Exploring the Influence of Sustainability Knowledge and Orientation to Slow Consumption on Fashion Leaders’ Drivers of Fast Fashion Avoidance

This research explores the complex relationship between fashion leaders’ motivations toward slow vs. fast fashion, and proposing that all consumers have the potential to adopt more sustainable consumption behaviors, offers suggestions for sustainable companies aiming to better understand and target these consumers. Fashion leaders are particularly susceptible to overconsumption, yet they are also the most attuned to fashion industry information (e.g., sustainability) and influence others through their tastes and preferences. Proposing that spurring fashion leaders toward slow consumption and away from fast fashion (FF) will prompt the spread of these trends among the broader consumer market, this exploratory study investigates how fashion leaders’ level of sustainability awareness and orientation to slow consumption influence their FF avoidance. Primary data were collected from 405 respondents. Reliability and validity were examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data and parameters were estimated using maximum likelihood method. Empirical results from SEM show that sustainability awareness positively influences orientation to slow consumption yet does not influence the drivers of FF avoidance. The results indicate that consumers’ orientation to slow consumption positively influences many FF avoidance drivers but data also suggest that fashion leaders may not characterize the FF business model as unsustainable and as fueling overconsumption. This study adds to the body of knowledge on highly fashion-involved consumers and their motivations toward sustainable consumption. It offers insight into the pro-environmental attitude-behavior gap and how these consumers reconcile their sustainability knowledge with their consumption desires. Past research has explored the impact of the pro-environmental attitude-behavior gap on consumers’ purchase intentions. However, no empirical studies have been found that concurrently examine consumers’ sustainability awareness, orientation to slow consumption, and their behavioral intention to avoid FF.