How Changing Consumer Attitudes Toward Climate Change are Creating New Opportunities in the Fashion Industry

This thesis focuses on analysing consumers’ attitudes toward climate change with an emphasis on consumers’ behaviour in the fashion industry to examine how it creates new opportunity within the fashion market. The research takes a special look at the possible opportunity of the resale apparel market. The literature review aims to give the reader an understanding of the subject by the explanation of theories related to marketing, consumer behaviour, business models and an analysis tool. Also, marketing specificities and consumers’ wants related to the fashion industry are examined. Besides, green marketing and its limitations, both in a general context and the fashion industry context, are evaluated. This thesis is based on the collection of secondary data and the analysis of information from existing reports, articles and statistics on the development of the resale market, and the examination of the company Vinted’s success. Results of this study show that if consumers are seeking to have a lower impact on the environment when buying clothing, being “fashionable” and price are often more important. Furthermore, as the fast fashion model is considered as one of the main reasons for the industry to be so polluting, new business models and opportunities are emerging to respond to new consumers’ wants. Therefore, the resale market by answering various consumer’s wants such as sustainable apparel consumption, price and a large choice seems to be a major opportunity in the fashion industry for the coming years