Integrating sustainability in the fashion system using association rules

This work aims at analysing the environmental strategies developed by fashion companies in order to identify the most important stakeholders involved in the strategy, the environmental practices carried out and the competitiveness impacts. A conceptual model, based on Association Rules (AR), has been proposed for investigating the network of influences among the environmental strategy, the environmental management practices and the environmental competitiveness and profitability of the companies. The research has been conducted through a survey submitted to fashion companies operating in Textile, Clothing and Leather (TCL) sectors. Results indicate that “customers” and “suppliers” are the most important stakeholders to be involved in the environmental strategy. A greater compliance and a risk reduction can be reached when the Financial institutions, Environmental NGOs, Rivals and Shareholders are involved in the environmental strategy. In this regards, results highlighted the importance of Environmental auditing programme for suppliers and Sustainable disclosures. Moreover, in fashion sector, the companies that pursued “Lower cost” as competitive advantage aim at obtaining from environmental strategy a great access to capital and lower cost of capital.