Green Practices in the Fashion Supply Chain: A Literature Review
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handbags, sportswear, and accessories segments (belt, gloves, caps, and hats); (2)
sustainable practices concerning social and economic aspects were not considered.
After completing the search of the 8 keywords in 3 databases, 188 publications
were selected. Among these, repeated articles were removed and the titles, abstracts,
and keywords were read in order to identify association with the established research
theme. In this stage, conference articles, technical articles, and journal articles dealing
with sustainability in a context other than the environment in the fashion industry
were excluded.
As such, 25 articles aligned to the research were obtained. Finally, 3 additional
relevant articles were selected from the sample, totaling 28 studies to proceed with
the synthesis and analysis.
3.2 Analysis and Synthesis
For the synthesis and analysis of findings, a content analysis adapted from Bardin
(2010) was chosen for the method. This approach works the coding and extraction of
content from the division of the material into (1) registration units and (2) thematic
axes; it was developed with the help of Excel
® software for data processing.
In this study, six thematic axes were developed: (a) green practices (environmental
management; green purchasing; reverse logistics; investment recovery; ecodesign;
cooperation with customers); (b) links of SC (raw material extraction; yarn; fabric;
finished fabric; retail; final consumer); (c) case description (main features of the
practice).
The descriptions of the registration units and thematic axes were based on Euratex
(2004)’ Allwood et al. (2006), Zhu et al. (2007, 2008, 2012), De Brito et al. (2008),
Seuring and Muller (2008), and Tomasin et al. (2013). Green practices and SC links
were organized in (a) table with case studies, type of practices and SC links involved;
(b) figure of green practices frequency by SC link; (c) discussion of the results from
drivers and barriers to their implementation and the relationship between SC links.
The supply chain links that will compose this study (see Fig. 1) will be delimited
according to Seuring and Muller (2008) in: (a) focal company—retail link; (b) tier
1 suppliers: maintains direct contact with the company—fabric and finished fabric;
(c) tier 2 suppliers: raw material extraction and yarn; (d) tier 1 customers: individual
or professional use; (e) tier 2 customers: second-hand retail.
4 Results and Discussion
In Table 1, the different green practices and their main characteristics found in the
studies analyzed are grouped. Note the greater incidence of practices related to corporate social and environmental responsibility (environmental management system),
in the establishment of suppliers compliance attributes (green purchasing), new ways
121
handbags, sportswear, and accessories segments (belt, gloves, caps, and hats); (2)
sustainable practices concerning social and economic aspects were not considered.
After completing the search of the 8 keywords in 3 databases, 188 publications
were selected. Among these, repeated articles were removed and the titles, abstracts,
and keywords were read in order to identify association with the established research
theme. In this stage, conference articles, technical articles, and journal articles dealing
with sustainability in a context other than the environment in the fashion industry
were excluded.
As such, 25 articles aligned to the research were obtained. Finally, 3 additional
relevant articles were selected from the sample, totaling 28 studies to proceed with
the synthesis and analysis.
3.2 Analysis and Synthesis
For the synthesis and analysis of findings, a content analysis adapted from Bardin
(2010) was chosen for the method. This approach works the coding and extraction of
content from the division of the material into (1) registration units and (2) thematic
axes; it was developed with the help of Excel
® software for data processing.
In this study, six thematic axes were developed: (a) green practices (environmental
management; green purchasing; reverse logistics; investment recovery; ecodesign;
cooperation with customers); (b) links of SC (raw material extraction; yarn; fabric;
finished fabric; retail; final consumer); (c) case description (main features of the
practice).
The descriptions of the registration units and thematic axes were based on Euratex
(2004)’ Allwood et al. (2006), Zhu et al. (2007, 2008, 2012), De Brito et al. (2008),
Seuring and Muller (2008), and Tomasin et al. (2013). Green practices and SC links
were organized in (a) table with case studies, type of practices and SC links involved;
(b) figure of green practices frequency by SC link; (c) discussion of the results from
drivers and barriers to their implementation and the relationship between SC links.
The supply chain links that will compose this study (see Fig. 1) will be delimited
according to Seuring and Muller (2008) in: (a) focal company—retail link; (b) tier
1 suppliers: maintains direct contact with the company—fabric and finished fabric;
(c) tier 2 suppliers: raw material extraction and yarn; (d) tier 1 customers: individual
or professional use; (e) tier 2 customers: second-hand retail.
4 Results and Discussion
In Table 1, the different green practices and their main characteristics found in the
studies analyzed are grouped. Note the greater incidence of practices related to corporate social and environmental responsibility (environmental management system),
in the establishment of suppliers compliance attributes (green purchasing), new ways