M. Tech. Fashion Design / The need to educate consumers about eco-friendly clothing cannot be over emphasized any longer, research has shown that consumers with environmental knowledge are likely to purchase eco-friendly products and would be willing to pay a premium price for such products. Cheap clothing rejects the central ethics of sustainability, and they catalyse unnecessary overconsumption behaviour worldwide. With an increase in purchasing power of many consumers, excessive consumption behaviour suggests that cheap fashion merchandise are purchased and disposed of rapidly by several consumer groups. The current fashion retail industry obtains new fashion styles and supplies new clothing ranges within short span of time enticing fervent consumers' with an impetuous buying behaviour, particularly the younger consumers. The majority of consumers do not understand that their buying behaviour and disposal behaviour impacts negatively on the environment. This is a particularly common in South Africa with very few retail shops offering eco-certified clothing merchandise. This study explores consumer awareness on what constitutes eco-fashion and if their knowledge could, in future, influence them towards sustainable buying behaviour. This study also considers educational measures taken by the South African government and non-governmental organisations to empower citizens with respect to environmental issues.