Bakgrund: Marknaden för etiska kläder växer ständigt och konsumenter bryr sig alltmer om varifrån produkterna kommer, hur de är producerade och vad det har för inverkan på miljö och djur. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka värderingar konsumenter har kring etiskt producerat material inom modehandeln och hur konsumenter agerar i ett köpbeslut. Det finns ett behov att undersöka vilka faktorer som är avgörande i etisk konsumtion för att kunna normalisera den rådande trenden om etisk konsumtion. Forskningsfrågor: - Vilka faktorer är det som avgör konsumenternas etiska köpbeslut? - Skiljer sig konsumenters etiska värderingar från hur de agerar vid köp av skor och väskor? Metod: Det empiriska materialet är insamlat med hjälp av femton olika semistrukturerade intervjuer. De informanter som valdes var modeintresserade och var mellan åldrarna 20-27 år.Intervjuerna utfördes till största del via internet med hjälp av tjänster såsom Facebookvideo-chat och Google Meet videokommunikation. Materialet är sedan sammanställt medhjälp av en tematisk analysmetod. Materialet kodades och delades in i kategorierna: (1)köpbeteende, (2) etiska värderingar och (3) djurens välfärd. Slutsats: Studien visar att konsumenter värderar stil och image som viktigast i ett köpbeslut, därefter värde för pengarna, komfort och bekvämlighet och till sist miljö och socialt ansvarstagande. Studien visar även att konsumenters värderingar skiljer sig från deras faktiska agerande och köpbeteende. Konsumenter beskriver att de värdesätter djurens välfärd och etiska faktorer högt, men deras faktiska köpbeslut styrs främst av stil och image samt värdet för pengar. / Background: The ethical clothing industry is subject to a persistent growth, and consumers become increasingly aware of where products come from, how they are produced and how they impact the environment and animals. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyse which values consumers have about ethically produced materials within the fashion industry, and how consumers act in purchasing decision. It is of interest to investigate which factors are decisive in ethical consumption to normalize the trend of ethical consumption. Research questions: - Which factors are decisive in consumer ethical purchasing decisions? - Do ethical values of consumers contradict their purchasing behaviour for shoes and bags? Method: Empirical data was collected through fifteen unique semi-structured interviews. Selected interviewees defined themselves as interested in fashion and their ages ranged 20-27years old. The interviews were conducted primarily over the internet through services such as Facebook video-chat and Google Meet video communication. The material was then compiled with a thematic analytic method. The material was quantified and divided into the following three sub-categories: (1) purchasing behaviour; (2) ethical values; and (3) animal welfare. Conclusion: The study finds that consumers value style and image the most in a purchasing decision, first runner up was perceived value, second runner up was comfort, and third runner up was environmental and social responsibility. The study also concludes that the pronounced ethical values of consumers contradict their actual behaviour. Consumers state they value animal welfare and ethical factors highly, but when it comes to their actual purchasing decisions factors such as style, image and perceived value are more decisive.

There is a growing interest for ethical consumption, in general as well as inthe clothing industry. The consumption of ethical clothes is a complexphenomenon though, where aspects such as quality, style, function, price,time assets, accessibility and ethical attitudes affect the decision making.Researches that have been executed show the diversities in developmentbetween different countries. There are fairly strong indications that theethical clothing market is more advanced in the United Kingdom than inSweden and therefore these two countries are objects of this research.The aim with this thesis is to describe and explain what have affected thedevelopment of the ethical clothing market in the United Kingdom comparedto Sweden. For that reason a qualitative approach has mainly been used,where deep interviews with people within the ethical clothing industry havecontributed to most of the empirical part. As a complement secondary datasuch as statistics of the two countries have been used in order to investigateour area.One useful tool, among others, to investigate the macro environment is theSLEPT model. With this model the surroundings are being evaluated withinthe areas of social/cultural, legal, economical, political and technologicalfactors. They influence differently on the possibility for new companies andbusinesses to operate and the factors can all together contribute to a betterunderstanding of the market environment. Population, income levels,Internet usage, political government and legislation regarding theenvironment and business are data that have been studied in this thesis.Sweden and the United Kingdom are rather similar when it comes toeconomical, political, legal and technological aspect, why the social/culturaldifferences are more distinct. The index of national culture, created byHofstede (2005) helps to explain some of the dissimilarities. The diversity inshort-term thinking, masculinity and individualism in the two countries maycontribute to an explanation of what have affected the development of theethical clothing market. / <p>Program: Textilekonomutbildningen</p><p>Uppsatsnivå: C</p>