How consumer shopping habits affect willingness to embrace sustainable fashion

Abstract

Sustainability represents the greatest economic challenge of the current century, speaking to the need to move from a profit orientation that disregards social and environmental costs to one that properly considers such dimensions (i.e. the circular economy). The clothing industry has a strong negative impact on the environment and, for this reason, a quick transition from ‘fast’ to ‘circular’ fashion is needed. The present work aimed at analysing how consumer habits determine willingness to embrace circular fashion, with a special focus on the second-hand (i.e. re-use) market. Based on questionnaire data, consumers were classified into fast or slow fashion groups. The results revealed that fast fashion consumers mainly focused on price and had a lower propensity to purchase second-hand garments. Hence, interventions to increase consumer awareness of the environmental impact of fast fashion are needed.