Fashion Consumption Towards Sustainability. Influencing Factors of the Attitude-Behaviour Gap in Relation to Sustainable Fashion

The interest and awareness of sustainability, with consumers and organizations, has been increasing through the past few decades and environmental and ethical issues are one of the main topics discussed within the fashion industry today. Organizations have been moving towards more sustainable business models, while consumers have been adapting more sustainable fashion consumption. The revolution is influenced by consumers that want to change their consumption habits and contribute to reducing environmental and social impacts on the planet. The increasing positive attitudes towards sustainable fashion, on the other hand, do not always translate into consumers‘ purchase behaviour. This paradoxical phenomenon, the attitude-behaviour gap, has encouraged reseachers to further examine and understand the drivers and barriers of sustainable purchase behaviour. The present study, which was conducted with a quantitative approach, aimed at examining if there is a gap between consumers‘ attitudes and behaviour in relation to sustainable fashion in Iceland, and the determinants that are possibly hindering their purchase behaviour. An online survey was submitted, with statements about attitude and behaviour regarding sustainable fashion, along with statements about possible influencing factors. There were 348 individuals who participated in the survey, all of whom were asked to state their opinions on how strongly they disagreed or agreed with the statements. The results of the present study indicate that attitude towards sustainability seems to be very positive but attitude towards sustainable fashion is rather neutral. Furthermore, attitude seems to only weakly translate into purchase behaviour, where consumers do not seem to be purchasing many sustainable fashion items. Consequently, the present study presents a gap between attitude and purchase behaviour, known as the attitude-behaviour gap. Personal benefits, consumer awareness and willingness to spend shopping time on sustainable fashion, seem to be a positive influencer of purchase behaviour, but availability of money seems to be a negative influencer. The author speculates that the reason could be, that the majority of the respondents were younger than 34 years old. The younger generation seems to be more positive about the environmental and social issues the modern society is facing, but they may not have as much spending power as the older generation