Sustainability in fashion retail: literature review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to explore and analyze the recent scientific production on sustainability in the fashion retail sector. The methodology was based on a literature review and bibliometric analysis of the last 12 years of peer-reviewed published papers on the topic. The results illustrated an increase in publications in 2017 and 2018, with large participation from countries such as the United States and China. The findings covered a broad diversity of topics related to fashion retail such as: slow fashion, fast fashion, sustainability in the supply chain, sustainable production and consumption of textile products, and the main barriers, benefits, and trends for this sector in a near future. Due to the increase of negative social and environmental impacts in the last decades more studies related to sustainability practices to be adopted by this sector are required to identify potential alternative solutions for the problem. We did a list with the 55 most important practices to promote sustainability in fashion retail.