Drivers and barriers for sustainable fashion consumption in Spain: a comparison between sustainable and non-sustainable consumers

ABSTRACT

This research identifies and portrays the under-researched segment of sustainable fashion consumers, drawing a comparison with the average consumers in Spain, and defines the drivers and barriers for sustainable fashion consumption, further contributing to the attitude-behaviour gap literature. Based on a sample of 1,063 respondents and 23 focus group participants, and following the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the results indicate that lack of trust in fashion companies and their sustainable statements is the main reason preventing consumers from buying sustainable products or doing it more often, followed by higher prices. It appears that the more sustainably conscious consumers are, the less they buy brand-new, preferring alternatives such as second-hand (mainly) and renting. Sustainable fashion consumers demonstrate greater fashion consciousness, environmental concern, perceived consumer effectiveness, and a higher subjective norm than average consumers. Conversely, price is still a critical purchasing driver for the average consumer.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable fashion consumption
• collaborative fashion consumption
• slow fashion
• price sensitivity
• transparency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In our research, clothing consumption refers to an individual's clothing acquisition decisions, use, and end of life. It encompasses acquiring, storing, using, maintaining, and discarding clothing products (Winakor, 1969).

2 The quantitative study sample was skewed towards women and younger respondents; therefore, each category’s data was normalised. For example, there were 199 male respondents, and 16 of them declared to buy sustainable fashion; hence, 8% of men buy sustainable fashion. Whereas there were 864 female respondents and 76 bought sustainable fashion often, therefore, 8.8% of women were sustainable fashion consumers. The exact process was followed with all the other demographic attributes.