Sustainopreneurship and its’ role in sustainable fashion brands of India

Abstract

This study focuses on sustainopreneurship (Abrahamsson, 2007; Schlange 2009) and its’ role in developing, innovative yet sustainable business practices for the sustainable fashion brands of India. The findings of this study are centring on selected brands which are coming up with sustainable solutions within the context of the processes, product, people and work-place. This study uses in-depth interviews and guided conversations with the entrepreneurs of the selected sustainable fashion brands of India to build case studies on two such brands following the ethnographic methodology (O'Reilly, 2012). The first case focuses on a brand which is moving towards a zero-waste production unit by creating their sustainable solutions of procuring raw materials, designing the products and innovating with the waste generated at their workplace. The second case is about a brand which focuses on up-cycling the already produced material which has been discarded by the manufacturers or producers due to defects, misprints, stitching wastes among others. These two brands use different ways to design their products and have come with sustainable solutions for a greener planet and have been ardently working towards that goal. The study concludes that the zeal behind these brands’ practices, visions and goals is because of the moral compass of their respective entrepreneurs pointing towards ethical behaviour which forms the roots of ‘sustainopreneurship’.