Legitimacy argumentations in fast-fashion industry: a multimodal approach for OVS sustainability reporting

Sustainability reports have become essential tools for conveying a company’s initia-tives related to environmental, social, and economic sustainability (Lock & Arujo, 2020). As societal expectations continue to rise, sustainability reporting has gained widespread adoption across numerous sectors. These reports function as strategic in-struments for businesses to transparently share their social and environmental achieve-ments with various stakeholders (Thaslim & Antony, 2018). The persuasive nature of sustainability reports is increasingly significant, making rhet-oric a key component in the drafting process across industries. While rhetoric aids in legitimizing a company's activities (Hooghiemstra, 2000; Cheney et al., 2004; Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005; Castellò & Lozano, 2011), there are concerns about the potential distortion of important information. Research has highlighted the presence of rhetorical strategies and deliberate persuasive techniques within these reports (Higgins & Walker, 2012; Ihlen, 2015; Hossain et al., 2019; Putra et al., 2019).