Bæredygtigt Modeforbrug i Sverige

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Bæredygtigt Modeforbrug i Sverige

- en afhandling om barriererne og de fremmende indflydelser på bæredygtigt købsadfærd inden for mode blandt svenske forbrugere.

Denne kandidatafhandling undersøger hvilke barrierer og fremmende indflydelser, der har en indvirkning på bæredygtigt modeforbrug i Sverige. Nærmere ser afhandlingen på, hvad der forhindrer, motiverer og sætter forbrugere i stand til, at udøve bæredygtig købsadfærd når det kommer til modeprodukter. Afhandlingen afgrænser sig til kun, at beskæftige sig med selve købssituationen og undersøger dertil kun denne for et yngre segment af svenske forbrugere i alderen 16-‐30 år. Formålet med afhandlingen er, udover at klargøre barriererne og de fremmende indflydelser på bæredygtigt købsadfærd, at nå frem til én eller flere anbefalinger til, hvordan man kan promovere bæredygtigt købsadfærd indenfor modeforbrug.

Afhandlingen tager udgangspunkt i henholdsvis teorien bag MOAB (motivation, mulighed, evne og adfærd) modellen af Ölander og Thøgersen (1995) og et litteraturstudie af tidligere undersøgelser vedrørende bæredygtigt modeforbrug. Ud fra teorien og litteraturstudiet udvikles en række hypoteser indenfor hvert område af MOAB modellen. Disse hypoteser danner senere rammen om den endelige diskussion.

Med udgangspunkt i teorien og resultaterne af tidligere studier udvikledes et undersøgelsesdesign baseret i det post-‐positivistiske paradigme. Undersøgelsesdesignet bygger en kvantitativ spørgeskemaundersøgelse af yngre svenske forbrugere.

Spørgeskemaet er opbygget via allerede validerede og testede instrumenter, som blev valgt ud fra tidligere undersøgelser. Derudover er alle instrumenter som indgår i undersøgelsen også en del af MOAB modellen, hvilket også fremgår i afhandlingens strukturering.

De empiriske data som blev indsamlet via spørgeskemaundersøgelsen blev forarbejdet, kodet og analyseret i SPSS. Dataanalysen er baseret på regressionsanalyse, som ligeledes blev udført i SPSS. Fordelen ved at anvende regressionsanalyse er, at man derved kan opnå et indblik i sammenhængene mellem forskellige variabler, som i denne sammenhæng dækker over forskellige dele af MOAB modellen.

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I selve analysen af de, af regressionsanalysen udregnede koefficienter, diskuteres de forskellige signifikante uafhængige variablers indvirkning på købeadfærden af de adspurgte respondenter, samt hvad der kan ligge til grund for denne indvirkning og/eller sammenhængen. På baggrund af analysen af de empiriske data testes og diskuteres derefter de tidligere udviklede hypoteser med det formål at enten verificerer eller afvise dem. Enkelte hypoteser kan på baggrund af manglende data hverken verificeres eller afvises.

Med baggrund i analysen og diskussionen konkluderes det, at forbrugeres behov for andres accept samt behov for identitetsskabelse via deres modeforbrug udgør en barriere i forhold til bæredygtig købsadfærd i forbindelse med modeprodukter. På den anden side er det forbrugernes viden om bæredygtig mode, samt konsekvenserne af konventionelt modeforbrug der er motiverende og fremmende for bæredygtig købsadfærd, når det gælder modeprodukter. Med afsæt i dette anbefales det, at man lægger vægt på forbrugerinformation om den miljømæssige indvirkning af konventionelt modeforbrug og produktion. Derudover anbefales også uddannelse af forbrugerne i, hvordan man forbruger på en bæredygtig måde, hvilket vil øge forbrugernes evne til at ændre deres forbrugsmønstre. Til sidst diskuteres en række begrænsninger ved resultaterne af afhandlingen, samt en række anbefalinger til fremtidige undersøgelser.

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Reading Instructions

This thesis has been written using the APA 6.0 style of referencing. Citations have been inserted and managed using the citation applications RefWorks and WriteNCite. Using the APA referencing style is in accordance with the Copenhagen Business School who uses the APA style as their standard method of referencing and citation.

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CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION

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Introduction

1.1 Introduction to Topic

Sustainability and sustainable consumption is becoming an ever-‐hotter topic in the media, the general population and the academic world (Hustvedt, 2006). More and more products are being marketed as green, eco-‐friendly or sustainable to meet this more recent interest (Hustvedt, 2006). However, in recent years there has also been an increase in the amount of clothes that people consume at an alarming rate, as illustrated by the fashion industry, where fast fashion is one of the fastest growing trends with brands like H&M, Zara, Forever21 and many more, which in 2009 accounted for a fifth of fashion consumption in Britain (Morgan & Birtwistle, 2009). This increase in fashion consumption results in serious consequences for the environment and society as a whole. Fast fashion allows consumers to buy fashion items at cheaper prices but with shorter life time expectancy, thus leading to more clothing items being purchased and disposed of at a faster rate than in previous years. As a result, textile waste in British landfills account for more than 1 million kilos every year, while fashion consumers, especially early adopters, are spending increasing amounts on clothes while wearing the items fewer times (Morgan & Birtwistle, 2009). Additionally, it is worth taking into consideration that not only the disposal of clothes and fashion items present a problem.

Also the production of items and bi-‐products threaten the well-‐being of the environment. For instance, the production of cotton generates a vast amount of wastewater and uses large amounts of pesticides, which contaminate the environment (Hustvedt, 2006). These treats to the environment have not gone unnoticed, and gradual positive progress has been achieved over the last decades where there has been a significant increase in sustainable consumption (Hustvedt, 2006). In particular, organic cotton consumption in the U.S. has seen an increase of 55% from 2001-‐2005, as well as a 12% increase in the interest of organic fashion from 2004-‐2006 (Smith, 2007).

Unfortunately, as mentioned, progress has been gradual and the problem is far from solved.

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In order to further promote and increase sustainable consumption and consumption practices within the fashion industry, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms behind sustainable fashion consumption and what enables or disables it. One of the issues is that consumers often have a positive attitude towards sustainable products;

however, when in a purchasing situation their behavior is otherwise. Such behavior exhibited by consumers is referred to as the attitude-‐behavior gap (Thøgersen, 2010), and elicits further research. It is therefore necessary to investigate why consumers engage in fashion related behavior, as well as why they engage in sustainable behavior in order to be able to promote and influence the desired behavior in a positive manner.

Currently only limited research has been carried out in this area (Joergens, 2006) and little is known about what factors influence sustainable behavior; therefore, it is important that further research in this are be conducted. As for the few studies have been previously carried out, these will be considered thoroughly in the literature review chapter.

In an ideal world, sustainable products would not have any opportunity cost associated with them. The only difference would be the added benefit of them being more environmentally friendly (Peattie, 2001). Therefore it is relevant to investigate not only the attitudes and actions of consumers towards sustainable consumption but also the rest of the internal factors, which might influence consumers when they are in a purchase situation. However, as both Peattie (2001) and Ölander & Thøgersen (1995) point out, it is important not to attempt to compare a specific action, behavior or purchase with consumers’ general interest in sustainability or the environment.

1.2 Research Question

Based upon the above mentioned, it is the intention of this paper to investigate the following research question:

What are the barriers and facilitators to sustainable fashion consumption in Sweden and how can these be utilized to promote sustainability in fashion consumption?

As an attempt to thoroughly answer the question previously stated, the problem has been divided into the following sub-‐questions:

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1. What motivates consumers to consume fashion products in a sustainable manner?

2. What enables sustainable fashion consumption?

3. What inhibits sustainable fashion consumption?

4. What do these results tell about how sustainable fashion consumption can be promoted?

1.3 Relevancy

As previously indicated, it is relevant to investigate this research question on the grounds that little research has been carried out in the field of sustainable fashion consumption and more specifically focusing on consumers from Sweden. The investigation of the barriers and facilitators of sustainable fashion consumption in Sweden will not only allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms behind this behavior, but will can also help create the basis for promoting actual change in consumer behavior.

It is of extreme relevance to promote changes in the behavior of consumers because as mentioned in the introduction, fashion consumption presents an ever-‐larger threat to the environment and to society as whole, which will need to be addressed before long assuming sustainability is what we strive for.

1.4 Delimitation

This paper will use the MOAB framework developed by Ölander & Thøgersen (1995) to steer the investigation and therefore only looks at the constructs within this framework, which are motivation, opportunity and ability. These constructs can be approached in two different manners; internalist approach and externalist approach. The internalist approach deals with the individual and infrastructural level, whereas the external approach deals with incentives that are provided in order to promote more sustainable behavior. Due to limited resources and a wish to fully and satisfactory investigate the research question, this paper only intends investigate the proposed research question

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from an internalist approach. However, this will limit some the four constructs more than others. It also means that all conclusions that may be reached in this paper therefore only account for the internal influences and barriers, and cannot therefore be applied to the external influences and barriers, such as society at large, government or industry campaigns and commercials or any other external influences of sustainable consumption.

As it is the focus of this paper to investigate the barriers and facilitators, including the underlying motives, which enable or inhibit sustainable fashion consumption in Sweden, it will not deal with consumers from other countries. However, other countries and respective consumers have been included in the literature review, as no other such investigation, known to the author, has been carried out in Sweden before.

Furthermore, the focus has been delimited to only investigate young consumers age 16-‐

30, as these are the most pronounced fashion users but also the most influential fashion users and the consumers of the future (Niinimäki, 2010). Another reason to look at this group in particular is that the younger consumers are, the more likely they are to be pro-‐

environmental and pro-‐government regulation on the topic area (Butler & Francis, 1997) and therefore more likely to exhibit behavior that can then be investigated.

In order to be able to apply the findings of this investigation to the general population and to get a more nuanced picture of the way sustainable fashion consumption works, there will be no delimitation in terms of sex, education and regions with Sweden. Even so it is relevant to notice that some of the previous research into sustainable fashion has been conducted using samples of only females, as it has been argued that these represent the largest and most relevant group of fashion consumers (Morgan &

Birtwistle, 2009). There is, however, no evidence to suggest that only female consumers are interested in sustainable fashion and it would not be possible to make any generalizations about younger society as a whole based only on the female section of the population.

In trying to investigate the motives behind sustainable fashion consumption in Sweden, this paper will only look at the purchase stage of consumption, that is purchase behavior. All other stages, such as pre-‐purchase, use, maintenance, recycling and/or

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disposal will therefore not be taken into account during the exploration and analysis.

This is merely due to limited recourses and time, as all of these phases of consumption are equally relevant to explore. It is, however, within the scope of the paper to look at purchase behavior as entirely and not to exclude any one form of purchase situation such as online, second hand or any other form of fashion purchase channel.

1.5 Clarification of Concepts 1.5.1 Sustainable Consumption

Sustainable consumption as a concept and what the definition of this is has not been commonly agreed upon (Jackson, 2005), and therefore this paper will work with the concept of sustainable consumption as defined by the Oslo Roundtable on Sustainable Production and Consumption. They define it as “the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations” (Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, 1994).

Even with an agreed upon definition, one prevalent issue when talking about sustainable consumption is whether the products that consumers buy are actually sustainable and whether consumers trust that a company’s claims are credible, which do not always seem to be the case (Peattie, 2001). This issue is important because it bears with it the question of whether products truly are sustainable and whether consumers perceive sustainable products and behavior to actually be sustainable to the point where it makes a difference. However, as it is not within the scope of this paper to investigate these problems they will not be mentioned further.

The focus of this paper will be on sustainability because, as Thomas (2008, p. 535) puts it; “Sustainability is not environmentalism by another name because it is broader in scope and profoundly inclusive“.

1.5.2 Fashion

Clothes as defined by Meyer (2001, p. 4) have the object of “satisfy(ing) a wide variety of customers’ needs: they protect, define a person’s role in his social group, or help a

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person to express himself or to show a life-‐style.” However, according to Niinimäki (2010) there is a difference between clothes and fashion. Even though, when referring to Kaiser (1997), Niinikäki does not include the social and identity creating side of clothes as Meyer does, she defines fashion as follows: “Fashion merges us with our emotional needs; it expresses our inner individual personality by external marks and symbols, brands and status items. Fashion is also a dynamic social process that creates cultural meanings and interaction.” (2010, p. 4). Fashion therefore is more than just a material, which covers a physical need to protect us from exposure. It covers two very different needs; on one hand, it covers a simple need for clothes to protect and keep the consumer warm, whereas it, on the other hand, covers a far more complex need, namely to construct and support an identity for the consumer (Meyer, 2001; Niinimäki, 2010).

Fashion is used to express belonging to a certain group, to express individuality and to communicate a message about the consumer who wears it to the world around him or her (Solomon & Rabolt, 2004). This broader definition of fashion is the one, which this paper will operate within.

1.5.3 Sustainable Fashion Consumption

Sustainable fashion as a concept is hard to define, as the term has been used to cover a very wide variety of things without much attention to the actual meanings (Thomas, 2008). Terms such as eco-‐fashion, ethical fashion, green fashion, organic fashion, fair trade and sustainable fashion have often been used interchangeably by companies and in campaigns on the subject. The interchanging use of these words has resulted in confusion of consumers, producers and even scholars as to the exact meaning of each term (Peattie, 2001; Thomas, 2008). Therefore it is necessary to establish a definition of sustainable fashion and sustainable fashion consumption before carrying out research on the subject. Some even argue that sustainable fashion consumption is an oxymoron due to the nature of fashion consumption (Peattie, 2001), where trends are usually short lived and many consumers change out their fashion items on a regular basis.

Niinimäki argues that one of the main issues in defining what sustainable fashion entails is the complexity of the fashion production and its supply chain. The supply chain in clothing production is often made up from many different companies that are located all over the globe, including many third world countries, thus rendering it hard to achieve

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transparency. This makes it very hard to take all the factors in the production into account when evaluating the sustainability of a product and products are therefore often only evaluated on one or two dimensions (Niinimäki, 2010).

A few of the terms, mentioned in the previous section, will the discussed further in the following sections to understand the background of the confusion of the various concepts. One of the terms that have won significant entry in the industry lately is “eco-‐

fashion”, which can be seen as a sub-‐concept of sustainable fashion. As defined by Niinimäki (2010, p. 152), eco-‐fashion is “clothing that is designed for long lifetime use; it is produced in an ethical production system, perhaps even locally; it causes little or no environmental impact and it makes use of eco-‐labeled or recycled materials.” Another term is “ethical fashion”, which is build on the same concepts as fair trade is; production that is safe for the workers and the environment, including the use of biodegradable or organic cotton (Joergens, 2006). Close to the previous concept of sustainability is,

“socially responsible apparel business”, which can be defined as businesses that are run based on a philosophy that balances ethics with profitability, while having a focus on the environment, as well as on the people, product and it’s impact on the society, and also doing little or no harm to the world and people around it (Dickson & Eckman, 2006;

Hiller Connell, 2011).

Sustainable fashion is fashion created while considering the triple bottom-‐line (economic, social and environmental). It includes the entire lifecycle of the product and their use so that the clothes are designed not to do any harm (social or environmental) while being produced and so that they are easy to reuse, recycle or dispose of (Eder-‐

Hansen et al., 2012). Eder-‐Hansen et al. defines sustainable fashion consumption as

“The use of clothing for purposes beyond utilitarian needs, including “identity making”, which is achieved without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs” (2012, p. 11). This also includes the maintenance, reuse, recycling and disposal of the products. Eder-‐Hansen et al.’s definition of sustainable fashion consumption will be the definition that this paper will refer to when addressing the concept.

1.6 Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate fashion purchase behavior with a special

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focus on behavior that is sustainable. Increased interest in sustainability from consumers, governments, NGOs and academics has not caused the gap between intentions and actual behavior to decrease. It is therefore within the purpose of this paper to attempt to explain the behavior through its influences and barriers and thereby reach conclusions as to how this dilemma might be solved.

1.7 Targeted Audience

The target audience of this paper, beyond the supervisor, censor and the Mistra Future Fashion who originally ordered this project, are students and academics within the field of consumer behavior, especially sustainable consumer behavior.

Besides the main audience, the paper and its problem area of how to enable sustainable consumption in a fashion related perspective, will also be relevant to government and NGO officials who will be able to use the results of this paper in the ongoing effort to promote sustainable consumption behavior. The paper and its results will also be of interest to professionals in sustainable fashion industry and finally to professionals within the sustainability industry in general.

1.8 Structure of the Paper

This paper is composed of six main chapters to facilitate the consideration, actions and conclusion of this thesis. The six chapters are:

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical Framework 3. Methodology

4. Analysis 5. Discussion 6. Conclusion

The first chapter, Introduction, introduces the reader to the subject of the thesis, its problem statement and relevancy. It also clarifies a few concepts in order to be able to discuss them later on.

The second chapter, Theoretical Framework, discusses the MOAB model, which has been

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adopted as the theoretical framework steering the development of the investigation, the analysis and the discussion. It also provides a literature review in order to understand the findings of previous research, which will function as inspiration for the development of scales and as input in the discussion. Finally is presents the development of hypotheses for the outcome of the empirical research.

Chapter three, Methodology, presents the research design and the thoughts and considerations that have gone into in. It also presents the actual development of the survey that forms the basis for the empirical data for this thesis. Finally the reliability and validity of the thesis is discussed.

The fourth chapter, Analysis & Data Presentation, is a presentation of the major findings in this paper, as well as the regression analysis and discussion of the findings. The discussion is based in the MOAB model to make the following discussion more comprehendible.

Chapter five, Discussion, discussed the meaning of the findings of the regression analysis and it’s meaning in relation to the literature review and the previously developed hypotheses.

In the final chapter, Conclusion, the problem statement and research questions are answered based on the discussion from previous chapters. Furthermore, the limitations to the thesis are discussed and suggestions for future research is given.

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Figure 1. The structure of the thesis.

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CHAPTER 2:

THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORK

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Theoretical Framework

2.1 Introduction

The following chapter will present the theory, which will be used to steer the

investigation on which the paper is based, as well as, to analyze the data that it produces.

First, the MOAB framework developed by Ölander & Thøgersen will be presented and explained. A review of previous studies in the form of a literature review will then be presented to provide the necessary background information to form a basis for

discussion of the data, which has been collected in this study. At the end of the chapter, a series of hypotheses will be developed to steer the investigation and to be tested during the data analysis.

2.2 The MOAB Framework

The MOAB (Motivation-‐Opportunity-‐Ability-‐Behavior) framework or model (Ölander &

Thøgersen, 1995; Thøgersen, 2010; Thøgersen, 1994), is a framework that can be used to study sustainable consumer behavior, and more specifically individual consumer behavior. The model was (at least in part) developed to provide a tool to explain the much talked about “attitude-‐behavior gap” (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995), which is when consumers present positive attitudes towards consuming in a sustainable manner but fail to do so when it comes to actual behavior (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995). Ölander &

Thøgersen (1995) argue that there are a set of internal factors, which the model covers as motivation and ability, and a set of external influences, described through opportunity, which enable or prevent consumers from carrying out sustainable consumption behavior. Even though the internal factors of motivation (at least partly) are in the control of the individual consumer, the external influences are usually beyond the control of the individual and may therefore inhibit him or her from making a sustainable choice even though he or she may be sympathetic towards it.

The framework focuses on three aspects or sets of variables that must be fulfilled in order for sustainable consumption behavior to be possible. These are Motivation, Ability and Opportunity.

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2.2.1 Motivation

The motivation aspect is based on what consumers know about the world. It entails the consumer’s values and belief system and how this relates to the given task at hand.

Ölander & Thøgersen (1995) argue that motivation is mainly, if not only, an internal driver, which can be explained by altruism. Still it can be argued that motivation is affected by external factors such as social norms and popular pressure (Thøgersen, 2010). These external factors may however be internalized over time through classical conditioning (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995) and thus form part of motivation as a purely internal factor.

If the consumer has motivation it may translate into intention, which can then lead to behavior (Thøgersen, 1994) but only if the consumer has the ability to carry out such behavior and at the same time is given the opportunity to do so.

2.2.2 Ability

Motivation alone is not enough; the consumer also needs to posses the ability to carry out the given behavior (Thøgersen, 1994). In the MOAB framework ability refers to the task knowledge required to perform the given task, the factor of the consumer’s habits (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995; Thøgersen, 1994), as well as the financial means and the time necessary to carry out the behavior (Thøgersen, 2010). Ability is the internal personal characteristic that enables or disables the individual consumer to act in a sustainable manner. Forming new habits can be hard and fallbacks are likely to occur when consumers attempt to adapt new and more sustainable practices. As for task knowledge, the consumer needs to be able to process the information necessary to carry out the behavior (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995). This is also the case for motivation. The consumer needs to understand and agree with the advantages of sustainability but they also need to understand why new tasks will be more sustainable than old ones. In the case of sustainable fashion consumption, this could include being able to decipher eco-‐

labels and comprehend the positive impacts resulting from a given change in purchasing habits, such as changing from purchasing clothes made from regular cotton to purchasing clothes made from organic cotton.

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2.2.3 Opportunity

Opportunity is described as the situational or external factors present that allow for the behavior to be carried out (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995; Thøgersen, 2010; Thøgersen, 1994). It can, however, also be argued that certain internal opportunity factors exists, such as perception of opportunities. That is opportunities that are there but the consumer does not perceive them as real opportunities and therefore fail to make use of them. The opportunity aspect lies outside the influence of the individual consumer and is thus an external factor. In order for the consumer to have opportunity he or she needs to have access, without having to make an extra effort, to the means necessary to carry out the given behavior (Ölander & Thøgersen, 1995). That is, for consumers to be able to consume fashion in a sustainable way, sustainable fashion product have to be available for the consumer to buy without the need for consumers to have to go out of their way in any substantial manner. The opportunity concept is usually described in relation to location and place. In the case of fashion this would be the location of stores, access to mail-‐order services or online shops (for which they would also need to have access to an internet connection).

2.2.4 Behavior

If the consumer has motivation, ability and opportunity to act in a sustainable way then, and only then can sustainable behavior take place. Devinney et. al. (2010), when referring to Vogel, mention the exact same obstacles that Thøgersen & Ölander’s model entails. These are that when consumers are faced with sustainable or other forms of ethical choices, the following conditions have to be fulfilled to result in sustainable behavior: The price of the product has to be right, the consumer has to have trust in and/or knowledge of the brand, they have to have access or opportunity to find the good where they already shop, it cannot require them to change their habits and it still has to meets their quality requirements. If all these condition are meet then sustainable behavior can take place.

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Figure 2: The original MOAB framework.

In the original MOAB framework, the dotted lines pointing from “behavior” back to the three preconditions illustrate that the model is dynamic in the way that the preconditions are affected by behavior and vice versa. This may include adapting new habits from behavior or knowledge from the use of or purchase of the product or products in question (Thøgersen, 2010).

Ölander & Thøgersen (1995) also argue that a form of defense mechanism may explain why motivation does not lead to sustainable behavior, which is what leads to the

“attitude-‐behavior gap”. This defense mechanism causes the consumer to displace responsibility elsewhere in order to protect himself from having to go out of his way in any substantial matter, and thus pay a high opportunity cost.

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However, as mentioned in the delimitation, the MOAB model deals with both external and internal influences, whereas it is only within the scope of this paper to address the internal influences and barriers. The external factors will therefore not be dealt with even though they are part of the original framework.

2.3 Literature Review

The literature review has been framed using the MOAB framework previously discussed to allow for easier analysis and discussion of the data collected for this paper.

The literature review will pertain to research on sustainable fashion consumption, including ethical fashion consumption, eco-‐fashion consumption and other forms or sub-‐

denominations of sustainable fashion consumption.

2.3.1 Motivation

Many consumers may in one way or another be motivated to purchase sustainable products but even so, their motivational grounds may be very different. Thøgersen (2010) suggests three very different types of motivation for pro-‐environmental actions using the purchase of organic food as an example; out of fear of pesticides – an instrumental reason, to support animal welfare – an ethical reason, or to show off – a social motive. Finally, Thøgersen mentions lack of motivation caused by the consumer not feeling able to make a difference – an efficacy-‐related negative motivation (Thøgersen, 2010). These differences can also be seen when looking at previous research in the field of sustainable fashion.

Research on French and Canadian consumers show that French consumers are more likely to be motivated by the social motives connected with green consumption and health benefits which is instrumental, whereas Canadian consumers are more likely to be motivated by ethical reasons (Cervellon, Hjerth, Ricard, & Carey, 2012), such as animal welfare. Ethnographic research in the US points to consumers mainly being motivated by health benefits (Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012), when purchasing sustainable fashion. This was again supported by Dickson’s (2000) survey of American women. This, nonetheless, seems to be more the exception than the norm, as several other studies in the UK and the US found that consumers do not correlate health benefits

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with sustainable fashion products (Gam, Cao, Farr, & Kang, 2010; Joergens, 2006; Kim &

Damhorst, 1998). Both Butler & Francis (1997) research in the US and Joergens (2006) research in the UK found that respondents are motivated by a concern of overconsumption of fashion. However, not to such an extent that it leads them to change their own behavior in a more sustainable direction.

Joergsen’s (2006) findings point out that ethical sourcing in fashion is not an important influencing variable for consumers when purchasing fashion. This is in part because consumers don’t believe that it directly influences the health of end consumers, like themselves, as it does in the case if food and beverage products. If clothes meet all other criteria including price, design, style etc, and is produced ethically it is merely an added benefit.

Consumer motivation may also very well be affected by how they perceive the value, benefit and cost of a given fashion products as can be seen from the figure 3. The model from Peattie (2001) illustrates various examples of sustainable products and consumer’s motivation for the purchases as dependent on degree of confidence and degree of compromise for the consumer.

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Figure 3: The green purchase perception matrix (Peattie, 2001).

In general it can be said that most, if not all, consumers are environmentally conscious in that they would all buy sustainable products if there were no other differences between the products besides one being of superior sustainability (Peattie, 2001) or at the very least they would not reject products based on them being sustainable (Meyer, 2001).

However, this is rarely the case. Most often consumers have to pay a higher price, make a sacrifice on the performance/quality side or go out of their way to obtain the product (Peattie, 2001) and this is where many consumers are likely to purchase another product instead of the more sustainable option.

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As fashion consumption is closely connected to the creation and support of identity it is important for the consumer that the design and appearance of the clothes fits into their perception of their own identity (Niinimäki, 2010). Price, as well as, “fit, quality, colour, compatibility with existing clothes and a real need for new clothes” (Niinimäki, 2010, p.

7) seems to be the most important decision factors (Gam et al., 2010; Meyer, 2001) when consumers choose fashion goods. Meyer even argues that they form a certain order in the decision-‐making process; consumers first evaluate appearance, then touch, fit and finally price. For the majority of consumers sustainability only becomes a motivational factor in fashion consumption when all the above criteria have been fulfilled (Niinimäki, 2010). On the other hand, there is a small group of consumers who Niinimaki (2010) defines as “ethical hardliners” who have made a commitment to ethical and value based consumption on a consistent basis. For ethical hardliners, being sustainable is part of their identity and therefore comes as one of the first factors when evaluating a product, not only in fashion but all throughout their lives.

Most research points out that price has an especially important part in the decision making process when it comes to fashion and sustainable fashion consumption. Morgan

& Birtwistle (2009) found that price is the deciding factor in fashion consumption, as consumers would rather buy several cheap low quality items than one high quality but also higher priced item. Joergen’s (2006) research also shows that price has to be right before consumers consider ethical issues. However, also design, style, quality, place of origin and brand names can be more important, than how ethical or sustainable clothes are (Dickson & Eckman, 2006; Joergens, 2006). These factors might pose a problem for sustainable fashion products as the majority of these products are designed, with or without intention, to reflect that fact that they are sustainable or eco-‐friendly (Niinimäki, 2010). Consumers who engage in sustainable consumption would usually be associated with something positive by their surroundings. Nevertheless, this behavior might have a negative impact on the consumer (Meyer, 2001) due to the opportunity costs associated with purchasing sustainably. Consumers might have to give up style, design or another attribute that would be important for the fashion item to fulfill its purpose.

Both Niinimaki’s (2010) survey of Finnish consumers and Kim and Damhorst’s (1998) research points to consumers being willing to pay more for sustainable fashion if the

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products live up to what consumers wish for in terms of design, while providing improved quality and durability of the clothes. A study in the U.S. also indicated that younger consumers and female consumers seem more willing to pay a higher price for organic and sustainable cotton clothes (Dickson & Eckman, 2006). Even so, that same study found that consumers with a strong environmental concern are less willing to pay more for organic or sustainable products. This finding might be due to respondents having a preference to consume less instead of paying higher prices or in other ways limit their consumption (Dickson & Eckman, 2006). Contrary to that, earlier market research in the United States concluded that consumers are less willing to pay premium prices for sustainable goods, but more open to changes in their habit including their lifestyles and consumption habits (Peattie, 2001).

2.3.2 Ability

One of the main issues in sustainable fashion consumption is the consumer’s lack of knowledge about both the downsides of regular fashion and the benefits of sustainable fashion. According to the respondents in Joergens (2006) research, both UK and Germany consumers do not feel that they posses the necessary knowledge about fashion companies to decide what fashion items have been sourced ethically and which have not. Morgan & Birtwistle (2009) also express a concern about the lack of knowledge and information in respects to sustainability within fashion, which is also supported by Cervellon and Wernerfelts (2012). Even when information about the product, country of origin and/or labels is available, some consumers still find it difficult to understand the information provided (Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012) which might either lead to confusion or mistrust. This is interesting, as Cervellon and Wernerfelts’ research focused on consumers who were already positively focused on sustainable fashion and it can therefore be assumed that they at least had some knowledge of the subject beforehand.

Lack of knowledge may inhibit consumers from being able to make qualified decisions even when faced with supporting information in the actual purchase setting.

In addition to lack of knowledge, Cervellon et. al.’s (2012) study of European and North American consumers also points out that consumers lack trust in producers and whether product claims are actually as green or sustainable as they say they are.

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Labeling fashion products to reflect their level of ethical sourcing might help motivate and enable consumers to purchase ethical and sustainable products (Joergens, 2006).

However this is still provided that consumers will be able to process the information put forward by the labels, as well as have trust in the companies or organizations behind the labels, which does not always seem to be the case (Cervellon et al., 2012). Another issue is whether consumers are able to process information such as country of origin (Joergens, 2006) and whether it is actually a factor consumers take in to consideration when they are actually in the purchase situation.

Peattie (2001) however, argues that knowledge may also prevent consumers from purchasing products that are marketed as sustainable because knowledge might enable consumers to notice potential shortcomings in products or in the company’s claims of sustainability, thus finding that the product does not meet their needs.

Financial and time restraints may also very well pose a problem for those consumers with lower incomes (Hiller Connell, 2011). If money and time is scarce, sustainable fashion might not be at the top of the list of where to spend ones resources. However, some kinds of sustainable fashion, namely eco-‐fashion, claim to have increased durability and may therefore prove a way to save in the long run, as Kim and Damhorst (1998) also point out. This, nevertheless, would require that the consumers are able to process the added benefit of durability and thus see that they would be able to save in the long run, which is under no circumstance is a given.

2.3.3 Opportunity

A big issue is that consumers are not presented with real opportunities to buy sustainable fashion, as most fashion products are manufactured in Asian countries where labor and other costs are lower than elsewhere (Niinimäki, 2010), which usually is reflected in working conditions. This has an impact on both availability of information and transparency and thus decreases the opportunity for the consumer to know what they are buying. Another issue for the consumer is that they are not always informed of where fashion items have been produced (Cervellon & Wernerfelt, 2012), which again leads to issues in terms of transparency (Joergens, 2006) and therefore trust.

Lack of opportunity is also a factor in the limited designs that exist within sustainable

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