Sustainable and Responsible Consumption: An Investigation of Consumer Motivations for Adopting a Capsule Wardrobe

Abstract

The fashion industry’s environmental crisis demands urgent shifts toward sustainable consumption models, such as capsule wardrobes. While prior research has examined ethical fashion adoption through conventional behavioral lenses, this study innovatively integrates heterodox economic theories, including the Theory of Subjective Value (TSV) and Bounded Rationality, with the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) to analyze discrepancies between attitudes and actions. Using a sample of 776 Portuguese consumers, we examine a mediation model where attitude links personal shopping values, fashion involvement, and socially responsible behavior to adoption intentions. Results reveal socially responsible behavior’s strong indirect effect via attitude, while personal shopping values and fashion involvement show paradoxical relationships, underscoring cognitive and market barriers. Gender and generational analyses highlight women’s higher sustainability engagement and Generation Z’s intention-action gap. The study advances sustainable fashion literature by exposing how subjective valuations and structural constraints interact, calling for coordinated stakeholder interventions beyond individual behavior change.