Abstract
Since plastic waste is a serious social issue, fashion companies are attempting to develop sustainable apparel made from post-consumer plastic bottles. This social issue is relevant to every company regardless of the level of brand luxury. However, previous literature has not examined the effect of this sustainable product type on consumer behaviour, whereas comprehensive sustainable development is widely discussed in luxury branding research. Consequently, this study investigates how the launch of sustainable plastic apparel affects consumer brand attitude and purchase intention. According to the 440 samples collected via an online survey in Japan, moderated mediation analyses reveal that the launch of sustainable plastic apparel positively affects brand attitude contributing to purchase intention indirectly, while it also contributes to purchase intention directly. In addition, brand luxury and brand experience are found to weaken the effect of this sustainable product launch, whereas the influence of sustainable product experience is insignificant. To launch this type of sustainable apparel effectively, luxury companies are advised to redesign their current marketing to promote sustainable products more effectively and adjust their branding tactics to align with sustainability. Otherwise, their brand luxury may lead to a disadvantage, since plastic recycling is increasingly becoming a social requirement.
Highlights
In terms of plastic pollution, which has become an increasingly serious issue, the negative impact of post-consumer plastic bottles has been frequently reported [1,2], since it is a prominent environmental and social issue
This study proposes the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 4 (H4): Brand luxury inhibits the contribution of the launch of sustainable plastic apparel to consumer brand attitude
This study presents the following hypothesis: Hypothesis 5 (H5): Sustainable product experience enhances the contribution of the launch of sustainable plastic apparel to consumer brand attitude
Summary
In terms of plastic pollution, which has become an increasingly serious issue, the negative impact of post-consumer plastic bottles has been frequently reported [1,2], since it is a prominent environmental and social issue. Numerous apparel companies are attempting to develop sustainable plastic apparel made from post-consumer bottles (hereafter referred to as ‘sustainable plastic apparel’) [4,5,6] By launching this type of product, they can contribute to reducing plastic pollution. According to the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), persuasive communication is expected to strongly influence consumer attitude if they have a high level of information processing ability [22,23,24] From this perspective, it is likely that a consumer’s brand evaluation is guided by brand communication about sustainable plastic apparel, especially when they already have product brand knowledge based on their experiences. This study examines the effect of the launch of sustainable plastic apparel on consumers’ brand attitude and purchase intention towards this product It discusses how brand luxury moderates the effect of this product’s launch. The study is relevant from an academic perspective because the effect of this product type has rarely been discussed in previous literature
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