Consumers continue to engage with fast fashion, despite awareness of the environmental and social cost of doing so, a study by the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) has found.
The study analysed several internal strategies use by consumers to resolve the ‘internal conflict’ between their environmental concerns and their purchasing habits – including ‘denial of responsibility’, ‘denial of injury’, and the ‘metaphor of the ledger’, the belief that one good deed can offset a bad one.
‘Psychological strategies’
“Consumers use a range of psychological strategies to justify this to themselves and others,” commented Bodo Schlegelmilch, professor emeritus of global marketing strategy at WU.
Different generations adopt varying psychological approaches, the study found – baby boomers, for example, tend to employ a ‘denial of injury’ approach (67.9%), indicating they are less concerned about the harm caused by by fast fashion.
Millennials commonly employ ‘denial of responsibility’ (42.5 percent), shifting accountability away from themselves, while Gen Z opt for the ‘metaphor of the ledger’ (28.1%) or ‘appeals to higher loyalties’ (25%) to justify their purchases, according to the study.
Notably, it also found that consumers that opt for a ‘metaphor of the ledger’ approach may not be as green in practice as they are in principle – while more than a third (36%) of people claim to have purchased sustainable fashion items during their last apparel purchase, the global market for sustainable fashion remains below 5%.
Sustainable behaviour
Another finding from the study was that consumers with higher levels of education were more likely to use ‘neutralisation’ techniques to justify their fast fashion purchases, ‘highlighting that awareness alone does not necessarily lead to sustainable behaviour’, the study found.
The full study, Mind the gap: identifying the chasm between environmental awareness, attitudes and action in fast fashion consumption, can be found here. Read more here.
