Greenwashing perception in Spanish fast-fashion brands’ communication: modelling sustainable behaviours and attitudes

Abstract

While sustainability topics are gaining prominence in the communication strategies of fast-fashion brands, consumers remain sceptical and suspicious of the ambiguous and often misleading sustainable brand content. The purpose of this study is to analyse the perception of greenwashing in fast-fashion brands' sustainable communication and to identify its link to consumers' sustainable behaviour and attitudes. An analysis was conducted on five fast-fashion leading brands, based on a non-experimental cross-sectional analytical design and using an online survey. Research results show that consumers perceive greenwashing in the communication of all fast-fashion brands. Furthermore, the perception of greenwashing is higher when it is associated with the search for information on sustainable fashion, as well as the purchase of sustainable fashion. The study also concludes that the perception of greenwashing increases when fast fashion brands carry out advertising campaigns or disseminate their sustainability content through influencers or on their websites.