Background: The sportswear industry has grown rapidly in the past years, with sportswear becoming a popular choice for everyday wear and sports activities. However, concerns about sustainability have emerged, prompting consumers to think about their purchasing habits. As a result, sustainable branding has become an integral part of the business of sportswear brands. Purpose: This study examines how women’s attitudes toward sustainable branding influence their purchase decisions in the sportswear industry. By focusing on women aged 20-50, the research seeks to understand the attitudes of female consumers and help sportswear brands adapt their sustainability strategies to meet consumer demand. Method: This study follows a qualitative research method with an interpretive research paradigm and an inductive research approach. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews to better understand the underlying motivations and factors that influence female attitudes. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that female consumers had negative or neutral attitudes toward the sportswear industry. However, they indicated a positive attitude towards sustainability, suggesting that the brand’s social and environmental practices can influence female consumer attitudes. The study showed a clear gap between female consumer attitudes and actual behavior, with financial constraints and other purchase criteria as barriers to purchasing sustainable sportswear.

With the growing trend of the manufacturing of sustainable products by the apparel brands, the eco-friendly consumers are becoming more interested in knowing the brands’ sustainability communication and their claims. This study has taken the Katz’s attitude functions theory as a framework to better understand the factors which can help in calculating the consumers’ attitudes towards the sustainability communication of H&M, the leading apparel brand of Sweden. This research paper used qualitative research method and have done the ‘focused group analyses’ to investigate the consumers attitude towards sustainability communication of H&M. Four focus groups interviews were conducted and then transcribed to generate themes to interpretate the results. Researcher utilized the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach as a qualitative research method, to explore the ‘lived experience’ of the research participants. Author then interpretated the results and found out that the consumers are aware from the H&M sustainability communication. Although most of them positively influenced from the brand’s sustainability, yet some of them have doubts on the sustainability claims of H&M.