Eco or Echo? Gen Z Decodes the Framing of Sustainable Fashion on Instagram

This thesis explores how fashion brands frame sustainability on Instagram and how young consumers interpret these messages. As the fashion industry increasingly adopts sustainability rhetoric in response to environmental and ethical concerns, it faces growing scrutiny-especially from Gen Z consumers who are both ethically aware and sceptical of brand messaging. Amid rising concerns over greenwashing, this study investigates the tension between visual branding strategies and consumer trust. The central research question is: How do fashion brands frame sustainability on Instagram, and how do young consumers decode these messages? The study combines Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) of Instagram posts from selected sustainable fashion brands with semi-structured interviews conducted with eight Gen Z participants. Findings reveal that participants are highly critical of sustainability messaging, particularly when it lacks transparency or appears overly aestheticized. They prefer communication that emphasizes activism, social equity, and honesty over polished promotional content. Many participants reported shopping second-hand or reducing their consumption altogether, indicating a shift toward more intentional, values-based consumer behaviour. Instagram was viewed as both a problematic and promising platform, prone to superficiality but capable of supporting educational, storytelling-driven content. Grounded in Framing Theory (Goffman, 1974; Entman, 1973), Visual Rhetoric (Messaris), and Hall's Encoding/Decoding Model, the study shows that Gen Z consumers often adopt negotiated or oppositional readings of green marketing. Rather than accepting sustainability claims at face value, they actively decode messages through their ethical and social lenses. This research highlights the need for brands to move beyond aesthetic branding toward more authentic, transparent, and systemically engaged sustainability communication.