Regenerated Cellulose Fibers (RCFs) for Future Apparel Sustainability: Insights from the U.S. Consumers

Abstract

An increasing number of apparel companies are inventing novel green technologies to produce regenerated cellulose fibers (RCFs) out of textile waste. RCF can significantly reduce virgin cotton production and decrease textile waste in incinerators or landfills. However, our knowledge on U.S. consumers’ willingness to purchase RCF-made apparel is still limited given its newness. To address the gap in the literature, this study aimed to identify the factors significantly influencing the U.S. consumers’ purchase intention toward RCF-made apparel. Building on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a research model including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, perceived consumer effectiveness, and past environmental behavior as predictors was proposed to investigate the U.S. consumers’ intention to purchase RCF-made apparel. The primary data were collected by a Qualtrics survey of U.S. consumers. A total of 544 eligible responses were gathered for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The multiple regression method was applied for determining the proposed statistical relationships. Attitude, perceived consumer effectiveness, and past environmental behavior positively affect U.S. consumers’ purchase intention toward RCF-made apparel, while the effects of subjective norm and perceived behavior control are insignificant. Attitude plays a partial mediating role between past environmental behavior and purchase intention toward RCF-made apparel. A higher level of consumer environmental behavior leads to a more positive attitude toward and a greater likelihood to purchase RCF-made apparel. The proposed research model exhibits a good explanatory power, accounting for 64.8% of variance in U.S. consumers’ purchase intention toward RCF-made apparel.