Investigating students' perceptions of ethical fashion and how these influence purchase decisions

Abstract

The fast fashion industry poses a variety of ethical concerns across environmental, animal welfare, societal, and human rights realms. Ethical fashion has emerged as an alternative, driven in part by growing ethical consciousness of consumers and growing expectations for suppliers to prioritise quality and sustainability. The Gen Z generation may be considered to exemplify this push for more ethical consumption. At the same time, it is known that there is often a discrepancy between consumer beliefs and actual purchasing behaviours. This study sought to explore beliefs, motivations, and barriers influencing ethical fashion consumption among undergraduate and postgraduate Gen Z students at the University of Malta. A qualitative research design was employed, with data collected through focus groups and analysed through thematic analysis. Findings reveal a general awareness of the negative impacts of fast fashion, and related ethical concern among participants. However, actual purchasing behaviours were found to often fall short of fully aligning with these ethical concerns, for various reasons. Financial constraints, accessibility issues, and scepticism of brands' ethical claims were identified as primary barriers. Social pressures and the limited availability of stylish, affordable ethical fashion options were also seen to hinder ethical consumption. The study highlights the challenges of mitigating the attitude behaviour gap, showing that this will require not only changes on the side of market suppliers but also in the mindset and expectations of fashion consumers.