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The purpose of this paper is to investigate custom-made apparel manufacturing micro-enterprise (CMME) owners’ perspectives of sustainability within their business practices throughout the entire product development process and determine how educational initiatives can promote a more environmentally conscious product development process.

A qualitative case study, using face-to-face interviews and observations of CMMEs at an incubation hub presents evidence of owners’ sustainability perspectives.

Although CMME owners disregard sustainability as a pro-environmental approach within the business context, attempts at pro-environmental subconscious behaviour and a deliberate non-environmental consciousness are evident in sourcing and manufacturing during the product development process.

Because of the case study approach of four CMMEs in an IH, the findings may not be applicable to other small and micro-businesses. Despite this limitation, valuable insights emerged that show the current inaptness of the CMMEs to manage an environmentally sustainable business practice.

To promote sustainable development goal 12, related to the clothing and textile industry, it is postulated that CMMEs should be supported to minimise their use of resources, thereby promoting environmental sustainability.

The findings of this study direct the development of higher education educational programmes featuring learning content on pro-environmental design and business practices for CMMEs.

Social media and sustainability are changing Chinese consumers’ consumption behavior in notable ways. Few apparel industry sustainability efforts are enforced or well known in China. As China operates its own social media sites, it is necessary to study Chinese social media, rather than Western types, in order to understand its influence on Chinese consumer behavior with regard to sustainability. By extending the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the prototype willingness model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese consumers were taught their environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) consumption behavior through social media, and also how the influence of peers affected their purchase intentions.

A total of 238 survey responses were collected and analyzed from a Chinese research firm in 2016. In accord with the study objectives, an exploratory factor analysis was first conducted, and then a two-step analysis of a structural equation model was employed for hypothesis testing. To test the significance of hypothesized mediated effects, a bootstrap procedure with 2,000 bootstrap samples from the original data was used to compute bias-corrected 95% CI for indirect effects. Moreover, hierarchical regressions were demonstrated to verify the unique contribution of social media influence.

The study findings support the previous literature that indicated positive attitudes toward environmentally sustainable purchasing behavior increased as Chinese consumers learned about social and environmental issues. Also, results of the analysis revealed that Chinese consumers’ engagement with social media and their peers were important social influences that were directly tied to increasing sustainable apparel purchase intentions.

By extending two grand theories of the prototype willingness model theory and the TRA, this study underlines a novel link between the influence of social media and ESA purchase intentions among Chinese consumers. Results are valuable in a global context as it is one of only a few studies to explore Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions of ESA through an exclusive social media platform – WeChat – in China.

This study aims to investigate consumer knowledge of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) and examine the impact of communication on consumer knowledge of ESA.

This study employed a quantitative survey focused on Millennial and Generation Z consumers. Two communication methods, hangtags and product webpages, were involved. First, two instruments were established to measure consumers’ objective and subjective knowledge of ESA. Second, two questionnaires were developed to collect participants’ knowledge before and after reading hangtags or product webpages.

There were 385 useable responses. It was found that participants’ knowledge about waste and cotton production’s water issues was less than their knowledge of other subjects and did not increase after reading the related information on hangtags or webpages. Participants’ subjective knowledge was significantly higher than their objective knowledge after communication. The positive effects of communicating with consumers via hangtags and webpages on consumers’ subjective knowledge were confirmed. Additionally, the ESA information provided via hangtags was more effective than webpages in improving consumers’ objective knowledge.

This study makes up for the deficiency in the literature. It provides in-depth insights on consumers’ knowledge of ESA by investigating consumer knowledge before and after communication based on consumer knowledge structure. The textile and apparel industry can use this study’s findings to improve communication with consumers and aid in sustainable product distribution.

This study aims to understand Bangladeshi young consumers’ perceptions of sustainable apparel. Specifically, through the lens of the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study investigates the impacts of man–nature orientation (MNO) and social influences on Bangladeshi young consumers’ intention to purchase sustainable apparel.

Empirical survey-based research was conducted, and data were collected from 387 Bangladeshi college students.

The findings of the study show that MNO significantly influences Bangladeshi young consumers’ attitudes toward purchasing sustainable apparel, which, together with social influences, impacts young Bangladeshi consumers’ intention of making efforts to purchase sustainable apparel.

This study incorporates the specific cultural value – MNO with the traditional TRA model to understand young Bangladeshi consumers’ sustainable apparel purchase intention. The results of this study demonstrate the applicability of the TRA framework in understanding young consumers’ sustainable apparel consumer behavior in the context of Bangladesh, which is a developing country with a collectivistic culture. This study provides insights into how apparel brands and retailers should design their sustainability strategies in developing countries such as Bangladesh.

Built on the socioemotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to analyze elderly female consumers’ consumption of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) according to their time perspective (TP) (expansive vs limited) and different types of advertising appeals (emotional vs rational and positive vs negative emotional appeals).

The study conducted a survey and experiments with 154 US female consumers who were 65 years of age or older. Data were analyzed through regression and ANCOVA.

The results showed that older female adults with an expansive TP tended to consume ESA, with their fashion consciousness moderating the results. Rational and either positive or negative emotional advertisements with environmental messages were found to encourage the higher purchase intentions of elderly consumers more effectively than advertisements with no environmental messages.

Apparel retailers are recommended to consider the factor of TP when encouraging environmental consumption. Environmental messages containing rational information and eliciting positive and negative emotions are suggested to promote purchase intention toward ESA among elderly consumers.

This study addressed an under-studied segment in ESA consumption – elderly female consumers – built on the socioemotional selective theory, and confirmed that this group’s ESA consumption can be explained by their perspective on time. In addition, this study confirmed which advertising appeals would effectively encourage their ESA consumption, and provided theoretical explanations for these findings.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the realistic trade-offs young consumers make when purchasing organic T-shirts.

A full profile discrete choice design was used. The data were analysed using a multinomial logit model and desirability indices.

Price was the most important attribute to consumers followed by the place of production and then sustainability. Consumers were most willing to purchase T-shirts that are eco-friendly, Made In America, made from wrinkle-free technology and cotton jersey knit fabric, and have a price of $15. Although consumers were most willing to pay $15, some were still willing to pay $25 or even $35 for the same eco-friendly T-shirt.

Consumers in the current study were more willing to purchase eco-friendly as opposed to organic apparel. The findings suggest that retailers need to consider the language used when communicating with consumers. Also, consumers were more willing to purchase T-shirts Made In America. Retailers may want to promote their domestic manufacturing through in-depth branding and promotions.

In order to identify the attributes to be used in the current study, labels on T-shirts in stores were examined and then those attributes were verified in the literature. In addition, the inclusion of price as an attribute, rather than as a separate independent question, provides a more realistic view of young consumers’ decision making.

The apparel and textile sector poses a significant environmental challenge due to its substantial contribution to pollution in the form of air, water and soil pollution. To combat these issues, the adoption of sustainable practices is essential. This study aims to identify and analyse the barriers that hinder the progress of sustainability in the apparel and textile industry. By consulting experts in the field, critical barriers were identified and given special attention.

To achieve the research objective, an integrated approach involving Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC decision-making techniques was employed. The results were further validated through the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method.

The findings highlight that barrier related to clothing disposal, inadequate adaptation to modern technology, challenges affecting sector efficiency and issues related to fashion design are crucial in influencing the remaining six barriers. Based on the outcomes of the DEMATEL method, a comprehensive cause-and-effect diagram was constructed to gain a deeper understanding of these challenges.

This research provides valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in the apparel and textile industry. It offers a strategic framework to address and overcome sustainability barriers, promoting the development of a more environmentally responsible and resilient sector.

The purpose of this research is to conduct an in-depth investigation of the barriers apparel and textile sectors. It is feasible that both the management team and the medical experts who provide direct patient care could benefit from this research.

This study examines consumer behaviour based on product sustainability and brand luxury. The purpose is to provide strategic suggestions to apparel companies attempting to invest in sustainable development of plastic clothing, as well as implications for marketing and sustainability research.

Consumer brand attitude and purchase intention towards sustainable plastic clothing are examined across material types, brand luxury levels and price levels from 315 valid samples collected in Japan.

The results reveal that sustainable plastic clothing raises brand attitude, indirectly influencing purchase intention. However, the direct effect of sustainable clothing on purchase intention is contradictorily negative. These contradictory effects are especially significant when brand luxury is high. Both brand attitude and purchase intention hardly vary across price levels or material types of sustainable plastic, such as post-consumer bottles versus apparel.

The results imply that sustainable products are not instantly profitable but contribute to a desirable brand association, especially for luxury brands. An investment in costly closed-loop technology for apparel recycling is found to be commercially disadvantageous. Managers are suggested to discuss this aspect carefully, since it seems partially unprofitable, while sustainable management seems to comprehensively contribute to overall enterprise performance.

The study specifically reveals the luxury effect enhancing, yet contradictory, consumer behaviour towards sustainable plastic clothing. To the best of the author’s knowledge, few studies have examined the relationships between these elements. Furthermore, the study sheds new light on consumer behaviour across recycled plastic types from a marketing perspective.

This study examines the factors of sustainable technology adoption (STA) in the Bangladeshi’s apparel industry and its impact on the environmental performance and other firm performances. Mainly, this study adopts stakeholder theory and hypothesizes necessary conditions to examine different stakeholders’ roles to facilitate STA and ameliorate firm performances such as environmental, financial and competitive advantages.

It is an empirical study which collected 240 responses from Bangladeshi apparel firms. Garment factories were considered as the unit of analysis.

Customer pressure, top management, competition among firms and government support significantly and positively impact STA. Surprisingly, regulatory pressure has no significant impact on the Bangladeshi’s apparel industry, which contradicts most existing literature in the field. The findings show that sustainable technology brings increased simultaneously enhances environmental outcomes and enhances financial performances and competitive advantage.

This study fills up the voids that exist in the STA literature in the clothing industry in the clothing industry’s STA literature. Specifically, western buyers have more influence than regulatory pressure to adopt sustainable technology and sustainable manufacturing for the Bangladeshi garments industry. Moreover, it proposes that sustainable technology can enhance firms’ competitive advantage in selling their products in the West besides environmental-friendly apparel manufacturers.

The aim of this chapter is to explore sustainability research and findings in Slovenia, including Slovenia’s paths toward sustainable future on three different levels: situational or macro-level, transformational or mezzo-level and action formation or micro-level. Changes toward sustainability can only be made through the interaction of all levels. Besides the economic situation, both environmental and social dimensions are also important parts of sustainability. Slovenian consumers tend to be aware of sustainability issues and have formed positive attitudes about this concern, which is also reflected at the macro-level indices, indicating Slovenia’s sustainable position compared to other countries in Eastern and Southern Europe. Some sustainability guidelines, albeit not necessarily systematic activities, are adopted by companies and thus are moving the Slovenian economy forward in this area. This chapter can serve as a basis to develop some general pointers of how sustainability in Slovenia can be further addressed and developed.