Background: Consumers are aware of and care for the environment, which has led to a need for transparent and sustainable fashion products. This results in that companies need to create transparent and sustainable communication strategies to gain the consumers’ trust. In order to strengthen trust among consumers, brands needs to tell stories that are credible and create emotional bonds. A few fashion companies has taken this transparency further through implementing cost transparency in their business model. This means that they as opposite to traditional retailers reveals its costs and margins in order to justify the product price and communicate this through storytelling towards the end consumer.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to present how fashion companies that today work with cost transparency disclose this information, what parts of the cost structure they do not disclose and how it is communicated through storytelling. This paper will focus on companies that communicate cost transparency to the end consumer online and how they do this through their company websites and their online shops. The research will add to the existing literature which has until now concentrated on transparency from an ethical supply chain perspective and price transparency.

Methodology: This research is a qualitative study where a comparative research design is chosen. A multiple-case study is chosen where primary data regarding cost transparency and storytelling is collected from three company websites. The data is later analysed back and forth with concepts presented in the theoretical framework in order to analyse how fashion companies work with cost transparency and storytelling.

Findings: The research shows that all three cases choose to display transparent cost information related to direct material costs and manufacturing costs as well as a price comparison with traditional retail brands. Meanwhile the less recognisable costs such as the indirect costs related to running the business were not included in the cost breakdown information. The cost transparency narrative is used in storytelling to educate the consumer where all three cases tell a story where they function as the hero, meanwhile the traditional retailers represents the villain.

Managerial implications: From a company perspective, everything related to adding a value to the product is seen as part of the cost structure. Hence, in order to keep the consumers’ trust and stay relevant, it is seen that companies are advised to tell stories that transparently gives the consumers the full picture of the cost structure.