The impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical fashion and consumer purchase behavior (their willingness to pay a premium for ethical fashion), with the focus on consumers' concerns and beliefs about, and knowledge of, ethical fashion.Design methodology appro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of fashion marketing and management 2012-05, Vol.16 (2), p.234-245
Main Authors: Shen, Bin, Wang, Yulan, Lo, Chris K.Y., Shum, Momoko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Ethics
Fair trade
Fashion
Human rights
Knowledge
Purchase intention
Purchasing
Questionnaires
Shopping
Studies
Supply chains
Sustainability
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
Willingness to pay
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Summary:Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical fashion and consumer purchase behavior (their willingness to pay a premium for ethical fashion), with the focus on consumers' concerns and beliefs about, and knowledge of, ethical fashion.Design methodology approach - A self-completion questionnaire was administered to 109 respondents. Factor analysis and other statistical analyses were applied to test hypotheses.Findings - The findings suggest that consumer beliefs about ethical fashion, which are based on their perceptions of a company in terms of its reputation in the fashion industry, influence their support for what they perceive as socially and environmentally responsible businesses.Research limitations implications - The sample size, which is relatively small, is a limitation for this research. The data were collected in Hong Kong, limiting findings to that geographic region.Practical implications - An important implication is that consumer education is essential to mitigate the prevailing throwaway culture and raise consumer awareness of ethical issues facing the fashion industry. Thus, retailers should take initiatives to educate consumers so as to ensure the success of their newly-launched ethical fashion products.Originality value - The paper proposes an approach to clearly understand the impacts of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior.
ISSN:1361-2026
1758-7433
DOI:10.1108/13612021211222842