Do fast fashion sustainable business strategies influence attitude, awareness and behaviours of female consumers?

Abstract

In recent years, the fashion and textile industries have come under pressure to manage customer expectations. Previous research has shown that female consumers tend to buy more clothing than male consumers and are understood to care more about fashion. However, existing studies that have focused on understanding consumer attitudes toward sustainable fast fashion consumption have not been particularly explored from the female consumer's perspective. Neither have they attempted to explore the impact of sustainable business strategies on purchasing behaviour. This study attempts to bridge this gap and focuses on exploring the attitude and purchasing behaviour of female consumers driven by sustainable business strategies of fast fashion firms. The research findings are based on responses from 155 female consumers, followed by interviews to triangulate the findings. The results show that female consumers are sustainably conscious and aware of the sustainable initiatives of fast fashion companies. Furthermore, the study indicates that female consumers' attitudes and purchasing behaviour are both (unconsciously) influenced by the sustainable initiatives of fast fashion companies. Therefore, fast fashion companies should investigate how their sustainable initiatives and strategies influence the female consumer in terms of attitude and purchasing behaviour. This study thus adds to the limited empirical studies investigating female consumers' attitudes, awareness and purchasing behaviours.