1 1. Introduction Waste disposal is one of the global challenges that will continue to deteriorate the earth. In the era of the growth of industrialization, the way industries dispose of their waste has far-reaching impacts on every aspect of living from environment to individual health. Around 2.12 billion tons of waste are dumped every year. This number also includes household, industrial, plastic, and sewage waste (The World Counts, 2023). Waste-dumping unfortunately can lead to another problem which is the spreading of pollution and global warming. With the increase of global industries, the amount of global waste production has also risen and is expected to increase by 70 percent in 2050 (The World Counts, 2023). Fast-fashion has become incredibly popular in recent years with rapidly producing high volumes of clothing at low-price to meet the up-to-date fashion trends continuously. Though it has a profitable strategy, fast-fashion is known for its major damage to the environment because of the waste of water, energy, and chemicals that costs hundreds of years to decompose. The current trend of over-purchasing due to the low prices offered by fast-fashion and discarding clothing is creating a significant environmental burden. According to a report provided by Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), without significant changes, the fashion’s industry’s unsustainable practices will result in over 150 million tons of clothing waste being disposed of in landfills or incinerators by 2050. To address this problem, companies need to contribute to preventing the continuous growth of waste-disposal by increasing their sustainable performance. Sustainable performance in business can be defined as the ability to make money for their shareholders while also doing good for the environment and society over the long-term period (Al- Abbadi & Rumman, 2023). Their efforts to become more sustainable works through functional departments such as marketing, manufacturing, finance, and human resource departments. Human 2 resource departments hold in managing individuals in the organization from selection process to training and development, and are known as the Custodian of the Culture in organizations (Rani & Mishra, 2014). From the human resources perspective, the application of green HRM is needed in order to achieve sustainable business performance in a company thoroughly. Green HRM is a strategic approach that integrates environmental considerations into human resources practices. Green HRM involves interactions between all employees within the organization that aims to promote sustainable practices, enhancing employee efficiencies and commitments on facing environmental issues while also reducing expenses of the organization itself (Rani & Mishra, 2014). Different scholars have mentioned that the functions of green HRM include green recruitment, green performance management, green training and development, green rewards, and green employee involvement (Ahmad, 2015; Tang. et al, 2018). Indonesia, a country with diverse cultures and a large population, creates a high potential for the fashion market to grow. According to the Apparel and Footwear Market in Indonesia (Statista, 2023), the fashion industry plays a crucial role in the country’s economy. Indonesia ranked one of the biggest global suppliers of apparel and footwear. The growth is also driven by the high-demand for fashion trends among Indonesians. However, Indonesia’s environmental quality ranks 107th out of 180 countries, indicating serious environmental problems (Suharti & Sugiarto, 2020). To prevent the issue, previous study by Suharti & Sugiarto (2020) implied that Indonesia’s companies now have been applying green HRM. Nonetheless, those research focuses on the cement industry while the implementation in the fashion industry remains largely unexplored, presenting a compelling opportunity to investigate its potential impact on sustainability performance in the fashion sector. This study seeks to explore the impact of green HRM on sustainability performance 3 in the Indonesian fast-fashion industry with the research question: How does green HRM improve the sustainability performance in fast-fashion companies in Indonesia. 2. Theory 2.1 The Indonesian Fashion Industry Indonesia's fashion industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world with revenue around USD 21.69 billion (Statista, 2023). The industry is driven by a young and increasingly fashion-conscious population making it the major hub for fast-fashion expansion including global brands such as H&M, Zara, and Uniqlo. The affordability and easy accessibility of fast-fashion made it immensely popular among Indonesian consumers. According to the South East Asia Fashion Sustainability Report by Fashion Revolution Singapore (2021) Indonesia’s middle class is expanding rapidly leading to increased demand for trendy and affordable clothing. Fast-fashion brands have capitalized by establishing a strong presence in Indonesia, with numerous retail outlets and online platforms. Foreign fast-fashion brands entering Indonesia partnered with the biggest local fashion retail companies, such as PT. Mitra Adi Perkasa Tbk (MAP Fashion) in order to operate in the country. MAP Fashion has numerous brands operating under the firm such as Inditex group (Zara, Stradivarius, Bershka), Cotton-On group (Cotton On, Rubi, Typo), and other popular brands (Brands – Mitra Adiperkasa, n.d.). In the midst of a fashion frenzy in the country, the importance of applying green HRM becomes paramount, not only for meeting global environmental standards but also ethically driven fashion culture. 4 2.2 Green HRM Green management through green HRM is an organizational approach that uses HR and environmental management strategies to promote sustainability (Lee, 2009; Rani & Mishra, 2014). Green Human Resources Management (green HRM) is a set of human resource management (HRM) practices that are designed to improve company performance in environmental and social aspects. The difference between green HRM and HRM practice is the focus of green practices on sustainability perspective. Green HRM includes green recruitment, green performance management, green training and development, green rewards, and green employee involvement (Ahmad, 2015; Tang. et al, 2018). Applying green HRM in the company, as highlighted by Suharti & Sugiarto (2020), yields benefits. Employees not only display individual environmental values but also engage in environmentally friendly behavior, showcasing increased green competencies developed through environmentally knowledge and skills effectively applied in their job, all driven by a high commitment to environmentally conscious behavior (Suharti & Sugiarto, 2020). The different aspects of green HRM will be elaborate below: 2.2.1 Green selection and recruitment Green recruitment requires candidates to have matched with the sustainability vision and mission of the organization. It is the process of finding employees who have the skills, knowledge, and commitment to support the sustainable use of resources in the organization (Yong et al., 2019). From the practical aspect, this step of the hiring process takes into consideration the reduction of environmental waste in the industry with technology to minimize paper usage. For instance, conducting online-based interviews and paperless curriculum vitae assessment. Moreover, Jabbour (2011) mentioned that a firm’s environmental performance should be used to appeal interest in the recruiting process.