Fashion Consumption and Public Discourse: Mechanisms of Sales Obstruction

Fashion is under scrutiny. Social activists raise the debate around animal welfare in the apparel industry. With shocking and disturbing images, they are campaigning to attract worldwide media attention in order to highlight serious animal abuse in production of fashion, and influence consumption. Our study addresses how this movement influences “meaning” that is given to related fashion products, and how seemingly similar campaigns sort different effects on consumer practices. Via a cross case discourse analysis of Dutch fashion texts, this paper sheds light on why this might be the case. It concludes with the notion that it is discourses which change first before shaping social reality.