Innovation in the Cultural and Creative Industries

5Tale Me, Green Innovation for the Textile Industry

5.1. Introduction

At the beginning of September 2018, the luxury brand Burberry abandoned a widespread practice in the fashion industry, the incineration of unsold items. Indeed, haute couture and luxury brands refuse to offer private sales and discounts. These different commercial practices are at the opposite end of the scale to the values defended by these brands. At the same time, the London firm confirmed the elimination of animal fur from its product lines. The French government is following suit and wishes to ban the destruction of clothing by 2019, in the same way as the law on food waste (law no. 2016-138 of February 11, 2016). Fashion is, after petrochemistry, the most polluting industry in the world¹. The environmental emergency invites all actors in the sector to find solutions through green innovations.

Green innovations are subject to a semantic plurality (Schiederig et al. 2012; Klewitz and Hansen 2014). The latter is defined as a new or improved process, equipment, product, technique or management system that avoids or reduces environmental impacts (Kemp and Pearson 2007; Horbach 2008; Van Den Bergh et al. 2011). Different degrees of change (effects on the economic system) can be distinguished with regard to the innovation selected (Carrillo-Hermosilla et al. 2010): end-of-pipe (end of cycle), eco-efficiency (subsystem), eco-effectiveness (system). Similarly, we observe different dissemination strategies within ...