Fashion has always played a vital role in how individuals present themselves and integrate into society. From individual emblems to globally recognized trademarks, fashion has proven that it does not only survive the pressure of time but elegantly flourishes because of it. As such, when local folklore becomes an internationally recognized symbol, campaigns that raise awareness and give credit to local craftsmen have the potential to develop a meaningful basis for establishing new brands and fighting cultural appropriation.

This paper aims to address the role of campaigns in promoting folklore and ethical fashion by using the case study La blouse Roumaine. The first part is a historical synopsis, depicting the role of folklore in symbolism and tradition. The second part focuses on theory, arguing that fashion can be used as an instrument for both cultural diplomacy and the promotion of narratives. The third part covers the case study of La blouse Roumaine. From the expansion of globalized capitalism to marketing and public relations strategies, the case of the Romanian blouse stands out because of its impact on the fashion industry and Romanian society. It is interesting to observe how the #GiveCredit campaign emerged, and if it truly mattered. From Matisse to YSL and the creation of Bihor Couture, the paper presents the story of the Romanian blouse as an international label associated with fighting cultural appropriation.

Sustainability in fashion manufacturing is a recent trend in many countries. Due to increased global pressure, strict legislation and consumer awareness, many global fashion brands are adopting sustainable practices in manufacturing and distribution. Adoption of sustainability into business development helps the brands enhance their performance in the competitive global market. For established global luxury fashion brands, the implementation of sustainability is much easier compared to the local luxury fashion brands. The adoption of sustainable practices in corporate social responsibility and eco-friendly manufacturing among local luxury fashion brands are very limited, due to several challenges they face in adopting the concept of sustainability. This research investigated the practices and challenges faced by luxury fashion brands in Vietnam to implement the concept of sustainability in manufacturing. Our findings are based on a series of in-depth interviews with the leading local luxury fashion business owners in Vietnam. We found that the concept of sustainable fashion has been evidenced through the improvement of ethnic cultures, the heavy usage of local resources, sustainable lifestyle promotion and management and thereby contributions to local environmental, economic, and social development. Local luxury fashion brands follow approaches such as implementation of corporate social responsibility, a safe working culture, and basic amenities and skill enhancement as a part of their corporate social responsibility. Several challenges that local luxury fashion brands are facing include limited funding for installing sustainable technologies, lack of skilled people, and the high cost of sustainable materials and certificates.

In 2019, 181 CEOs from leading U.S. companies signed a Statement of Purpose proposing to lead their companies toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals. However, their aims still assume that markets will evolve over time to resolve socioeconomic and environmental challenges while still making a profit. Drawing on my past research, I show how sustainably-driven entrepreneurism can be used to review specific case studies (e.g., Nike). Through semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in sustainable development, I clarify the relationships between environmental, social, and economic development.

Research suggests that standardized measurements across the fashion industry are actually narrowing business goals, by choosing key performance indicators that show eco-efficiency gains only in terms of environmental profit and loss accounting. My interviews with stakeholders confirmed that larger businesses and members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition will have the most to gain from these measurement tools, namely the Higg Index, which seeks to bring about consumer-facing transparency by ranking apparel and footwear companies with simple aggregated scores. These potentially high-scoring corporations, such as Nike, fail to tackle the escalating problems of economic equity, such as a fair distribution between the hemispheres and the intergenerational inheritance of natural capital. They also ignore the need to curb demand for the consumption of goods.

Using Young and Tilley’s (2006) framework, I make recommendations for the future of international supply chains, production, and manufacturing. This concept paper investigates alliances, decentralized supply chains and co-operative economics as ways to create more profound change in the fashion industry.