Strategic Sustainabilty and the Triple Bottom Line.

Management researchers have proposed that our future lies in building sustainable enterprises that connect industry, society and environment (Senge and Carstedt, 2001). The firm's ultimate goal should not be just profitability (creating economic value for its shareholders). Instead, its goals should be three-fold: creating economic, social, and environmental value (Elkington, 1997). This perspective is often referred to as triple bottom line performance. In this project our objective is to examine the relationship between strategic sustainability practices in the apparel-textile complex and performance outcomes focusing on triple bottom line performance outcomes stemming from economic (sales increase, cost reduction, waste reduction, cycle reduction), social (social responsibility, ethics) and environmental (legal compliance, standards, codes, reduced impact) goals. We are examining these issues from the dual perspectives of firms and consumers. First, we will focus on firms in three areas of the textile industry: apparel, hospitality, and artificial turf. The second facet of the work will focus on consumers of textile and apparel products and examine their understanding, attitudes toward and interest in sustainably-produced textile and apparel products. We are interested in determining the extent to which consumers will pay a premium for textile and apparel products that firms emphasizing sustainability produce. More importantly, we will learn more about consumption patterns for sustainable textile and apparel products. We plan to disseminate this information to firms that agree to participate in our research via industry briefs and to the broader textile and apparel industry through an IndustryAdvisory Council we are forming as well as through industry trade publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]