Consumer Response to Sustainable Practices Within the Fashion Industry

Authors

Gage Mruz, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Date of this Version

Spring 5-2019

Abstract

This study was conducted online through an environmental company called Greenstain, a registered LLC who provides environmentally sustainable solutions and plants a tree for every item they sell. The purpose of the study is to analyze consumer response to the eco-friendly apparel and other sustainable solutions offered by Greenstain after educating consumers on the extent to which the fashion industry is impacting the natural environment and the practices they can utilize to reduce these negative impacts. The sample size included any person with access to Google, Facebook, and Instagram. Scientists in the world have reached an overwhelming consensus that climate change is real and caused primarily by human activity. Global industrial emissions of carbon dioxide rose by roughly 2.7% in 2018, an all-time high, and are expected to rise even more in the year 2019. One of these top polluting industries is the fashion industry which accounts for over 8% of global green-house gas emissions. For context, roughly three-fifths of all clothes end up in the land fill or in incinerators within the first year of being manufactured. Consumers play an integral role in these issues through their choice to support the industries that are contributing the most to these environmental problems. The design and analysis for the study included posting on Greenstain’s website, Facebook and Instagram accounts for a week-long pre-sale to gain an initial assessment of how consumers responded to the brand before further marketing the brand over the rest of the month-long study period. The data collected regarding the Greenstain brand, mission, products sold, and educational information proved to have an overall positive response among consumers. Over 115 eco-friendly t-shirts were sold during the study with 1,473 total users visiting the website. Qualitative data analysed from the study results showed that a majority of consumers were previously unaware of sustainable practices and issues involving the fashion industry as well as their individual impact on the natural environment. Furthermore, a majority of consumers had not seen a business model involving eco-friendly apparel before and were eager to learn more and support the Greenstain mission by joining the mailing list and buying the eco-friendly apparel products.