Exploring the social and environmental performance in fast-fashion supply chains: a comparative analysis between MNCs and SMEs

Purpose In the last two decades, there has been growing attention to social and environmental issues in the fast-fashion supply chains due to increased innovation, social and environmental awareness and internationalisation. Extant studies have explored the key sustainable practices in the fast-fashion supply chain in multinational companies (MNCs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, this study aims to address a dearth of literature related to social and environmental performance measurement. Design/methodology/approach The research uses quantitative and qualitative data to explore social and environmental practices in the fast-fashion supply chain to measure the performance of MNCs and SMEs as a comparative study. Prior literature was systematically evaluated qualitatively using thematic analysis to explore the social and environmental practices in fashion supply chains and to identify the key social and environmental challenges in fast-fashion supply chains. Quantitative data were gathered from the Business of Fashion Index (BoF) and MNCs and SMEs’ annual sustainability performance reports. Two quantitative measurement reports were conducted to attain optimal accuracy of results, which are the chi-square test and Cohen’s d. Findings Findings indicate that emission, water consumption, waste management material usage, transparency and labour rights are the fast-fashion supply chain’s key environmental and social considerations. Moreover, the results suggest that SMEs have a greater ability to achieve successful sustainability performance because their supply chain is often local, in contrast to the impact of globalisation on MNCs, which results in a large supply chain network, thus, more challenges and complexity. Originality/value This research supports the environmental and social sustainability debates by empirically exploring the application of environmental sustainability practices in the fast-fashion supply chain. The quantitative comparison between SMEs and MNCs is envisaged to support decision-makers and fashion companies in enhancing their sustainability performance.