products evaluation or compari-

son on marketing channels

Purchase - Run retargeting advertisements to

people who have left their cart

Post-purchase - Educate customers in clothes care

- Collaborate with an organization for a

better system

- Connect customers by Podcast, Face-

book group, workshops, etc

- Have reward programs

The suggestions and ideas are organized as the actions the case company can imple-
ment in each stage of the customer decision-making process. Then, it is important that the
company can effectively build an overall positive customer experience which is made from
company marketing and interactions.
 64

8 CONCLUSION

8.1 Answers to research questions

This subchapter concludes the thesis by presenting the answers to the thesis questions.
The answers to the sub-question are provided first, then the answer to the main thesis
question will be presented.

What is sustainable clothing?

Sustainable clothing is clothing that is produced, marketed, and used in the most sustain-
able ways that consider environmental, economic, and social aspects. Every stakeholder
in the sustainable clothing supply chain is responsible. Suppliers, designers, manufactur-
ers, marketers, retailers, customers, etc all join to make or treat the clothing in the ways
that minimize negative environmental and social aspects while bringing the profit to them
and economic growth to the community.

What does marketing of sustainable clothing mean?

Marketing of sustainable clothing basically means marketing sustainable clothing products

which are made to meet customer needs of quality, convenience, price, and sustainability.
The marketing of sustainable clothing is also committed to three sustainability pillars
which are society, environment, and profit. There are two main factors to make up the
marketing of sustainable clothing which are the products and the marketing actions. The
products are sustainable clothing. Besides, credible and value-laden communications
have to offer product functional benefits and sustainability benefits.

What are the most important buying criteria for the customers when purchasing sustaina-
ble clothing?

The very first buying criteria customers have when purchasing sustainable clothing is
whether the products have their functional qualities as normal clothing. Then, people’s
most important criteria in buying sustainable clothing also includes brand transparency,
eco-friendly materials, employees and workers’ rights, recyclability, sustainable supply
chain, sustainable sourcing.

What is the buyer decision process towards sustainable clothing?

Buyer decision-making process of sustainable clothing products is the same with the pro-
cess of regular products. Customers go from stages of need recognition, information
search, active evaluation, purchase, and post-purchase. The buyer process is now more
of a circular journey when the post-purchase experience informs the next decision
 65

process to return or not. Also, the buyer decision process of sustainable clothing requires
more communication and engagement from the brands. Clear and enough product infor-
mation and sustainability features of the products have to be provided. To involve custom-
ers in creating more responsible clothing consumption, brands can also educate custom-
ers in how to take care of the clothes, how to deal with the sold clothes, etc to lengthen
the clothing life cycle.

How could the case company improve the marketing of their sustainable clothing prod-
ucts?

The current marketing performance of the case company is already good but there are
certain areas that they can improve or develop to reach more potential people, and build a
strong brand. The author provides the ideas and suggestions that help Népra to fulfill their
marketing potential in each of the buyer decision-making stages. For better brand aware-
ness, the suggestions include bettering SEO performance, implementing sensory market-
ing, and improving both organic and paid social media marketing. Also, the case company
should have effective marketing strategies to target more male customers as there is now
an inequality between the number of male customers and female ones.

To affect customers’ behavior in the initial consideration stage, the case company can run
paid advertisements, make all channels inclusive, and implement more influencer market-
ing. In the active evaluation stage, it might be a good suggestion for Népra to launch a
product evaluation tool on the website or at least have more product evaluation or com-
parison content on other marketing channels.

Purchase is an important stage when people make a decision to make a purchase. The
author’s suggestion is that the case company can run retargeting advertisements to cus-
tom audience who, for example, engaged with the brand, left their cart or saw some prod-
ucts on the website. In the post-purchase stage, it is important to engage with existing
customers on a higher level. The case company can achieve that by connecting with them
via channels like podcasts, Facebook group, offline workshops. It is also crucial to edu-
cate customers in clothing care or exclusive guides. That being said, the more values the
case company can provide to the customers, the more satisfied they feel and the more
they are likely to return. More details of the development plan are provided in Chapter 7.

8.2 Validity and reliability

The main purpose of the research was to find answers to all the thesis sub-questions and
the main thesis questions. The answers were found via theoretical research and empirical
research. For theoretical research, the author used secondary sources which were
 66

gathered from literature. For empirical research, the primary data via a web survey was
used. The survey was made to find out customers’ behavior towards sustainable clothing
products and how they make their purchase decision towards the case company’s
products. As the survey was sent only to existing customers of the case company, there
was a limited number of respondents. In total, 81 people answered the survey which was
enough to have objective analysis and conclusions. Therefore, the research is valid and
reliable.

8.3 Suggestions for further research

As mentioned at the beginning of the thesis, this research only focused on the marketing
of sustainable clothing and sustainable activewear in particular. Therefore, further study
on the marketing of other sustainable clothing products and other sustainable products in
general is suggested. Also, as the thesis concerns only the sustainable activewear
company whose target customers are people aged 25-45, it would be interesting to see
further research on the marketing of other types of companies who have different
customer segmentations.
 67

9 SUMMARY

The purpose of the thesis was to provide a better understanding of what sustainable
clothing is, what marketing of sustainable clothing means and how it differs from the
marketing of regular products. The final goal was to answer the main thesis question on
how the case company could improve their sustainable clothing marketing performance.
Theoretical information and empirical information were also collected to provide a
development plan which provides the case company with suggestions to enhance their
marketing.

The author introduced the concept of sustainable clothing and marketing of sustainable
clothing. Buyer decision-making process towards sustainable clothing was also presented.
Regarding the case company, a brief introduction and analysis of the case company’s
marketing were conducted.

To find out customers’ criteria towards sustainable clothing and how they made their
purchase decision when buying the case company’s products, a web survey was made
among existing customers of the case company. The survey revealed different insights
into the customers’ behavior, their buying criteria, how they search for information, and
their suggestions to improve the case company’s marketing. The survey’s results showed
that customers use website as the main source to learn about the company and product
information. Different sources like social media, product reviews, earned media are also
used to learn about the company and products’ sustainability features. Also, customers
favor sustainable products and they are willing to pay more for the responsible brand and
sustainable products.

The final part of the thesis was to present a development plan which offered the case
company with ideas and suggestions on how they could improve the current marketing
performance. The development plan was developed based on both theoretical research
and empirical research. A SWOT analysis also helped to complement the plan.

Findings of the thesis showed that marketing of sustainable clothing is important to raise a
better brand awareness and approach potential customers who are interested in
sustainable clothing. It is important to provide the audience with enough sustainability
information and interact with them on different channels. Having a positive image and
making customers familiar with the brand are also important because customers prefer to
buy from a familiar brand.
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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 Survey
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