Sustainable Fashion: Consumer Attitudes and Brand Responses

This report delves into the realm of sustainable fashion, analyzing the responses of various brands – specifically, the thrift store Brotherhood of St Laurence, the fast-fashion giant Zara, and the sustainable brand Reformation – to evolving consumer attitudes and demands. The analysis encompasses a comparative study of these brands, examining their approaches to sustainability, including their sourcing practices, waste reduction strategies, and engagement with consumer feedback. The report explores how consumer perceptions have shaped brand strategies, identifying any attitude gaps and the challenges of greenwashing. It also identifies the target audiences, demographics, and psychographics of each brand, while exploring the influence of social, cultural, environmental, and ethnic factors on consumer understanding of sustainability. By examining these factors, the report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how businesses in the fashion industry are adapting to meet the growing consumer demand for ethical and environmentally responsible practices.

Business Responses To
Consumer Attitudes
Towards Sustainable
Fashion

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Ways in which different types of fashion brand are compared to each other in the context to
sustainability................................................................................................................................1
How consumer attitudes have sculpted the brand and the attitude gaps......................................3
Where possible, include a challenge or backlash of greenwashing the brand suffered and how
they managed the problem...........................................................................................................4
The target audience and demographic and psychographic of each brand...................................5
Explore how factors such as social, cultural, environmental and or ethnicity play a role in the
importance of how customer’s understand sustainability. Make sure to link this knowledge to
how the brand’s have created their value and responded as a thrift stores, fast fashion, and
sustainable brand.........................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Sustainable fashion can be described as an inclusive term that describes processes, activities,
actors and products that aim to attain a carbon-neutral fashion industry that is based on social
justice, animal welfare, ecological integrity, equality and other things. Sustainable fashion is one
of the important components which saves natural resources and also reduces carbon footprint
(Chua and et. al., 2020). It is one of the important components which saves lives of the animal
and also protects the environment from the negative impact of the fashion industry. This project
report includes analysation of the thrift store Brotherhood of St Laurence, fast fashion stores
Zara and sustainable brands Reformation. These brands are focusing on sustainable fashion
which is important for the business for purpose of fulfilling corporate social responsibility. This
project report includes different types of fashion brands compared to each other that respond to
sustainability. It is also reflecting consumer attitudes sculpted the brand and the attitude gaps. It
explains the challenges and backlash for greenwashing the brand suffered and the ways in which
they are managing the problem. It identifies the target audience and demographic and
psychographics of different brands. Moreover, it explores different factors like environmental,
cultural and social factors that play a role in the importance of ways of understanding customer
sustainability.
MAIN BODY
Ways in which different types of fashion brand are compared to each other in the context to
sustainability
The thrift store: Brotherhood of St Laurence
The Brotherhood of St Laurence is a thrift store which is based in Australia and working as a
non-profit organisation. It is an organisation that is focused and working on making Australia
free of poverty. It is an organisation whose headquarter is in Melbourne and offers its services as
well as programs all over Australia. It is including different types of research work, advocates as
well as delivery services in order to overcome of disadvantages, poverty as well as risk (Clube
and Tennant, 2020). In order to adopt sustainability in their thrift store, company is focusing on
offering a mixture of second-hand products to its consumer including clothing, electrical,
furniture, shoes, bric-e-brac, books and other things (The Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2020).
Australia is one of the liveable companies but it is creating a different disadvantage for the
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nations but the Brotherhood of St Laurence making efforts to ensure change as they are
compassionate as well as fair for the society with a sense of belonging. Poverty is not about
having little money but it is also related to setting out various aspects of economic and social life
which can be taken for granted by people like home, connectivity with the community and job.
For this, The Brotherhood of St Laurence is creating influence over the public debates and also
making efforts to convince the business and government to make action to overcome of the
disadvantage for the people (Diddi and et. al., 2019). It is an organisation who was voic of
people against disadvantage faced by them It was established in the year 1943 when activism for
the social reform was the Father Tucker among Great Depression to the inception.
The fast-fashion brand: Zara
Zara is one of the Spanish apparel company which is based in Spain. It is a company which is
dealing in the fast fashion industry that offers its products in all over the world. It is offering
shoes, accessories, beauty and perfumes to its consumer. It is a company that is one of the largest
apparels in all over the world and also deals in different brands like Bershka as well as Massimo
Dutti. It is a company which was identified in the year 19745 by Amancio Ortega, and Rosalia
Mera. There are around 2007 stores available of this organization in all over the world.
Sustainability is one of the concept which comes in different categories like improved energy
usage, responsible sourcing of different types of products, reducing waste and other things (Ek
Styvén and Mariani, 2020). In order to adopt sustainability in great context, company is making
efforts in order to extend the life of its products by making different types of environmental as
well as social commitments. For this, Zara has introduced a clothing collection program in which
they are receiving different types of garments and distributed it to the non-profit organisation as
it allows them to reuse these products. For sustainability, Zara is also used different systems for
purpose of controlling of usage of energy and water according to the actual requirement of
different stores. There are different renovation and building standards that allow the stores to
adopt these stores and also develop different technologies to manage consumption. Zara has also
introduced a training program for its staff in which all the designers are asked to use textiles in
order to promote recycling.
The sustainable brand: Reformation:
Reformation is one of the clothing brands which is focusing on fashion as well as sustainability.
It is a company which is based in California and the inspiration for the fashion of this company
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comes from vintage styles. Many of the designers of the company are adopting sustainable
practices and also aim to reduce carbon emissions by the year 2025. For purpose of adopting
sustainability in the business, they are using eco-friendly materials, recycles fabrics, refurbished
vintage clothing and others for purpose of creation of limited-edition clothing. There are around
24 stores in this organisation. Reformation is one of the eco-friendly brands that also offer
unofficial uniforms for cool girls (Garcia and et. al., 2019). It is a clothing brand that has not
adopted sustainability as its marketing campaign instead it is developed as a core tenet of the
company. Sustainability is not only adopted by the company to be cool but it is also a good
situation for the business. There are different fast fashion brands like forever 21 and H&M that
are receiving criticism. These companies act as a catalyst for developing 26 billion pounds in
textiles and also result in landfills each year. Reformation on the other hand, adopts sustainable
ways in order to make changes in the production process which enable the company to avoid
waste in real-time (How Reformation won over 'cool girls' by filling a void left by H&M and
Forever 21, 2022).
Similarities
All these brands are adopting sustainability in their own context but similarities among them are
that they are making efforts for purpose of adopting sustainable practices in their organisation.
These brands are avoiding landfilling and also reducing carbon emissions. All three brands are
focusing on reusing the products which is important in order to use the products in an effective
manner. All these brands are also making changes in their production system in order to make
the fabric of the product more sustainable.
How consumer attitudes have sculpted the brand and the attitude gaps
There is increasing environmental awareness among the people as they become more convern
related to the environment and environmental issues. It is important for the business to consider
these environmental factors in their organisation in order to increase acceptance of their products
in the marketplace. Perception of the consumer has also changed over the time in context to
purchase of the products and services (Gilal and et. al., 2020). Purchasing intention and
consumer awareness is also an important component for the business as it indicate which types
of products to be purchased by the consumers. Consumer are adopting sustainable fashion as it is
essential for purpoe of protecting the environment and also to increasing lives of products which
allow them to use it for long term. For sustainability, consumer are also purchasing the used
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garments which allow them to purchase these products at a discounted price. It is also provide
them higher quality of product with durability and material which is creating influence over the
purchasing decision of the consumers (Vătămănescu and et. al., 2021).
Where possible, include a challenge or backlash of greenwashing the brand suffered and how
they managed the problem
Greenwashing can be described as the process of giving a false impression and also providing
misleading information in context to products of the company to be more environmentally sound.
It is one of the unstainable claims which is deceiving the consumers in order to believe that the
products of the company are more environmentally friendly. There are different changes
occurring in the world in the context to greenwashing which is important for the business in
order to protect to their image (Kong, Witmaier and Ko, 2021). In today’s time, people are
increasingly adopting greener practices in their business which is important for the business in
order to avoid the image of the company and avoid misleading environmental claims. It misleads
people to act sustainably and also if a company claims that they are offering eco-friendly
products, consumers are willing to their products. These false statements enable people to
contribute to harm to the environment that offers support to the company. This greenwashing
also makes the number of consumers harm the environment without any intentions. Corporate
greenwashing is a challenge for businesses as it hurt the business and its image. This negative
impact on the image of the company creates a negative impact on the sales of the company.
In order to avoid these issues, business needs to adopt different strategies which provide them
assistance. For avoiding the greenwashing, a person needs to avoid different tactics which are
mentioned below:
Fluffy language: It is one of the practices which should be adopted by the business. It is
essential for the business to avoid words and other terms which does not have a clear meaning.
These not clear words create a negative impact over the image of the firm like natural and eco-
friendly (Kumar, Prakash and Kumar, 2021).
Green products against the dirty company: It is also important for the company to avoid
selling of different products. These products include efficient light bulbs which result in
pollution in the rivers with its production.
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Evocative pictures: It is also important for the business to avoid the use of unjustified green
images that results in unjustified green impressions in their organisation. It includes flowers in
the production of exhaust pipes and other things.
Designations that are credible: It is also important for the business to make an attempt to green
but it does not use for the dangerous product in order to seem it safe.
Imaginary friends: Business needs to ensure that they do not use any label in business to show
endorsement with a third party.
Outright lies: It is also important for the business not to use fabricated claims as well as data in
the company (Lang, Seo and Liu, 2019).
The target audience and demographic and psychographic of each brand
There are different types of target audience which is to be identified by the business for purpose
of identification of customers. The target audience can be described as a group of people who are
interested for purpose of purchase of products and services. These target audience can be divided
on basis of gender, age, income as well as location (Noh and Johnson, 2019). It is important for
businesses in order to make efforts in the right direction. Identification of the target audience of
all these companies is mentioned below:
The thrift store: Brotherhood of St Laurence
It is a business which is identified target customers on basis of their income of people. There are
different income people who are buying products according to their purchasing power.
Brotherhood of St Laurence is a business that is offering second-hand products at a discount
price which allows consumers to purchase the products of the company.
The fast-fashion brand: Zara
Zara is one of top brands in the fast fashion industry. It is targeting its customers on basis of age
as it is essential for the business. There are different demographic on basis of which this
organization is targeting its consumers including age, income and also gender (Lee and et. al.,
2020).
The sustainable brand: Reformation
Reformation is a sustainable brand that is targeting consumers on basis of their preferences as it
is offering clothing for consumers who want to buy eco-friendly and sustainable products for its
consumers. There I increasing interest of consumers for purpose of purchasing of sustainable
products among the consumer.
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Explore how factors such as social, cultural, environmental and or ethnicity play a role in the
importance of how customer’s understand sustainability. Make sure to link this knowledge
to how the brand’s have created their value and responded as a thrift stores, fast fashion,
and sustainable brand
There are different types of factors that create an impact on the ways customers understand the
concept of sustainability. It is essential for the business for the purpose consider these
components in order to make them purchase sustainable products. Ethical considerations of
people enable a person to adopt the right action. It enables customers for purpose of doing the
right things and adopts sustainability in order to protect the environment and well-being of other
people. Social factors are also important factors as they motivate consumers for contributing
good things to society. In order to protect the negative impact of society, it is important for a
person to use sustainable products in the business (Lee and Chow, 2020). Environmental factors
are also considered by the business which they are considering sustainability as important for
them. Different brands are adopting these values while operating in the market as Reformation is
one of the brands which is considering the values of people and they are offering sustainable
products for purpose of needs of society. Zara is another brand that is adopting sustainability by
using sustainable materials in their products. It also fulfils the needs of the user by collecting
usable clothes from customers.
CONCLUSION
From above mentioned project report, it can be concluded that sustainable fashion is important
for the business as it helps a person for the purpose of protecting the environment. There are
different ways in which companies are adopting sustainability in their organization in a different
manner. But the goals of these organisation are the same which is to create values for society.
Attitude and preferences of the customers is creating a great impact on the ways in which
companies are adopting sustainability. There is increasing awareness among the consumer
related to the environment that provides opportunities for the business. Greenwashing is also an
approach that is adopted by corporate businesses that create challenges for them and also creates
a negative impact on the image of the company. In order to overcome of this problem, business
needs to adopt different types of strategies. There are also different types of factors to be
considered by businesses that motivate them to adopt sustainability and also force customers to
consider sustainability more important.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Clube, R.K. and Tennant, M., 2020. Exploring garment rental as a sustainable business model in
the fashion industry: Does contamination impact the consumption experience?. Journal
of Consumer Behaviour, 19(4), pp.359-370.
Diddi, S., and et. al., 2019. Exploring young adult consumers’ sustainable clothing consumption
intention-behavior gap: A Behavioral Reasoning Theory perspective. Sustainable
Production and Consumption, 18, pp.200-209.
Ek Styvén, M. and Mariani, M.M., 2020. Understanding the intention to buy secondhand
clothing on sharing economy platforms: The influence of sustainability, distance from
the consumption system, and economic motivations. Psychology & Marketing, 37(5),
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Garcia, S., and et. al., 2019. The sustainability awareness of Brazilian consumers of cotton
clothing. Journal of cleaner production, 215, pp.1490-1502.
Gilal, F.G., and et. al., 2020. Towards a new model for green consumer behaviour: A self‐
determination theory perspective. Sustainable Development, 28(4), pp.711-722.
Kong, H.M., Witmaier, A. and Ko, E., 2021. Sustainability and social media communication:
How consumers respond to marketing efforts of luxury and non-luxury fashion
brands. Journal of Business Research, 131, pp.640-651.
Kumar, A., Prakash, G. and Kumar, G., 2021. Does environmentally responsible purchase
intention matter for consumers? A predictive sustainable model developed through an
empirical study. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, p.102270.
Lang, C., Seo, S. and Liu, C., 2019. Motivations and obstacles for fashion renting: A cross-
cultural comparison. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International
Journal.
Lee, E.J., and et. al., 2020. How to “Nudge” your consumers toward sustainable fashion
consumption: An fMRI investigation. Journal of Business Research, 117, pp.642-651.
Lee, S.H. and Chow, P.S., 2020. Investigating consumer attitudes and intentions toward online
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Noh, M. and Johnson, K.K., 2019. Effect of apparel brands’ sustainability efforts on consumers’
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Vătămănescu, E.M., and et. al., 2021. Before and after the outbreak of covid-19: Linking fashion
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Online:
The Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2020. [Online]. Available through: <
https://stores.bsl.org.au/about-us/our-staff>
How Reformation won over 'cool girls' by filling a void left by H&M and Forever 21, 2022.
[Online]. Available through: <https://www.businessinsider.in/best-buy-is-now-selling-
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high-tech-running-machines-flywheel-bikes-and-hydrow-rowing-machines/
articleshow/69843931.cms>
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