Preferences of Generation Y towards sustainability in fashion industry

Ekološka odnosno zelena politika sve je više u fokusu zemalja diljem svijeta, poglavito unutar Europske unije koja pod svojom ingerencijom uz socijalnu, kohezijsku i poljoprivrednu politiku ima i ekološku politiku. Jedan od glavnih zagađivača svakako je i modna industrija jer dolazi do prekomjerne kupnje i nepravilnog odlaganja odjeće. Kako bi se taj problem riješio u fokus često dolazi faza donošenja zakonskih regulativa i prema njima se mjeri uspjeh aktera koji ih donose. Ali, od presudne je važnosti proces implementacije pojedinih odluka tj. koliko su se odredbe i pravila usvojena kod fizičkih i pravnih osoba i koliko su oni općenito informirani o pojedinim problemima i najidealnijim rješenjima istih. Prema tome, iako su Europska unija i nacionalne vlade kroz godine uložile puno truda da se uhvate u koštac s problemom onečišćenja okoliša, svrha ovog rada je ispitati koliko je svijest o problemu onečišćenja od strane modne industrije doprinijela do pojedinaca i koliko su oni promijenili svoje navike kako bi smanjili razmjere tog onečišćenja. Glavni je cilj provjeriti kakvi su stavovi Generacije Y (osobe rođene 1981. - 2000.) prema održivosti u modnoj industriji. U svrhu odgovora na ta pitanja, koristi se analiza postojeće literature kako bi približili glavne koncepte vezane za temu te provodimo anketni upitnik na većem uzorku mladih kako bi ispitali njihovo razumijevanje održivosti u modnoj industriji te njihove potrošačke navike koje se odnose na proces kupnje, nošenja i odlaganja odjeće. Iako su pripadnici Generacije Y upućeniji od prethodnih generacija po pitanju održivosti, smatra se kako i dalje postoji prilična apatija i neznanje oko problema zagađenja okoliša posebno od strane modne industrije. Također, mišljenje je kako postoje određeni sociodemografski čimbenici koji podupiru tu tezu, poput duge nezaposlenosti, ostanka u roditeljskom domu ili lošijeg životnog standarda.Environmental and green policy is increasingly in the focus of countries around the world, especially within the European Union, which under its jurisdiction, in addition to social, cohesion and agricultural policy, also has its own environmental policy. One of the main polluters is certainly the fashion industry because there is an excessive purchase and improper disposal of clothing. In order to solve this problem, the focus often comes on the phase of enacting legislation and according to them the success is measured by the actors who enact them. But the process of implementation of individual decisions is of crucial importance, ie how much the provisions and rules have been adopted by individuals and legal entity and also how much they are generally informed about certain problems and the most ideal solutions. Therefore, although the European Union and national governments have made great efforts over the years to tackle the problem of environmental pollution, the purpose of this paper is to examine how much awareness of the problem of pollution by the fashion industry has reached individuals and how much they have changed their habits to reduce the scale of that pollution. The main goal is to check the preferences of Generation Y (people born from 1981 to 2000) towards sustainability in the fashion industry. To answer these questions, we use the analysis of existing literature to explain the main concepts related to the topic, and conduct a survey questionnaire on a larger sample of young people to examine their understanding of sustainability in the fashion industry and their consumer habits related to buying, wearing and clothing disposal. Although members of Generation Y are more knowledgeable than previous generations when it comes to sustainability, we believe that there is still considerable apathy and ignorance about the problem of environmental pollution, especially by the fashion industry. Our opinion is that there are certain socio-demographic factors that support this thesis, such as long-term unemployment, staying in the parental home or low life standard