Sustainable Fashion Consumption: Advocating Philanthropic and Economic Motives in Clothing Disposal Behaviour

Siti Hasnah Hassan,Jasmine A L Yeap,Nabil Hasan Al-Kumaim

doi:10.3390/su14031875

Siti Hasnah Hassan, Jasmine A L Yeap + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031875

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Abstract

The fast fashion market is becoming popular, escalating and aggravating the throwaway culture phenomenon. Thus, it is valuable to understand the factors that influence sustainable fashion consumption and the clothing disposal pattern among young consumers in developing countries like Malaysia. Data were obtained from the online survey of 324 young adults aged 18 to 35 and were analysed using the Partial Least Square using SmartPLS (v.3.3.3i). The findings indicate that personal norms, social norms and environmental awareness were the key influencing factors of sustainable fashion consumption. Consequently, sustainable fashion consumption exhibited a positive and significant relationship towards philanthropic and economic reasons for clothing disposal behaviour. The insights from this study will assist practitioners, green manufacturers, business owners and policy makers in giving a clearer picture of what motivates sustainable fashion consumption and the clothing disposal behaviour of today’s young adults.

Highlights

Philanthropic and Economic MotivesThe fashion industry is ever-changing, with new retailers launching new collections at affordable prices and increasing profit margins every few weeks [1,2]
The results indicated indicated that personal personal norms, norms, social social norms, norms, and and environmental environmental awareawareness impact sustainable fashion consumption positively and and significantly
The results reveal that sustainable fashion consumption among young adults impacts both philanthropic and economic reasons for clothing disposal

Summary

Introduction

Philanthropic and Economic MotivesThe fashion industry is ever-changing, with new retailers launching new collections at affordable prices and increasing profit margins every few weeks [1,2]. The advancement in technology has fuelled fast fashion in ways that allows for rapid production and frequent turnover in an affordable fashion, in which the shelf life of the clothing can only last for a few weeks. Consumers may not take good care of the clothes due to the low price and discard them without much thought [4]. This rapidly expanding fast fashion trend has resulted in excess clothing consumption, among young consumers, who are more obsessed with fashion trends than any other demographic [2]. In 2050, the global clothing sales are anticipated to exceed 160 million tonnes, driven by market expansions in Asia and Africa, more than 3 times the amount of clothing sold resulting in a significant increase in the industry’s negative impacts [7]

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