Ethical Consumerism and Fashion: An Introspective Study
type: CreativeWork
description: Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world and accounts for 8.1% of annual global climate impacts (Quantis, 2018, UN, 2019). There are ethical concerns relating to environmental harm and worker exploitation at the fibre production and garment assembly stages, overconsumption and unsustainable laundry practices at the product use stage, and low levels of repurposing and recycling at the disposal stage (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2012, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017, UNEP, 2020). ‘Ethical Consumerism’ (EC) emerged as an area of academic and popular discourse in the 1990s, although its origins can be traced back to earlier research into social and environmental aspects of consumption (Harrison et al., 2005). Economic and market researchers have focused on identifying consumer segments that would derive utility from – and that would be willing to pay more for –ethically enhanced products (e.g. Dickson, 2001, De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a). Psychological approaches have used Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour to test behavioural intention to purchase ‘ethical’ products such as environmentally friendly and sweatshop free clothing. Interpretivist researchers have drawn on Consumer Culture Theory (Arnould and Thompson, 2005) and explored broader influences on past behaviour. A reliance on survey methods in the economic and psychological literature, and on interview-based methods in interpretive studies, has meant the results have often been abstracted from the situational context (Belk, 1975). Insufficient attention has been paid to the role of information (Shaw and Clarke, 1999), to factors that moderate the translation of intent into actual behaviour (Carrington et al., 2010, Hassan et al., 2016), to the product use and disposition stages (Wiederhold and Martinez, 2018)and to how intentions and behaviours evolve overtime (McNeill and Moore, 2015, Hiller and Woodall, 2019). The overarching aim of the study was “to gain a holistic understandin…
abstract: Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world and accounts for 8.1% of annual global climate impacts (Quantis, 2018, UN, 2019). There are ethical concerns relating to environmental harm and worker exploitation at the fibre production and garment assembly stages, overconsumption and unsustainable laundry practices at the product use stage, and low levels of repurposing and recycling at the disposal stage (Environmental Justice Foundation, 2012, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017, UNEP, 2020). ‘Ethical Consumerism’ (EC) emerged as an area of academic and popular discourse in the 1990s, although its origins can be traced back to earlier research into social and environmental aspects of consumption (Harrison et al., 2005). Economic and market researchers have focused on identifying consumer segments that would derive utility from – and that would be willing to pay more for –ethically enhanced products (e.g. Dickson, 2001, De Pelsmacker et al., 2005a). Psychological approaches have used Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour to test behavioural intention to purchase ‘ethical’ products such as environmentally friendly and sweatshop free clothing. Interpretivist researchers have drawn on Consumer Culture Theory (Arnould and Thompson, 2005) and explored broader influences on past behaviour. A reliance on survey methods in the economic and psychological literature, and on interview-based methods in interpretive studies, has meant the results have often been abstracted from the situational context (Belk, 1975). Insufficient attention has been paid to the role of information (Shaw and Clarke, 1999), to factors that moderate the translation of intent into actual behaviour (Carrington et al., 2010, Hassan et al., 2016), to the product use and disposition stages (Wiederhold and Martinez, 2018)and to how intentions and behaviours evolve overtime (McNeill and Moore, 2015, Hiller and Woodall, 2019). The overarching aim of the study was “to gain a holistic understandin…
author: Roberts, Llyr
language: eng
keywords: Ethical Consumerism, Fashion, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Consumer Culture Theory, Introspective Methods
date published: 2022
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:39:51Z
provider: University of South Wales
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of South Wales