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Evaluating Vivienne Westwood's Sustainable Initiative

in relation to other Luxury Brands

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To what extent does Vivienne Westwood's sustainable fashion
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initiatives provide it with a competitive advantage over other luxury

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brands?
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Subject: Business Management

Word Count: 3979

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Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………......2

2.0 Methodology………………………………………………………………………………3

3.0 Sustainability in Fashion…………………………………………………………………..4

4.0 Sustainability in Vivienne Westwood……………………………………………………..5

4.1 Profitability Ratios..…………………………………………………………….....6

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4.2 People, Planet, Profit………………………………………………………………7

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4.3 Carroll’s Sustainability Pyramid…………………………………………………10

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4.4 Porter’s 5 Forces………………………………………………………………….13
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Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………17
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Works Cited...………………………………………………………………………………...19
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1.0 Introduction

Fashion is known to be one of the most damaging industries to the environment.

Coming from the manufacturing stage, whether that be the textile, dyeing, or cutting process,

these steps are all tremendously harmful to the environment. With the fashion industry taking

up about 10% of the carbon emissions released yearly and using around 93 billion cubic

meters of water (World), becoming a sustainability established fashion business is becoming

more and more important as climate change gets progressively worse. Fortunately, over the

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years Vivienne Westwood has become increasingly popular amongst fashion consumers for

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being an eco-friendly luxury brand.

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Vivienne Westwood is a well known luxury brand that started out in the year 1971
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with punk as its main line (“The Story). Over the years, Vivienne Westwood progressed and
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became a lot more well known amongst the fashion community from participating in fashion
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week to having an array of stores across the world. Since the beginning Vivienne Westwood
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herself made it a goal to keep the brand as sustainable as possible, this included changing
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various methods in the company and manufacturing stage to ensure that the products sold are
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not a threat to the environment. As a result, Vivienne Westwood became known as the first
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sustainable and political luxury brand (“Vivienne).

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The following essay will discuss: To what extent does Vivienne Westwood's

sustainable fashion initiatives provide it with a competitive advantage over other luxury

brands? This question was formulated after the recent peak of the company on social media

when Vivienne Westwood started trending on TikTok for its statement pearl necklace in 2021

(“The “TikTok”), along with the common discussion concerning the environmental impacts

of fashion. Vivienne Westwood both as a brand and an individual has been using her power to
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influence society to fight climate change and set an example for other companies, luxury or

not, on how they too can fight off climate change. This paper will allow for an in depth

analysis on how sustainability may benefit a company through the lens of Vivienne

Westwood with relations to other luxury brands as well as through the use of various business

tools.

2.0 Methodology

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In order to answer the aforementioned research question, a variety of tools, theories,

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as well as sources will be applied. First and foremost analyzing Vivienne Westwood’s

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financial accounts between the years 2016 - 2020, that have been published by “GOV.UK”,

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will be essential when utilizing the trend and ratio analysis. Through the ratio analysis it will
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allow a better understanding of how Vivienne Westwood has excelled compared to other
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luxury brands in a more financial aspect.

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Furthermore, people, planet, profit will allow a more in depth analysis on Vivienne
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Westwood's morals and priorities as an environmentally friendly driven brand. Through the
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use of Vivienne Westwood’s website, specifically their “Our Approach” page, as well as
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benchmarks focusing on forced labor published by “KNOWTHECHAIN” will provide

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information that will help with the strand of people within the people, planet, profit analysis
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by John Elkington. As well as the use of articles and tweets for the strand of the planet, and

finally the website “finbox” to support the profit strand. In addition to the previous tools

listed, Carroll’s sustainability pyramid will be a theory used within the essay. The following

theory will dive into how Vivienne Westwood has taken responsibility in society as an

influential luxury brand. Through this theory, a better understanding over Vivienne

Westwood’s concepts and initiative towards being a sustainable fashion brand, and how it has
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provided them with an advantage against other luxury brands. The use of Vivienne

Westwood’s company website, the Vivienne Westwood page on “GOV.UK” and articles will

be utilized to help the use of Carroll’s sustainability pyramid.

Finally, the last tool that will be used is Porter’s 5 forces, which is outside of the

Business Management syllabus, therefore using presentations as well as articles are the first

steps in using this tool, as a clear understanding is crucial before moving forward. Despite

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learning the tool, utilizing it within the essay is necessary as this tool mainly focuses on

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analyzing the competition within an industry; therefore articles, “GOV.UK”, and the

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company website will be used throughout this tool. From this when evaluating how Vivienne

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Westwood has gained a competitive advantage over other luxury brands, this tool will be
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crucial.
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3.0 Sustainability in Fashion

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Sustainability in fashion is often very rare as the industry is very well known for its
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idea of ‘fast fashion’, in which it focuses on producing as many products as quickly as

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possible without thinking about the consequences of their unethical choices (Does,). Many
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companies can be associated with fast fashion but consumers don’t often think about luxury
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brands first as it’s hard to relate them to fast fashion when they charge their products at such a
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high price due to the quality. But one form of fast fashion that goes unnoticed and is the most

common within luxury brands is overconsumption. This idea of over consumption has

become such a grand problem as many people are buying clothes in order to keep up with the

trends without considering the ethicality of the company, and because of this, this is

motivating brands to keep up with the demand and overproduce products to meet the desires
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of consumers (“Overconsumption). It was stated by Michael Stanely-Jones “The urge to sell

more and get consumers to buy more is still the DNA of the industry” (“The Myth).

4.0 Sustainability in Vivienne Westwood

This aforementioned idea of overconsumption has been a huge factor in Vivienne

Westwood’s moral choices, as it has been something the brand and designer have advocated

for for years. In an article by “Stuff” published in 2010, they had included a quote that came

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directly from Westwood herself, in which she stated “I don’t feel very comfortable defending

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my fashion except to say that people don’t have to buy it. But if you’ve got the money to

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afford them, then buy something from me. Just don’t buy too much” (“‘Stop). As evidenced

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by the quote, Westwood has told the public to try and avoid buying several pieces of clothing,
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even if it comes from her brand which ultimately benefits her.

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In addition, throughout the years Vivienne Westwood has participated and started
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several campaigns, one of them being working alongside Greenpeace from the early 2010’s.
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They had partnered up in order to bring light to the situation in the Arctic in which Shell had
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started drilling to get oil (“Westwood), which then started the “Save the Arctic” campaign. In
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order to gain the public's attention around 2015 they promoted and marketed this campaign
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through the use of celebrities such as Kate Moss, George Clooney, and Jessie J, who were all
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photographed wearing the shirts designed for the campaign (“Westwood). However, not only

did they promote this campaign through celebrities but also through climate change protest

walks (WhiteHouse,).
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4.1 Profitability Ratios

The first tool used are profitability ratios, more specifically gross profit margin and

net profit margin. Understanding Vivienne Westwood in each aspect is very important when

analyzing how they are at an advantage against other brands, therefore analyzing their

financial accounts in terms of profitability is essential.

Table 1. Profitability Ratios

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Profitability Ratios

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2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

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Gross profit margin 16,973,186
37,501,674
× 100
21,727,920
40,753,496
× 100
20,747,707
38,762,292
× 100
24,900,289
46,305,231
× 100
22,321,856
42,138,770
× 100

=
𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡
× 100 45.26% 53.32% eg
53.53% 53.77% 52.97%
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𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒
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Net profit margin 1,366,129

37,501,674
× 100
1,907,207
40,753,496
× 100
2,500,140
38,762,292
× 100
2,698,556
46,305,231
× 100
3,905,187
42,138,770
× 100
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= 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑖+𝑡 3.64% 4.68% 6.45% 5.83% 9.27%

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𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒
× 100
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Within table 1. Vivienne Westwood’s gross profit margin between 2016 - 2020 has
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presented a gradual percentage increase throughout the years. During these years, Vivienne
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Westwood had participated in several climate change movements and as a result this
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advocacy has helped with increasing sales, ultimately leading to the increase in gross profit
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margin with an average of 2.83% each year. If we look closer at the years 2017 to 2019 it can

be deduced that Vivienne Westwood stayed at a steady 53% gross profit margin indicating

that throughout these years, Vivienne Westwood may not have made a strong effort to

increase sales as that may lead to over consumption which is something the brand avoids.

However, in 2020 there was a drop of 0.8% in which Vivienne Westwood had a gross profit

margin of 52.97% due to Covid-19; whereas Burberry had a gross profit margin of 67.4%
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(“The Complete) in the midst of Covid-19. As a result of the global pandemic, Vivienne

Westwood had to convert to remote methods making it more difficult to bring in sales and

advocate for what they believed in; thus the company facing a slight decrease.

Furthermore, when looking at the net profit margin from table 1. It illustrates an

increase throughout 2016 - 2018, but then a drop before a huge increase in 2020. In order for

Vivienne Westwood to increase their net profit margin and meet the standards of a safe net

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profit margin, many things could have been considered, such as laying off workers.

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Therefore, in 2020 when Covid-19 hit, every industry and company had to lay off several

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workers, Vivienne Westwood included; but in doing so, they managed to improve the

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companies net profit margin which will allow them to refrain from cutting other costs such as
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overheads.
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Through the gross profit margin and net profit margin between the years 2016 and
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2020, Vivienne Westwood unfortunately has shown to be not the most profitable company.
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From this it can be concluded that in a financial and profitable aspect Vivienne Westwood has
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not been the most profitable as seen through the comparison to Burberry.
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4.2 People, Planet, Profit in Vivienne Westwood

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People, planet, profit focuses on 3 strands; people, meaning everyone involved or

related to the company; planet, how the company's functions have been affecting the

environment; and finally, profit, which refers more towards the economies that surround the

company, whether that be locally, nationally, or globally (Grand). This tool has allowed for a

shift between measuring a company’s success solely by its profits to measuring it through the

triple bottom line.

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Figure 1. People, Planet, Profit Diagram (“People)

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When looking at the strand of “people” in Vivienne Westwood this is something that
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they put at the forefront of their business, whether that be their consumers or workers. Stated
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on their “Our Approach” page located on their website, “We respect the Human Rights of the
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people who make our brand what it is today; our supply chain workers, our heritage partners,
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our employees, our customers and our wider public.” (“Our) as shown by the quote above,
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one of Vivienne Westwood's priorities is to respect the human rights of those who have
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helped the company become what it is, those people being both the workers and consumers.
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Although how has this moral choice allowed Vivienne Westwood to excel in this aspect
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against other luxury brands? It’s very common to see in the media that retail and fashion

companies are being caught in scandals regarding their treatment and wages towards their

workers. As recently as 2021 KNOWTHECHAIN published their benchmarks for the year in

which they looked at which companies forced the most labor; and out of all the luxury brands

Prada performed the worst with a score of 5 out of 100 (KNOWTHECHAIN, 12).
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Moreover, the idea of planet and environment in Vivienne Westwood has been heavily

discussed. More specifically how their main efforts as a brand have been to save the

environment as evidenced by their climate campaigns, protests and through their

“Sustainability” page in which they include an introduction regarding their approaches and

choice, as well as links that go into more depth on environmental issues and how they choose

to address it such as, emissions & waste, packaging, policies, and many more

(“Sustainability). Unfortunately this isn’t the case for many luxury brands. Burberry has been

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found to be damaging the environment all for the reason that they are afraid the “wrong type

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of people” are purchasing their products. According to a tweet by Amanda Landingham,

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Burberry burnt up to 40 million dollars worth of clothes, this burn alone caused immense

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amounts of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses to be released into the atmosphere.
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Figure 2. Amanda Landigham’s Tweet on Burberry’s Burn (@amandilandi)

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These actions, burning clothes to avoid consumers to purchase is exactly what

Vivienne Westwood avoids. Vivienne Westwood as a company has taken pride in avoiding

the idea of overconsumption, let alone disposing of clothes in perfectly good conditions to

avoid a certain image presented of the brand by certain types of people.

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Finally, the last strand of “profit” is not as heavily discussed since Vivienne

Westwood has advocated how they prioritize human rights and the environment and how they

can bring light to these issues rather than focusing on how profitable their company is

compared to others. Through this strand we can make references to table 1. It’s seen that

Vivienne Weswtood has not been the most profitable company compared to other luxury

brands such as Burberry who had a gross profit margin of 67.4% in 2020 (“The Complete),

whereas Vivienne Westwood sat at 52.97%. Eventhough Vivienne Westwood’s gross profit

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margin is not as high as other luxury brands that has not stopped them to continue to advocate

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and fight for what they believe in, throughout the years they proceed with their campaigns

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and current company functions despite them being behind in profitability compared to bigger

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4.3 Carroll’s Sustainability Pyramid

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Carroll’s Sustainability Pyramid, also known as Carroll's pyramid of corporate social

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responsibility (CSR) focuses on how a company should take responsibility for their company
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in society. In Vivienne Westwood’s case, taking action and doing good in society has become
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their number one priority, as previously stated within the essay. Therefore, using Carroll’s
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Sustainability Pyramid will outline Vivienne Westwood's efforts through the following 4
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elements: an economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethical responsibility, and finally a

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philanthropic responsibility.

Figure 3. Carroll’s Sustainability Pyramid (“Carroll)

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First and foremost, the most important one to Vivienne Westwood is ethical

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responsibility. One thing Vivienne Westwood and her brand have prioritized is using
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sustainable materials. On the company website's “Our Approach” page a list of material they
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do and don’t use have been listed, things such as how they no longer permit fur or skin, or
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how they have cut out blended fibers (“Our) as much as possible from their products. This is
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a very important part of Vivienne Westwood as a brand as their sustainability is what they're
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known for and by trying to cut out more harmful products throughout the year or by using
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products that have been ethically sourced such as their cotton (“Our) has benefited them in
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many aspects. Especially amongst generation z as more and more consumers are looking for
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more sustainable and ethical brands (“EBSCOhost), allowing Vivienne Westwood to gain an
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advantage against other luxury brands who have not put in as much effort to maintain an

ethical and sustainable manufacturing process.

Moreover, one of the required elements from Carroll’s sustainability pyramid is

economical responsibility. This means that Vivienne Westwood has been and become a

profitable company over the years it’s been operating. Through the annual reports published

on GOV.UK the public has access to Vivienne Westwood’s financials from the years 1994 to
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2020. Based on the years between 2016 to 2020, as shown in table 1. Vivienne Westwood has

not appeared to be the most profitable company, however, they have been able to survive

through the Covid-19 pandemic without having sudden drops in profit compared to other

fashion houses and retail stores.

The following strand on the pyramid refers to legal responsibilities, this includes

things such as tax regulations and employee health and safety. As previously mentioned

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employee health and safety have been one of Vivienne Westwood’s priorities as discussed in

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people, planet, profit through the company's “Our Approach” page. Vivienne Westwood has

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taken it upon themself to stick to the laws and prioritize the employees, ensuring that they

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have received the treatment and benefits deserved and required (“Vivienne Westwood). This
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puts Vivienne Westwood at an advantage towards other luxury brands such as Prada, Dior,
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and Fendi who were found to exploit their production workers (Zilber,). These luxury brands
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have disregarded the ethical legal responsibilities that correlate with human rights, causing
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them to be at a sustainable disadvantage compared to Vivienne Westwood.

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Finally, the last element on Carroll’s sustainability pyramid is not required but is
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seeked out by society, is the philanthropic responsibility. This is how Vivienne Westwood has
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contributed to both the environment and society in order to make it a better place (“Types).
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There have been many examples of how Vivienne Westwood has contributed to the

environment, but how Vivienne Westwood has allowed society to become a better place is not

discussed as often. As previously mentioned, Vivienne Westwood focuses on 2 groups,

consumers and employees. With their consumers they are allowing them to purchase unique

ethical luxury products which allow them to take part in saving climate change.

Consequently, with the Vivienne Westwood employees, a “Code of Labour Practice” has
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been published specifically for and by Vivienne Westwood. This Code of Labour includes

health and safety expectations, working hours, discrimination, and the expectations and rules

(“Vivienne Westwood) enforced in the workplace to ensure employees receive the treatment

they deserve and the brand strives to receive for them. This has gained Vivienne Westwood a

competitive advantage as mentioned above when Prada, Dior and Fendi had gone against

human rights and exploited their production workers.

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Despite the elements Vivienne Westwood has been providing in the company in

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relation to the 4 responsibilities within Carroll’s Sustainability Pyramid, it’s important to

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consider how exactly these have provided them with an advantage. When looking at all these

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elements and comparing them from Vivienne Westwood to another luxury brand we can see
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some differences on how Vivienne Westwood is at an advantage in terms of their role and
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help to society.
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4.4 Porter’s 5 Forces

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The following section will be using Porter's 5 forces, which identifies and analyzes
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the competition within an industry (“Porter’s Five) through the lens of the 5 factors:
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competition within the industry, threat of new entrants to a market, power of suppliers, power
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of customers, and threat of substitute products (“Porter’s 5 Forces Explained).

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Figure 4. Porter’s 5 Forces Diagram (“Porter’s 5 Forces Model)

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Competitive rivalry: Primarily, Vivienne Westwood being considered a luxury brand

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comes with many advantages, as well as many disadvantages, through this label of “luxury”
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Vivienne Westwood has been put up against other brands such as Gucci. Over the years
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Gucci has evolved and grown amongst the fashion community through its years after being
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founded in the 1920’s (“Italian), making it one of, if not, the most well known luxury brands
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known today. With Gucci operating in the fashion industry for 50 years longer than Vivienne
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Westwood they have been put at a disadvantage as Gucci has had the time to experiment with
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its company operations, and create a name for itself amongst the generations. Regardless,
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Vivienne Westwood has gained an advantage through the advocacy of saving the

environment, something that Gucci has only started advocating for more recently.

New entrants within the market: With fashion being one of the biggest industries,

worrying about new brands entering the market is a common issue. Vivienne Westwood's

approach and focus has been on becoming a sustainable fashion luxury brand, this sets them
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apart from both current and incoming luxury brands as they often focus on their brand image

rather than the ethicality of their company. Nevertheless in this day and age sustainable

fashion is becoming more popular for smaller brands, though this would not come as a threat

for Vivienne Westwood as they have already established their place within the fashion

industry and sustainable brands.

Power of suppliers: For fashion brands to be able to produce their goods they must

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go through suppliers. These suppliers have the power to drive up the cost of products through

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increasing their rates and the prices of their sources, which will ultimately lead brands,

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especially luxury brands such as Vivienne Westwood to decrease their profits due to the

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increased price of raw materials. Fortunately, one of the strands that Vivienne Westwood has
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prioritized is human rights and this correlates to suppliers and treating them with respect.
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Following this Vivienne Westwood has published a “Code of Labour” which includes
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sections such as wages, forced labor, working hours and more, all in which can correlate to
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suppliers (“Vivienne Westwood). Despite Vivienne Westwood’s moral approach when

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dealing with suppliers, there are other luxury brands who have had scandals when dealing
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with their supplier. Through this, this has provided Vivienne Westwood with a competitive
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advantage as more and more recently the idea of “boycotting” companies has become more
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common as evidenced by the Business and Human Rights Resource Center in their article
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about the increase in consumers boycotting goods and services for an ethical and human

rights issue (Business.).

Power of customers: Similarly to the power of suppliers in industries such as fashion

a very important aspect of this industry involves the customers. Unfortunately when

comparing Vivienne Westwood to another luxury brand such as Gucci, Vivienne Westwood is
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at a disadvantage which can be evaluated through the company's sales revenues. In the year

2020 Vivienne Westwood’s sales revenue sat at £42,138,770 (GOV.UK, 14), whereas Gucci

surpassed Vivienne Westwood’s revenue with €7,440.6 million in sales revenue (“Global).

Through the sales revenue it indicates that Vivienne Westwood is at a disadvantage regarding

customers in a more financial aspect; however, more recently Vivienne Westwood has made

more efforts in creating a stronger customer basis through converting to using Mapp Cloud

when dealing with their customers as it provides the company as well as the customers with

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support and online communication (Mapp).

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Threat of substitute products: The fashion industry is an ever-evolving industry and

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has been for decades, thus what is be trending now may not be trending or what consumers
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are looking for in a couple years time. This can be seen as a possible issue for Vivienne
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Westwood as their current style incorporates influences of punk into their goods. Punk has
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been a very popular style amongst the public back in the 1970’s, in which Vivienne
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Westwood the designer herself had influenced this style (Admin). However, fashion trends
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have changed drastically and for example, has progressed from punk to y2k to now, street
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style, in which during this time Vivienne Westwood has stuck to their punk roots. Therefore,
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the idea of threat of substitute products may be a matter of concern for Vivienne Westwood as
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consumers are often looking for the latest trends, something Vivienne Westwood does not
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prioritize; nonetheless they may gain an advantage as authenticity has been achieved all while

being an environmentally friendly brand, something many consumers within generation z are

looking for, as previously stated.

As evidenced by Porter’s 5 Forces, Vivienne Westwood is unfortunately at a

disadvantage to other luxury brands as shown through relations to Gucci in terms of

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financials and sales, as well as through the evolution of products and style within the market.

However, through their sustainable approach they have gained an advantage over consumers

within generation z and millennials as these generations are more likely to boycott a company

that is not ethical and tend to lean more towards sustainable brands such as Vivienne

Westwood. Fortunately through this Vivienne Westwood is at an advantage of customer

loyalty.

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5.0 Conclusion

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To conclude, this essay focused on answering: To what extent does Vivienne

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Westwood’s sustainable fashion initiatives provide it with a competitive advantage over other

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luxury brands? Tools and theories such as profitability ratios, a people, planet, profit analysis,
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Carroll’s sustainability pyramid, and lastly Porter’s 5 forces, have been applied throughout
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the essay to analyze Vivienne Westwood’s company operations through the brands
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sustainable approaches.
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Through the profitability ratios presented in table 1. it demonstrated that Vivienne

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Westwood has not gained a competitive advantage in a financial aspect despite its
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environmental efforts. However, shown in the people, planet, profit analysis both strand
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“people” and “planet” have become the forefront of Vivienne Westwood in which an analysis
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comparing Vivienne Weswtood to Burberry and briefly to Prada showed how exactly

Vivienne Westwood has succeeded and been at an advantage through their ethical and moral

choices. Moreover, through the Carroll’s sustainability pyramid analysis, this section had

focused on Vivienne Westwood’s responsibilities towards society as a big luxury brand and

how that has allowed them to excel in ways other luxury brands may not have. Finally,

Porter’s 5 forces provided the essay with an in depth analysis through the 5 different
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components that may threaten a business, specifically with references to Gucci to compare to

Vivienne Wstwood and evaluate how they have been at an advantage.

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