The tension between fashion and sustainability has been recognized, as it has been argued whether fashion can be sustainable. This is due to the several ethical dilemmas the fashion industry is facing, including not only environmental but also social problems. These issues have gained an increasing amount of consumers' attention during the last years. Even if these problems are recognized, consumers are still having an attitude-behaviour gap towards sustainable consumption, where positive attitude does not reflect on actions. Therefore, this study takes a deeper look into the consumption behaviour of sustainable fashion consumers and aims to clarify, what motivates to purchase sustainable fashion products. With the help of a means-end theory, this exploratory research aims to understand consumers' values behind their purchasing behaviour. The empirical data was collected using an existing sustainable fashion company's customer base in the Netherlands, as their customers have already shown interest towards sustainable fashion. This study is based on nineteen qualitative in-depth laddering interviews, lasting around 25 minutes. The data resulted in several means-end chains that presented which attributes, consequences and values motivate and influence on consumers' purchasing of sustainable fashion. After collecting the data, content analysis was conducted and as a result emerged four dominant motivational themes that motivate consumers to buy sustainable fashion products: self-expression, protect the future, contribution as well as help, care and responsibility. These motivational themes show what consumers value when they make sustainable fashion purchases. In the end, the results of this research are contributing to the holistic understanding of sustainable fashion consumption as well as give insights to the under-researched topic of motivations to purchase sustainable fashion. / <p></p><p></p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-297704 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Kareinen, Kira, Kainulainen, Sonja |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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