Marketing for Sustainable Fashion: Driving impact by understanding social-psychological predictors of consumer behavior

Abstract

The fashion industry is one of the world’s most polluting sectors, fueled by a culture of overconsumption and disposability. Accelerating production and shorter garment lifespans generate vast textile waste, intensifying environmental and social pressures. Sustainable fashion has emerged as a key pathway toward change, promoting ethical production and alternative consumption models such as resale, rental, and recycling. Retailers, positioned to shape consumer behavior, play a pivotal role in this transition yet struggle against the convenience and low prices of fast fashion. This dissertation examines how sustainable fashion retailers can apply insights into consumer psychology in their marketing tactics to encourage uptake of sustainable fashion. The dissertation comprises four studies. The first systematically reviews 100 empirical articles on socio-psychological predictors of sustainable fashion purchasing, revealing experience as a transformative factor that shapes attitudes, habits, and decision-making. The second study qualitatively explores 25 retailers’ perceptions of consumer predictors, uncovering a disconnect between their assumed predictors of consumer behavior, such as style and price, and their predominantly informational marketing tactics. The third study analyzes how second-hand retailers engage Generation Z, identifying five misalignments between retailer strategies and consumer expectations. The fourth study experimentally examines referral rewards, finding that such incentives enhance Generation Z’s purchasing and referral behavior through metaperception. Synthesizing these findings, the dissertation concludes that retailers can foster sustainable fashion consumption by aligning marketing tactics with consumer experience levels, activating social norms, and appealing to emotions rather than providing rational arguments to purchase sustainable fashion. Positioning sustainable fashion as desirable, rather than merely responsible, can help shift mainstream purchasing toward more sustainable consumption.