Environmentalism and Consumers' Clothing Disposal Patterns: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory study examined (a) the influence of consumers' general environmental attitude and waste recycling behavior on their clothing disposal patterns; and (b) the influence of gender, age, and ethnicity on clothing disposal patterns, environmental attitude, and waste recycling behavior. Data (N = 468) were collected from undergraduates in a large-sized Southwestern university. Based on focus group interviews and a pilot test, eight a priori patterns of clothing disposition were identified: (a) Economically Motivated Resale, (b) Environmentally Motivated Resale, (c) Charity Motivated Donation, (d) Environmentally Motivated Donation, (e) Economically Motivated Reuse, (f) Environmentally Motivated Reuse, (g) Convenience-Oriented Discarding, and (i) Unawareness-Based Discarding. In addition to Cronbach's alpha coefficients, validities and reliabilities for these eight constructs were examined using the LISREL analysis. Relationships between independent variables (environmental attitude and waste recycling behavior) and dependent variables (eight clothing disposal patterns) were tested by using the structural equation model of the LISREL analysis. It was found that environmental attitude had a stronger influence on several environmentally oriented clothing disposal patterns than did waste recycling behavior. One-way analysis of variance indicated that gender, age, and ethnicity selectively predicted environmental attitude, waste recycling behavior, and clothing disposal patterns. For instance, the female student and the older student were more likely to choose environmentally oriented disposal methods than were their counterparts. White students had a slightly stronger attitude toward the environment than did non-white students but were not different in clothing disposal patterns. Suggestions for future studies are discussed.