Beyond attitude-behaviour debate on sustainable consumption : factors driving sustainable consumption in the fashion industry

Abstract

The fast fashion is choking the world, polluting our water, and contaminating our air. The world that we live in now demands that consumers buy sustainable fashion. Prior research has mainly focused on a single influence of consumers' attitudes on sustainable fashion consumption, thus ignoring the impacts of other factors. We investigate multiple factors that drive sustainable fashion consumption. Using online survey data of 156 Finnish consumers and using structural equation modelling, we find that 'awareness of the adverse environmental effects of fast fashion', 'sustainable fashion knowledge', 'perceived value of sustainable clothing', 'perceived customer effectiveness', 'sustainable fashion consumption attitude', and 'availability of sustainable clothing' drive sustainable fashion consumption, while 'trust in sustainability claims' is un-related to sustainable fashion consumption. We extend the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by providing a comprehensive understanding of factors driving sustainable fashion consumption, and provide implications for fashion brands.