The study “How does H&M Group communicate sustainability in a non-sustainable industry?” examines how the fashion companies H&M, Arket, COS, & Other Stories and Monki, who are part of the H&M Group, communicates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at their websites and how trustworthy their communication is. CSR is about how companies take a greater social responsibility than what the law requires to contribute to a better world. The issue of sustainability is an important question in today’s society and the negative impact on people and planet of the fashion industry makes the topic relevant of its time. 

The study is based on the theories CSR, that includes Triple Bottom Line which describes CSR from three dimensions, and A Framework of CSR communication which describes several factors that companies should assume when communicating about CSR. The concept of trustworthiness is also included in the theoretical framework of the study. Based on the method multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) an analysis scheme has been designed. By using the analytical tools lexical choices, word connotations, iconography, attributes and modality in language the companies have been analyzed in an equivalent way.  

The analysis resulted in three discursive themes that could be identified in the CSR-communication of the companies in H&M Group. The discursive themes were – “engage consumers to act”, “the environmental dimension in focus”, and “the future fashion industry as circular and somewhat encouraging”. The analysis also showed that the trustworthiness of the communication varies between the companies and that they create trustworthiness in different ways despite being part of the same group. The companies create trustworthiness through transparency, emotions and concrete examples.