Shifting Toward Quality: How Communicating “Cost per Wear” Influences Consumer Preference for Clothing

Abstract

Consumers heavily overconsume and underutilize clothing, resulting in substantial resource waste in the fashion domain. As a potential remedy, fashion blogs and small businesses have suggested evaluating clothing based on cost per wear (CPW), which divides the total price of a garment by the number of potential wears it provides, thus quantifying its economic value. This study examines the concept of CPW as a potential communication strategy to increase consumer preference for more sustainable (i.e., higher-quality) clothing in six preregistered online experiments (two incentive-compatible). We show that communicating CPW shifts preference from cheaper, low-quality options to more expensive, high-quality options with lower indicated CPW and that this effect is mitigated when consumers cannot compare CPW, intend to purchase an item for a special occasion, or when the high-quality option—despite being more durable—has a higher CPW. Furthermore, we demonstrate that third-party certification in communicating CPW increases claim credibility and preference, and that communicating CPW can be more effective than making general durability claims. The findings are relevant for marketers and policymakers aiming to promote purchases of high-quality clothing and curb fast-fashion consumption.