Slowing down the fashion industry

Despite the increasing social relevance of sustainable fashion, overproduction and overconsumption in the fashion industry persist and have harmful consequences for the environment. Therefore, rising digital sustainable marketing practices have attained an increasing amount of academic attention over the past few years. Marketers have come to use different techniques during the advertisement of a fashion item to positively promote sustainable fashion. There is a gap in the literature where the effects of digital green marketing practices on sustainable consumer behavior and attitudes in the fashion industry have not been studied as thoroughly yet, which this research would like to fill. The aim of this research is to empirically explore the impact of both sustainable marketing practices and slow fashion consumption initiatives on consumer perspectives and motives in the Netherlands. Therefore, this research tries to answer the following research questions: ‘To what extent do sustainability marketing types (price transparency, production transparency, price + production transparency, and no transparency) used for the description of a slow fashion product affect the consumer’s purchase intentions, purchase behavior, and attitude toward the advertisement?’ and ‘To what extent does slow fashion consumption (equity, localism, authenticity, exclusivity, functionality) affect the consumers’ purchase intention, purchase behavior, and attitude toward the advertisement in the fashion industry?’ To provide an answer to the research questions, a quantitative approach was selected. A survey was conducted among Dutch fashion consumers. A total of 213 consumers participated in the experiment, in which sustainability marketing types, based on a real-life case study of the eco-friendly fashion brand Picture Organic Clothing, were tested. Furthermore, the slow fashion consumption attitude and purchase intention, purchase behavior, and attitude toward the advertisement were also examined. The findings of this research showed that transparent information-sharing practices regarding sustainable fashion garments have a positive influence on consumer motives, resulting in an increased number of conscious consumers regarding their purchase intentions, behaviors, and advertising attitudes. In addition, the research found positive correlations between slow fashion consumption with purchase intention, purchase behavior, and attitude toward the advertisement, therefore, empirically confirming the link between slow fashion consumption attitudes and these concepts. The results indicate the importance of promoting sustainable fashion as it could lead to more environmentally friendly consumer behavior. Furthermore, it shows the importance of fashion brands and marketers who need to consider and ultimately adapt to these socially responsible practices to positively influence slow fashion motives. Moreover, the research contributes to the already consistent sustainable fashion marketing literature while providing novel insights on the specific use of sustainability marketing practices as well as the impact of specific slow fashion values on sustainable motives. Further research could examine the influence of other types of digital sustainability marketing. In addition, the research could also be extended to different cultural contexts to increase the generalizability and applicability of the findings beyond a single cultural setting.