Addressing Plus-Size Clothing Concerns
Discuss about the CSR Campaign for a Luxury Fashion Chain.
Luxury fashion brands in Singapore are seen to ignore all the opportunities that can be availed of in the plus sized sector, including companies that manufacture both apparel as well as accessories, and the Trend-Z Fashion Company is no exception. According to Parrott et al., (2013), the body positive movement in terms of luxury fashion at least, in Singapore still has miles to go (Parrott et al, 2013). Wu et al., (2015), argue that while plus sized women in Singapore are seen to be doing well in the entertainment sector, particularly in the music and television industries and in slapstick and standup comedies, in fashion and especially luxury fashion, plus sized women continue to remain invisible (Wu et al., 2015). Yet the demand for plus size fashion has been rising steadily, and Trend-Z’s refusal to include plus size garments in its line of clothing led to a severe backlash on social media. As per the given scenario numerous comments were posted on the company’s Facebook page, stating that the company believed in body shaming and that it was being entirely unethical to certain sections of the Singaporean population by not including luxury garments for plus size women at its various outlets. Such negative feedback was not been well perceived by the Trend-Z Luxury Fashion Company in Singapore at all, and the management of the company has decided to embark on a corporate social responsibility campaign to improve the image of the company and to appease the plus size clientele for luxury fashion in Singapore. This report outlines a plan as to how the Trend-Z Luxury Fashion Company will address the primary concerns and grievances of plus-sized women who are interested in buying luxury fashion from the company’s different outlets. It will also highlight the specific research that will be undertaken to understand initiatives and activities of luxury fashion companies in Singapore in the area of corporate social responsibility. Finally, the report will describe a plan for the implementation of this corporate social responsibility campaign.
In order to address the concerns of plus size women regarding not being able to buy anything Trend-Z Fashion because of the lack of garment availability for their size, every effort will be made to take their needs, requirements and requests into account. Malthouse et al., (2013), argue that social media engagement with customers is vital if an enterprise wants to progress in its business ventures (Malthouse et al., 2013). The best way for Trend-Z Fashion to do this is to inquire or take feedback from potential plus size customers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram and then make this known to the production managers of the fashion chain. Based on the type of garments that is being requested for by plus size women and the number of women making such requests, efforts will be made to produce a line of trendy and fashionable clothing and accessories that is exclusively meant for the use of plus size women. The types of plus sizes that need to be taken into consideration in order to manufacture and launch a garments line specifically for plus size women will be known only after taking to potential plus size customers in detail and finding out what the average body size of a plus size woman or man is. Only after finding this out by taking feedback on social media and by entering into a discussion with clothing stores in Singapore that do manufacture garments for plus size women, will the management of the Trend-Z fashion company know exactly what it is that is that needs to be produced in order to build and sustain an extensive plus size client base. At the same time, Trend-Z fashion will take care not to cater to the demands of anorexic customers either. By supporting anorexia or the obsession with being excessively thin, the Trend-Z Fashion Company fails to be body inclusive in its business approach. It will instead take all types of body sizes into account when producing luxury clothing for women and men with the concerns and requirements plus size customers being made a priority now.
The Role of Business in Societal Affairs
The role that business has to play in societal affairs is a topic that has been hotly debated for over a considerable period of time, in economic literature. As stated by Baker (2013), theorists like Rousseau, Locke and Hobbes, a social contract is in place that is both implicit as well as explicit and which governs business operations in a given community (Baker, 2013). Tai and Chuang (2013), argue that business is granted two very significant and specific rights that allow it to carry out its functions (Tai & Chuang, 2014). These are limited liability and potential immortality. As stated by Witkowska (2016), the process of continuation of any business is also something that presupposes numerous enabling or supporting things from society such as trained and educated human resource, law and order, means of exchange and external defense (Witkowska, 2016). Galego-Alvarez et al., (2014), state that it is possible for a business enterprise to take full advantage of such rights but only if it performs all the duties and functions that it is supposed to as a good and responsible corporate citizen (Galego-Alvareze et al., 2014). According to Christensen et al., (2013), this in a nutshell is exactly what the process of corporate social responsibility entails. The debate as to whether the responsibility of a business enterprise lies only towards specific shareholders or to each and every shareholder, that includes the society and the environment, is one that continues. However, it is believed that the concept of timeframe is one that should be granted due importance in this respect and over time it is a business enterprises capability of sustaining itself that will prove to be of vital importance (Christensen et al., 2013). In fact as argued by McWilliams (2015), the interests of stakeholders and shareholders shall not only converge in the long run but it will also turn out to be much more balanced (McWilliams, 2015).
Prior to launching a corporate social responsibility campaign, detailed survey shall be undertaken on the literature that is available on corporate social responsibility. This will be done mainly to arrive at a conceptualized understanding of the subject matter. The information or data that is available regarding activities as well as initiatives related to corporate social responsibility shall be extracted from a wide range of financial reports that are generated by luxury fashion companies in Singapore. As many as fifty luxury fashion companies in the city of Singapore shall also receive semi-structured questionnaires that will elicit information regarding codes of ethics, decision-making process, corporate social responsibility initiatives, implementation strategy as well as an assessment of such programs. On the basis of the response that is received as well as the seriousness pertaining to efforts undertaken in the area of corporate social responsibility, it will be possible to then go ahead and carry out detailed case studies of as many as five to ten luxury fashion chains in Singapore and to document all the experiences of such companies. The case studies that are conducted in detail shall entail discussions and interviews with ethics officers, top levels of the management, independent directors, and employees working in luxury fashion management. Documentation work in particular shall focus on the specific strategies that can be implemented in addition to impact assessment as well as the important lessons that the corporate world can learn from this research as a whole.
Research Methodology
To carry out a CSR campaign as successfully as possible in order to make its image in the business world a more body inclusive one, the Trend-Z Fashion Company will publish press releases to state that it is going to be launching a garments line that is meant exclusively for plus size customers. As many as four to five press releases will be launched in a period of two weeks in leading websites and business magazines that will make known the efforts being undertaken by the Trend-Z Fashion Company to include the needs and requirements of plus size customers when manufacturing and marketing luxury clothing. The company will also engage in some active community service and will support charities and organizations that look into the wellbeing of plus size people suffering from diseases specific to their physical condition. As argued by Dabijar and Babut (2014), charity work forms an integral part of any CSR campaign (Dabija & Babut, 2014). Charities that generate awareness and concern about issues like obesity will be well supported by the Trend-Z Fashion Company in financial terms and that too over the long term. As argued by Chaffee (2017), advertising also plays a crucial role in the success of CSR campaigns (Chaffee, 2017). Advertisements will be placed in target publications like fashion magazines and all important newspapers about the new clothing line for plus size customers. In the view of Theaker (20I7), social media must be used as best as possible for the promotion of a CSR campaign (Theaker, 2017). So, the Trend-Z Fashion Company will also make extensive use of social media platforms to engage with potential efforts and ask them how best they can cater to the requirements of Singapore’s plus size population in the area of luxury clothing.
References
Baker, E. (2013). Social Contract, Essays by Locke, Hume and Rousseau. Read Books Ltd.
Chaffee, E. C. (2017). The Origins of Corporate Social Responsibility. U. Cin. L. Rev., 85, 353
Christensen, L. T., Morsing, M., & Thyssen, O. (2013). CSR as aspirational talk. Organization, 20(3), 372-393
Dabija, D. C., & B?bu?, R. (2014). Empirical study on the impact of service, communication and corporate social responsibility on the image of Romanian retail brands.
Galego-Álvarez, I., Formigoni, H., & Antunes, M. T. P. (2014). Corporate social responsibility practices at Brazilian firms. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 54(1), 12-27.
Malthouse, E. C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E., & Zhang, M. (2013). Managing customer relationships in the social media era: Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), 270-280
McIntosh, M. J., & Morse, J. M. (2015). Situating and constructing diversity in semi-structured interviews. Global qualitative nursing research, 2, 2333393615597674.
McWilliams, A. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Wiley encyclopedia of management, 1-4.
Parrott, G., Danbury, A., & Kanthavanich, P. (2015). Online behaviour of luxury fashion brand advocates. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 19(4), 360-383
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.
Theaker, A. (2017). What is public relations?. In The Public Relations Strategic Toolkit (pp. 17-27). Routledge
Witkowska, J. (2016). Corporate Social Responsability: Selected Theoretical and Empirical Aspects. Comparative Economic Research, 19(1), 27-43
Wu, M. S. S., Chaney, I., Chen, C. H. S., Nguyen, B., & Melewar, T. C. (2015). Luxury fashion brands: factors influencing young female consumers’ luxury fashion purchasing in Taiwan. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 18(3), 298-319
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