In Good Standing

In a time when consumers have become more vigilant than ever, Samir Alam highlights the importance of reputation management for global brands.

- Samir Alam

H&M is one of the largest and most profitable fast-fashion apparel retail brands in the world. The reason for its immense popularity lies in its ability to tap into consumer preferences and deliver trendy, in-fashion products faster and with greater variety than its competitors. With millions of customers worldwide, the company maintains a close eye on its customers’ preferences and trends. This is why 2011 was a landmark year for the brand as it took a hit under accusations from Greenpeace.

The non-profit watchdog group released a report titled ‘Dirty Laundry’, which alleged that H&M’s China-based production centers were responsible for polluting national waterways with hazardous chemicals. H&M wasn’t alone in this incident as many other international brands were also accused of similar negligence. Companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Bauer Hockey, Calvin Klein, Converse, Cortefiel, Lacoste, Nike, PVH Corp., and Puma were all mentioned in the report. In this article, we will be looking at what reputation management means for those in the apparel industry and how they can adopt some simple lessons to protect their brand’s value.

REPUTATION MATTERS

This incident proved to be a wake-up call for the fast-fashion retail industry as a whole. In the months following the report, most of these brands initiated massive rebranding exercises to clear their account books of the stink of the scandal. But it is not just issues of environmental protection that can lead to such incidents. Given the digital nature of modern communications, brands face a multitude of attacks even at the slightest misstep. Consider the Photoshop scandal faced by Calvin Klein for its campaign featuring Justin Bieber or the time when it was discovered that the clothing of Gap was being produced by Indian children under abusive environments.