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Sustainable consumption is an important topic for different industries, including the fashion industry. Despite a favourable attitude of consumers towards sustainable products in the fashion industry, the actual purchase by the consumers is limited. Thus, the present study examines sustainable consumption using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The purpose of this paper is to study the mediating impact of strategies of justification of unethical behaviour on the gap-based relationship between a purchase intention and a purchase decision for a consumer in a sustainable clothing context.

For the study, the primary data from 229 graduate-level fashion students enrolled in universities across India has been analyzed with the help of structural equation modelling.

The study results have proven that attitudes and subjective norms can positively affect purchase intentions when it comes to purchase of the environmentally sustainable products. Further, economic rationality (ER) and government dependency (GD) partially mediate the purchase intention–behaviour gap of the justification strategies for unethical behaviour.

The results would be helpful in implementing sustainable clothing consumption among Indian consumers. The study would be beneficial for industry professionals, export houses and scholars to discover possible reasons which can lead to the widening of the intention–behaviour gap when it comes to the purchase of the sustainable clothing consumption for Indian consumers. Critical implications for marketers from the present research assert that ER and GD are important factors that could increase the purchase intention of young consumers towards sustainable clothing.

The results of the study contribute to the existing literature in a novel way by adding justification strategies for unethical behaviour to the TPB model. This study is innovative as it adds new constructs to the TPB model by including the three justification strategies that people use for unethical consumption behaviour (ER, economic development and GD) to gain insight into why a purchase intention–behaviour gap exists for sustainable clothing.

This paper investigates why and when messages regarding unsustainable luxury products lead to negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) through a focus on the role of guilt, need to warn others and consumers' cultural orientation.

Three experiments test whether messages describing unsustainable versus sustainable luxury manufacturing processes elicit guilt and a need to warn others and whether and how the need to warn others affects consumers' NWOM depending on their cultural orientation.

Consumers experience guilt in response to messages emphasizing the unsustainable (vs sustainable) nature of luxury products. In turn, guilt triggers a need to warn other consumers, which leads to NWOM about the luxury company. Furthermore, the results suggest that two dimensions of Hofstede's model of national culture – namely individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity – moderate the effect of the need to warn others on NWOM.

Luxury managers should design appropriate strategies to cope with consumers' different reactions to information regarding luxury brands' unsustainability. Managers should be aware that the risk of NWOM diffusion may be higher in countries characterized by a collectivistic and feminine orientation rather than an individualistic and masculine orientation.

Consumer reaction to unsustainable luxury, especially across different cultural groups, is a neglected area of investigation. This work contributes to this novel area of research by investigating NWOM stemming from unsustainable luxury manufacturing practices in different cultural contexts.

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.

The purpose of this research is to advance understanding of the socially responsible apparel consumer by exploring apparel consumption behaviors perceived by consumers to be eco‐conscious.

This study used a qualitative approach to collect and analyze data from 26 American apparel consumers. Data collection for the study occurred through semi‐structured interviews.

Results indicate that the participants engaged in a number of perceived eco‐conscious apparel acquisition behaviors. First, they adhered to acquisition limits by acquiring apparel based on need and extending the lifetime of their apparel. Second, they acquired apparel made from fibers or having other attributes perceived as environmentally preferable. Finally, they acquired apparel through sources believed to be environmentally preferable, including second‐hand sources, eco‐conscious companies, independently owned companies, and home sewing.

The sample of 26 American consumers means that the results cannot be widely generalized. Future research should examine the apparel acquisition behaviors of a larger sample and include consumers from outside the USA.

This study provides evidence that consumers engage in a range of eco‐conscious apparel acquisition behaviors, and a market segment of eco‐conscious apparel consumers exists. Apparel industry professionals can use this baseline information to aid in the development of eco‐conscious apparel consumption strategies.

This study contributes to increased understanding of eco‐conscious apparel consumption, an area with limited previous research, by identifying apparel acquisition behaviors that consumers perceive to be eco‐conscious. The findings are valuable in the promotion of eco‐conscious apparel consumption.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether a “value-action gap” exists between what members of the adolescent Generation Z (Gen Z) cohort value and how they act by investigating their actions related to sustainable and responsible fashion consumption (SRFC). Specific focus was placed on understanding these actions across the apparel consumption cycle, ranging from the acquisition, to use and disposal stages.

Forty-one members of Gen Z (20 males and 21 females) ranging in age from 15 to 18 participated in a total of seven focus groups.

Three emergent themes were identified and used to structure the interpretation: unintentionally sustainable, a knowledge conundrum and perceived barriers.

The majority of focus group participants were Caucasian, and all were teenagers from a single geographical area in the Southeastern USA. Findings provided by this study offer insight regarding the SRFC habits of Gen Z relative to their concerns regarding sustainability and social and environmental responsibility.

Findings offer practitioners an opportunity to better understand how to address the needs of this generational cohort as they progress through adulthood.

Findings of this study investigate the value-action gap to offer insight into how adolescent members of Gen Z make consumption decisions, and specifically within a framework of the apparel consumption cycle as a whole, including acquisition, use and disposal. Findings also reveal some of their more general views on SRFC.

Aim of this study is to examine how environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) mediate the effect of consumer optimism and pessimism on Generation Z's intention to purchase sustainable clothes.

A survey was administered to 247 Gen Z students using a quantitative methodology. Structural equation modeling was used for hypothesis testing.

The examination of findings provides support for the idea that both optimism and pessimism have a direct impact on environmental concerns and perceived consumer effectiveness. Additionally, it reveals that environmental concerns and perceived consumer effectiveness play a positive role in influencing sustainable clothing purchases.

This study is one of the first marketing studies to explore the relationship between personality traits, environmental concerns and the intention to purchase sustainable clothing, providing insight into their relationship.

Some methodological limitations impact the contributions of this cross-sectional investigation. It only tested a few variables predicting the intention to purchase sustainable clothing.

This research provides decision-makers, including marketers, with insights on leveraging dispositional traits to increase consumers' purchase intention of sustainable clothing.

Environmental concerns and PCE have a positive effect on sustainable clothing purchases, which are influenced by both optimism and pessimism.

This study aims to test for factors affecting environmental sustainability and purchase intention in the fashion industry. Accordingly, the authors developed a framework that depicts the relationships between perceptions of social responsibility, consumer attitude, trust, purchase intention and perceived consumer effectiveness.

An online survey was conducted with an internationally diverse sample of 216 consumers. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The results indicated that perceptions of social responsibility directly affect consumers’ attitudes towards these fashion brands, as well as trust and perceived consumer effectiveness. Also, consumers need to perceive sustainability efforts of these brands as altruistic, and trust was found to be a direct predictor of purchase intention. However, both consumer attitude and perceived consumer effectiveness did not predict purchase intention.

The survey was primarily distributed to young people. Therefore, a generalisation of the findings to other age groups might be limited.

Practicing managers should emphasise the fact that environmental sustainability and fast fashion brands could be sustainable to increase trust among consumers.

When it comes to environmental issues, positive perceptions regarding the companies’ social responsibility efforts are vital to enhance both consumers’ trust towards the brands and their individual feeling of empowerment.

This study intends to shed light on the key elements that shape consumers’ attitudes and willingness to purchase green apparel.

This paper aims to investigate consumers' perspectives on sustainable clothing consumption and to examine ways in which this information could influence retailers' policies.

Qualitative research was conducted using focus groups, home tasks and workshops with 99 participants. The sample represented different groups of consumers in relation to their sustainability behaviour.

Focus group participants had a limited awareness of the sustainability impacts of clothing. Where participants displayed pro‐environmental behaviour, this was not necessarily intentional, but was largely a response to other influences. The respondents' maintenance and disposal of clothes were found to be influenced mainly by existing habits and routines, which usually take precedence over awareness of sustainable practice. The research indicated that consumers could be persuaded to change their behaviour in relation to sustainability by being encouraged and enabled to reflect more on their behaviour.

This study uses qualitative research and is limited to UK consumers. Future research in this field could incorporate quantitative methods or in‐depth interviews. Academics could conduct further research and generate theories which apply to the sustainable consumption of clothing.

The findings have implications for retailers, academics and society. Retailers can develop and implement more sustainable policies and practices in relation to clothing production and consumption. There are wider implications for society and the environment in that retailers' practices can impact greatly on the sustainability of the planet's resources.

This paper's originality lies in its assessment of the implications for retailers of consumers' views on the sustainable consumption of clothing.

Extending the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this paper aims to measure the relative importance of different barriers to sustainable fashion consumption (SFC).

Existing studies have mainly adopted a qualitative methodology for identifying barriers to uptake of SFC, this study uses six of the main identified barriers: environmental apparel knowledge, perceived value, price sensitivity, product attributes and variety, availability and scepticism into the TPB framework to test and reveal which barriers have the greater impact on the TPB cognitions and consequently on building intention towards SFC. To test this model a survey study among 669 consumers from Europe, Asian and North America was conducted, structural equation modelling is used to test the research hypotheses.

Findings confirm the role of TPB cognitions on predicting intention and show that the proposed barriers provide a satisfactory explanation of the TPB model. Furthermore, results show that product attributes and variety and environmental apparel knowledge have the greatest impact on the TPB cognitions and on building intention towards SFC. Differences were found between the impacts of the price for the three continents.

This research contributes to the emerging sustainable fashion literature by examining the impact of different barriers to SFC in an extended TPB framework. To the best of our knowledge price sensitivity, availability and scepticism have never been studied in the context of sustainable fashion. It also provides a multifactor group analysis which uncovers differences among consumers from different continents.

Detrimental impacts on social and ecological well-being of excessive fashion consumption and production practices are posing threats on future generations. Therefore, the need for sustainable solutions and endorsing them through social marketing efforts is more urgent than ever. From the consumption angle, this study aims to explore the driving forces behind consumers’ restless desire for the new and the growing need to consume sustainably.

This paper is conceptual in nature, and through a review of the literature in fashion, consumer, sustainability and social marketing studies, it examines why consumer desire for the new is so profound and how it conflicts with sustainability goals of the fashions industry. With a macrosocial approach, it reveals how multiple constituents of the fashion system can contribute toward sustainability goals.

This study explains consumers’ psychological and social needs driving their restless desire for the new and the role of fast fashion companies fuelling this desire. It also discusses the consequences of excessive fashion consumption and presents social marketing solutions at micro, meso and macro levels with upstream and downstream effects toward sustainability goals.

Considering the increasing consciousness about the negative impacts of excessive fashion consumption, this study suggests both practical and social implications that are associated with multiple stakeholders including consumers, fashion companies and public policymakers.

This study reveals in detail the challenges and potential social marketing solutions at micro, meso and macro levels, concerning the conflict between consumers’ restless desire for the new and the pressing need to consume more sustainably.