Resilience Practices and Environmental Sustainability in the Bangladeshi Fashion Supply Chain: The Moderating Role of Digital Tools

There is growing demand for environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains (FSC), particularly to face risks related to climate change and pollution of suppliers in developing nations. Hence, supply chain (SC) actors must reconcile environmental sustainability from two perspectives: waste management and pollution/emissions. This study investigates how resilience constructs—specifically visibility, agility, flexibility, and collaboration—influence waste management and pollution/emissions in the FSC and how digital tools moderate these relationships. The digital tools considered include blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data predictive analytics (BDPA), artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud-based platforms (CBP), all recognized for their strong potential to transform the fashion industry. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected via questionnaire from 190 actors in the Bangladeshi FSC. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using Smart-PLS 4.0 to test the proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that visibility, agility, and collaboration positively influence both waste management and the pollution/emissions dimension of environmental sustainability. SC actors that prioritize transparent information flow, effective data sharing, and collaborative practices tend to achieve better environmental sustainability outcomes. Additionally, digital tools were found to moderate these relationships, strengthening the positive impact of visibility while diminishing the influence of agility. This study provides empirical evidence for the role of digital tools in enhancing environmental sustainability in the FSC, offering valuable insights for both academia and practitioners.