Who governs sustainable fashion? Responsibility distribution and governance coherence in sustainable fashion literature: a systematic literature review

Purpose This article aims to examine how responsibility for sustainable fashion governance is distributed across corporate, societal and governmental actors within existing sustainable fashion research and what this distribution reveals about the structure and coherence of sustainable fashion governance frameworks. Design/methodology/approach Following Siddaway et al. (2019), the systematic review analyzed 92 studies selected through a transparent screening process, including 72 articles, 11 book chapters, 2 policy reports and 6 conference papers. Findings Findings show that sustainable fashion literature is predominantly shaped through market-centered and consumer-oriented governance perspectives. Corporate actors are positioned as primary sustainable fashion drivers, while societal actors are increasingly responsibilized within sustainable fashion transitions. In contrast, governmental involvement remains comparatively underdeveloped, with policy discussions centered on isolated regulatory instruments rather than integrated governance frameworks. These patterns reveal a broader coherence gap within sustainable fashion governance discussions, where sustainability transitions are frequently framed through voluntary market participation without equivalent attention to governance across the broader fashion ecosystem. Originality/value This review advances a governance-oriented interpretation of how sustainable fashion responsibility is distributed across corporate, societal and governmental actors within sustainable fashion scholarship. By combining descriptive and thematic analysis and drawing on a service-dominant logic perspective (Vargo and Lusch, 2016), the study demonstrates how dominant sustainable fashion discussions remain structured around fragmented and market-oriented governance approaches, contributing to broader coherence gaps in sustainable fashion governance. The review further outlines recommendations for more integrated governance-oriented research across sustainable fashion systems.