Between high-tech and high-fashion: How E-Commerce fashion organizations gain moral and pragmatic legitimacy in the fashion field

•Online fashion organizations gain moral legitimacy by developing legitimizing narratives.•Online fashion organizations gain pragmatic legitimacy by formalizing narratives into codified practice.•Online fashion organizations gain influence legitimacy, a special form of pragmatic legitimacy, by institutionalizing lobbying tactics.

This paper examines the process by which two types of online fashion organizations, E-Commerce and Social Commerce, achieve moral and pragmatic legitimacy in the institutional field of fashion. Drawing on a three-year participant observation with one of the largest E-Commerce fashion companies and on interviews with executives in other E-Commerce and Social Commerce organizations and with fashion brands in New York and Milan, I observe that E-Commerce and Social Commerce companies engage in a mechanism for gaining legitimacy that involves three components and combines their moral desirability with pragmatic influence. E-Commerce and Social Commerce companies gain moral legitimacy by developing legitimizing narratives that project an alignment between their desired cultural identity and technical skills to fashion companies. E-Commerce and Social Commerce companies then move to achieve pragmatic legitimacy by transforming their moral narratives into codified, acceptable commercial practices. Finally, E-Commerce and Social Commerce companies develop a specific type of pragmatic legitimacy, called influence legitimacy, by developing lobbying tactics engaged with producing long-term impact on the online practices of established fashion companies. The paper concludes with implications for future research on legitimacy using a neo-institutional framework.