Stage One Report: 'Is the consumer green gap a façade?'

IS THE CONSUMER GREEN GAP A FAÇADE?

HOLLIE WEBB-HINTON N0693942

HOLLIE WEBB-HINTON N0693942 WORD COUNT: 8000

ETHICS CLAUSE This submission is the result of my own work. All help and advice other than that received from tutors has been acknowledged and primary and secondary sources of information have been properly attributed.

Should this statement prove to be untrue I recognise the right and duty of the board of examiners to recommend what action should be taken in line with the University’s regulations on assessment contained in its handbook. signed .............................................................. print name ……………………………………………………………….. date .................................................................

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RATIONALE & INTRODUCTION 1.1: P.1 RATIONALE 1.2: P.2 INTRODUCTION

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LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1: P.4 INTRODUCTION 2.2: P.5 THE EVOLUTION OF THE GREEN GAP 2.3: P.6 THE INFLUENCE OF OVERCONSUMPTION ON THE ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAP 2.3.1: P.7 THE INFLUENCE OF FAST FASHION ON THE ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAP 2.4: P.8 BARRIERS TO GREEN CONSUMPTION 2.5: P.9 FACTORS THAT ENCOURAGE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION 2.6: P.10 RESEARCH GAP ANALYSIS

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METHODOLOGY

3.1: P.12 RESEARCH APPROACH 3.2: P.13 AIMS & OBJECTIVES 3.3: P.13 SAMPLE 3.4: P.14 -P.19 PRIMARY RESEARCH METHODS 3.4.1: P.14 ONLINE SURVEY & LIMITATIONS 3.4.2: P.15 PROTEST INTERVIEWS & LIMITATIONS 3.4.3: P.16 FOCUS GROUP & LIMITATIONS 3.4.5: P.17 EXPERIMENT & LIMITATIONS 3.4.6: P.18 INDUSTRY INTERVIEW & LIMITATIONS 3.4.7: P.19 INSTAGRAM POLL 3.5: P.19 SECONDARY RESEARCH

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RESEARCH CHAPTER 1: ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAPS IN THE PATH TO PURCHASE 4.1: P.21 INTRODUCTION 4.2: P.22 THE IMPACT OF CONSUMER MISUNDERSTANDING ON THE ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAP 4.3: P. 23 LACK OF AVAILABILITY INHIBITS GREEN CONSUMPTION 4.4: P.24 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BRIDGING THE GAP? 4.5: P.25 KEY INSIGHTS 4.6: P.26 CONCLUSION

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RESEARCH CHAPTER 2: ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOUR GAPS IN POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOURS 5.1: P.27 INTRODUCTION 5.2: P.28 CONFUSION SURROUNDING THE SUSTAINABLE DISPOSAL OF CLOTHING 5.3: P.29 CASE STUDY: H&M TAKE CARE INITIATIVE 5.4: P. 30 CASE STUDY: NUDIE JEANS A CRADLE-TO-CRADLE APPROACH 5.5: P. 31 KEY INSIGHTS 5.6: P.31 CONCLUSION

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RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1: P.32 INTRODUCTION 6.2: P.33 SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING ASSISTANT 6.3: P.33 CLOTHING RENTAL SERVICE 6.4: P.33 CRADLE-TO-CRADLE SERVICE

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CONCLUSION P.34

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APPENDIX

8.1: P. 36 METHODOLOGY APPROVAL FORM 8.2: P.37 VALUE CHAIN FRAMEWORK 8.3: P.38-P.39 PESTLE 8.4: P.40-P.47 SURVEY 8.5: P.48-P.50 PROTEST INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS 8.6: P. 50-P.52 FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPT 8.7: P.53 EXPERIMENT TRANSCRIPT 8.8: P.54-P.55 INDUSTRY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT 8.9: P. 56-P.57 INSTAGRAM POLL 8.9.1:P.57-P.59 CONSENT FORMS

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IMAGE REFERENCES

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P.60- P.61

REFERENCES P.62- P.63

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BIBLIOGRAPHY P.64- P.67

R AT I O NA L E

1 ‘The major cause for the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialised countries’ (Jones et al., 2005).

In a divided marketplace where there is a disparity between consumers’ good intentions and action-ability, sustainable consumption proves to be evermore illusive. Arguments around this topic area tend to debate the reasoning behind why this attitude-behaviour gap exists: be that the fault of brands (through their lack of provision of sustainable alternatives), policymakers (in their failure to hold brands and individuals accountable for their polluting behaviours), or consumers (because of their perpetual desire to purchase more than they need).

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O N This report aims to explore the attitude-behaviour (or green) gap in further detail, identifying why it exists, whether or not it is a façade covering up a refusal to limit over-consumption, and if it is possible to close it. It will expand on and further analyse information presented within other resources and the ‘Future Thinking’ report, to develop a better understanding of why consumers are struggling to adopt more sustainable lifestyles and how these frustrations can be addressed.

A better understanding of consumer relationships with regards to sustainability, their peers, and the manner in which they consume will provide key insights into why the gap exists. Research conducted will analyse these relationships, identifying frustrations, which will provide opportunistic insights that can later be transformed into profitable business plans.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

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2.1 ‘In many ways consumerism has become an increasingly defining characteristic of modern, nay post modern, societies while at the same time sustainability has moved higher and higher up political agendas around the world’ (Jones et al., 2005).

Therefore, existing literature focusing on the impact of consumerism on the sustainability ‘agenda’ (Jones et al., 2005) will be examined, as a means of establishing its true effects, be those negative or positive, and the ways in which society can remediate these where necessary. In addition, this chapter will also investigate the development of the green gap and the ways in which it is currently being, and could potentially be tackled.

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2.2 Despite the widespread coverage of sustainability helping to grow consumers’ knowledge of the negative impact of over-consumption on the environment, the existence of an attitude-behaviour gap remains: illustrated by Mahoney (2011) as the ‘distance between the stated importance of protecting the environment and the actual behavior to help the environment’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014). Literature in this area large in part acknowledges that consumers’ do indeed care about the environment, and often have the ‘intention of engaging in green behaviours’ but rarely follow through with them which has in turn led to this ‘incongruence between stated intention and actual behaviour’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014).

Arguments as to why this gap exists are vastly documented, highlighting that these proposed intentions and that a more developed ethical consciousness don’t always translate into environmental behaviours. Such arguments reason that the gap exists because changing consumption behaviours to accommodate for the environment, is often perceived as inconvenient by consumers whom have a tendency to shop habitually. In their study of the attitude-behaviour gap, Gleim and Lawson suggest that:

‘Much of the research on the attitude-behaviour gap suggests that the frequency of past behaviour, or the habitualness of the act is essential to a positive future behaviour.’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014).

The past and present habits of most consumers are not likely to encourage positive shopping behaviours that are beneficial for the planet, due to the fact that most sustainable ‘product and service offerings are new and require consumers to change their current behaviour’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014), making such a transition inconvenient, asking consumers to deviate from their day-to-day routines/shopping habits, therefore failing to incentivize them to amend their behaviours, which in turn widens the attitude-behaviour gap. The tendency for consumers to shop habitually, stems from their attempts to reduce the perceived financial, emotional and time related risks associated with changing their patterns of consumption. In general, it is more efficient for consumers to keep up a routine, consuming the status quo, as a means of reducing the stress associated with their path to purchase, which is often worsened in times of political and economic uncertainty. During the path to purchase, sustainability tends not to be a primary concern for consumers in comparison to other considerations (such as price, quality, brand, or reputation), given that green consumption often requires ‘elaborate cognitive processing and extensive information search’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014); meaning, not only is the process of shopping for conventional products more convenient, it is also less stressful (absentee of the risks that come with challenging conventional purchasing behaviours).

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2.3 When exploring the existence of the attitude-behaviour gap, it is imperative to consider the implication of overconsumption and general attitudes towards consumption on its emergence and evolution. Literature within this sector generally alludes to the development of other gaps, not only between consumers’ intentions and reality, but also between economic growth and the health of the environment. While it is widely acknowledged that consumption is essential in ensuring the health of the economy, this is often at the expense of other important issues such as the impact of such consumption on the environment.

Existing levels of consumption must increase in order to support the economy in a time of unprecedented political and economic uncertainty (caused by Brexit), but ‘as growth outpaces efficiency, the total use of resources keeps rising’ (Monboit, 2017), resulting in a complete depletion of the Earth’s finite resources. According to Monboit:

‘In seeking to defend the living world from the maelstrom of destruction, we might believe we are fighting corporations and governments and the general foolishness of humankind. But they are all proxies for the real issue: perpetual growth on a planet that is not growing.’ (Monboit, 2017).

Meaning, the disparity between economic growth and protecting the environment will only widen, as the world prioritizes one over the other. Consumer behaviour alone is not enough to close this gap, as behaviour within this system cannot change the outcome of a system that needs to be remediated. Industries rely on depleting natural resources to create products that help sustain this economy, but these resources are running out rapidly, and the profits collected from the usage of these materials are not enough to prevent the ecological credit crunch which will ensue (within which finite resources cannot be replenished in the same volume or at the same speed as they are being consumed). As presented within the Value Chain Framework model created by Salimath and Chandna (see Appendix, fig 1), ‘consumption cannot exceed production, which in turn is limited by resource availability’ (Salimath, M., S., and Chandna, V., 2018), there must be a mediator between the two to maintain some semblance of balance. In their discussion of this gap, Salimath and Chandna suggest that demarketing can act as this mediator, deliberately reducing consumption for ‘strategic and operational purposes; pro-environmental purposes; or social good’ (Salimath and Chandna, 2018).

Demarketing would be able to achieve this reduction by combatting the unethical marketing of goods (selling addictive products and positional goods to those in need of basic products), and excessive marketing (overselling in excess the minimum that is needed), both of which contribute to overconsumption crisis.

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2.3.1 This gap is especially apparent within the apparel industry, bred by the fast-fashion model driving overconsumption in this sector. Brands such as Zara, Topshop, Primark, and Forever 21, etc. have helped to pioneer this business model, designed to breed overconsumption, one that accelerates agile supply chains, producing clothing that ‘never goes out of style, it simply goes out of stock’ (Manning, 2014), perpetuating a throw away culture within which clothes are now ‘so cheap they have become single-use purchases’ (Butler, 2018) . This fast-paced model has helped secure the fashion sector as the second most polluting industry in the world, acting as one of the main contributors to resource depletion at the expense of economic growth. The industry epitomizes materialistic consumption on the largest of scales, tying consumers’ identity and emotions to the things that they purchase, increasing the volume of clothing they buy, by placing value in the feeling of newness consumers’ experience when they complete a transaction. The rapid nature of this model has created a consumer addiction of sorts to overconsumption, by placing the value they once derived from the products they purchased, to the feeling of newness that stems from this continual consumption, in turn creating an epidemic widening the gap between economic growth and environmental health.

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2.4 Having demonstrated in the previous chapter the implications of overconsumption on attitude-behaviour gaps, it is necessary to examine other barriers to green consumption, which are preventing the development of solutions that bridge the aforementioned disparities between intention and reality. Gleim and Lawson believe that:

‘Research has yet to investigate the situational and product factors leading to the green gap with the focus on better understanding consumer motivations and the issues surrounding this tremendous opportunity.’ (Gleim, M., and Lawson, S., 2014).

Identifying the weaknesses in existing research, Gleim and Lawson point out that attitude-behaviour gap centric literature fails to acknowledge the situational factors that act as barriers in pushing consumers towards green consumption and away from the habitual purchasing behaviours on which they rely. These factors refer to the physical and environmental variables that inhibit consumers’ ability to shop sustainably; such as: price, availability, quality, style, time, and effort.

‘Consumers’ decision-making involves various benefits such as personal cost benefits (e.g. convenience, search/effort, time, energy), product benefits (e.g. price, style, fit, fabric, construction, quality, availability, brand name, store, etc.), and emotional benefits (e.g. a feeling of well-being, personal satisfaction, happiness, etc.)’ (Chung and Perry, 2016) . Meaning, the sustainable nature of products is not usually the primary variable that consumers consider pre-purchase.

The lack of availability of sustainable products acts as one of the main impeding factors on green purchases, contributing heavily to the amount of time and effort that is required of consumers to ‘search for and evaluate green products and behaviours’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014)- a burden they are unwilling to carry. In the eco-apparel industry these barriers are especially apparent. In their 2014 study of attitude behaviour gaps within this sector, Kim and Rha stated that ‘certain consumers may be reluctant to purchase green products due to the risks they perceive in terms of price and availability’ (Lin and Park, 2018) . Price sensitivity acts as the most significant barrier in the eco-apparel industry, along with the poor fashionability of sustainable clothing- putting off fashion conscious consumers from changing their purchasing behaviours as such a shift involves ‘personal sacrifices in their fashionable appearance and lifestyle’ (Jacobs et al., 2018) . When presented with these risks and the potential sacrifice of style, money and time, consumers must try to find a balance between being ‘self-centered and society centered’ (Shen et al., 2012), more often than not leaning towards self-centered behaviours making decisions based on their own personal cost benefits.

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2.5 However, previous studies of the barriers to green consumption often fail to acknowledge the existence of factors that incentivize consumers to bridge the gap, changing their behaviours for the sake of the environment. Gleim and Lawson suggest that ‘normative influences, both personal and social appear to play and important role in an individual’s willingness to bridge the gap’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014), indicating that factors such as social conditioning, the environment in which consumers live, and peer-to-peer influence all have an impact on consumers’ willingness to shop sustainably. This perspective is supported by Lehner (in his study of green consumption), who states that:

‘The process in which consumers gather their understanding and preferences for sustainable consumption is greatly influenced by the socio-cultural context they are embedded in.’ (Lehner, 2015).

Within this literature, it is widely acknowledged that a comprehensive understanding of the factors that motivate consumers to purchase ethically can only derive from the ways in which their environment influences them, be these: ‘a reaction to social norms, an alignment with collectivized behaviour to create belonging, or positioning relative to others’ (Lehner, 2015). These influences have a profound effect on the mentalities of consumers, shaping their values, which in turn has had an impact on the way in which they purchase products influencing them to do so in a more environmentally conscious manner.

When examining pro-environmental consumption behaviours many studies look to Swartz’s 1994 theory of basic human values, as a means of exploring how they are helping to bridge the attitude-behaviour gap. These values distinguish between ‘self-transcendence values (reflecting collective values)’ often shaped by the opinions of peers, and ‘self-enhancement values (reflecting one’s own interests)’ (Jacobs et al., 2018) . Davies and Gutsche (2016); Harris et al (2016); Libokiené and Juknys (2016); and Jägel et al (2012), all stress that consumer ‘preferences for sustainability-related clothing attributes are rooted in self-transcendence values’ (Jacobs et al., 2018); a reflection of modern day consumers’ tendency to use consumption as a tool to create their desired personas, engaging in possession rituals which allow them to take ownership of the sustainable values that brands hold- adopting them as part of their own identities.

Contrastingly, other academics suggest that self-transcendence values have more of an influence on motivating consumers to engage in green shopping behaviours, referring to the ‘normative expectations of others, including relatives, peers and neighbours’ (lin and Park, 2018) . In the court of public opinion, consumers often seek to impress their peers, purchasing from brands whose values align with theirs in an attempt to fit in. As media coverage on the topic of sustainability increases, and public knowledge of the issue grows, so too will the pressure to engage in green behaviours- motivating consumers to shop in a greener manner. Gulati states that peer pressure can help ‘analyse oneself and contemplate the ways off life’ helping to ‘bring about a positive change in way of thinking’ (Gulati, 2017) , proving that self-transcendence values are equally effective in helping to close the attitude-behaviour gap.

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2.6 RESEARCH GAP ANALYSIS The mass majority literature in this topic area refers to gaps that occur prior to or in the midst of consumers’ path to purchase, especially with regards to fashion. It fails to acknowledge or explore in detail the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist post purchase, specifically in the longevity of possession, and the proper disposal of products when consumers decide they no longer want them. Therefore, the aim of the methodology chapter and research design is to investigate these attitude-behaviour gaps within post purchasing behaviours, comparing and contrasting them to those that exist within consumers’ paths-to-purchase.

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3

METHODOLOGY

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3.1

RESEARCH STRUCTURE

The research design featured within this report consists of both quantitative and qualitative methods, as a means of ensuring the depth and breadth of data retrieved be as insightful as possible. The primary benefits of employing a mixed method approach such as this one, are that the combination of both methods help to ‘overcome the short-comings and biases inherent in each individual approach’ (O’Leary, 2009) , ensuring the data collected be as reliable as possible. Others include: the ‘potential to be expansive’ (O’Leary, 2009) allowing for methodological diversity that produces innovative insights.

Despite the advantages, the adoption of a mixed method approach also poses risk, its limitations including: being ‘mindful of over ambitious design’ (O’Leary, 2009), not having the necessary resources, time or money to meet the requirements of the approach. In this study, the absence of these limitations would have helped the research be less restricted, ensuring the participants used within focus groups and interviews be more diverse, and the survey achieve a greater sample size.

These limitations have been considered throughout the data analysis to assess its validity, preventing any insights revealed from being compromised.

The inclusion of both primary and secondary methods within the design, builds scope to assess already existing research within this topic area comparing and contrasting this information to the insights revealed from data collected through the primary methods.

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3.2 The aim of the research design is to determine why attitude-behaviour gaps exist within green consumption: be that because of a limited provision of sustainable solutions, a lack of governmental intervention, or an apparent societal refusal to reduce consumption.

The research objectives are as follows:

To investigate into whether or not the ‘green gap’ exists because of an apparent lack of sustainable solutions, or because of an innate human desire to consume.

To explore if consumers are aware of the impact of their purchasing decisions on the environment.

To examine why consumers find it challenging to shop sustainably.

To determine what the main gaps in consumer post purchasing behaviours are, and why they exist.

To analyse the ways in which brands are attempting to bridge these gaps, and how this has been received by consumers.

These will act as directives, helping to shape the design of the research, be that the questions, the variables, or the tasks assigned to participants; simply to ensure that the research stays on track providing the insights required to formulate innovative business ideas. Which is why the they have each been tailored to a specific method/methods, as a means of ensuring that they have a purpose and that the data collected fill the gaps revealed in the aforementioned literature.

3.4 This study focuses predominantly on both male and female participants aged 18-24, as this age group was pinpointed by academics as the specific segmentation of the population that ‘are more motivated to make a difference in the world’, but also struggle the most to ‘stick to these intentions’ failing to turn them into actual purchases (J.W.Thompson Intelligence, 2018).

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3.4 3.4.1 The survey sought to assess the mass majority of consumers’ understanding of the impact of their consumption on the environment and their more polluting behaviours in general.

This method was employed as a means of accessing a greater proportion of participants (fifty to be exact), producing a more accurate explanation as to why consumer groups believe the attitude-behaviour gap exists (see Appendix, page 40). Designed in conjunction with qualitative one-to-one interviews (carried out at an environmental protest) (see Appendix, page 48), the questions featured within the survey were tailored to a wider proportion of participants including those that both identify and do not identify as being ‘environmentally conscientious’, so that data collected from both methods could be compared, highlighting the gaps in their knowledge in comparison to those who are more ethically aware and whether or not this knowledge or there lack of has impacted the attitude-behaviour gap. As illustrated by Visoky O’Grady and Visoky O’Grady, this approach to design helped provide ‘information’ that was eventually used to ‘guide design decisions’ throughout the rest of the research process (Visoky O’Grady and Visoky O’Grady, 2009).

Key themes and insights revealed from the survey helped guide the design of questions featured within other methods such as the focus group and industry interviews, as a means of developing and assessing them.

LIMITATIONS:

While effective in gathering information from large proportions of individuals that meet the demographic requirements of the selected sample, online surveys can often prove restrictive and at times un-reliable. O’Leary notes that constructing surveys that have the ‘potential to generate credible and generalizable data is truly difficult’ (O’Leary, 2009), posing multiple challenges which are hard to overcome. These challenges such as time constraints had a direct impact on the success of the survey, prohibiting the ability to achieve a larger sample size (of 100 participants) making it less representative. Other limitations included inaccuracies in question design (see Appendix, page 42), in which flaws such as participant inability to select more than one response in answer to a question designed to be multiple choice, lead to a compromise in the validity of data. These limitations have been taken into account throughout the entirety of the analysis presented in this report.

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3.4.2 Conducted in the midst of a protest held by the environmental activist group ‘Extinction Rebellion’, 9 structured one-to-one interviews were undertaken with the intention of assessing ethically minded individuals’ understanding of their own impact on the environment, the green gap, and the reasons as to why this gap exists. The use of ‘pre-established’ questions (O’Leary, 2009) were featured within the interview design as a means of keeping things concise in a environment in which participants might easily be distracted by other stimuli. The idea was to employ this method to collect ‘standardized’ data (O’Leary, 2009) that could be compared to the insights revealed through the online survey, explaining the usage of structured questions.

LIMITATIONS:

While immensely effective and insightful, considering the implication of bias within the data collected was imperative given the nature of the conditions in which the interviews were conducted. The protest may have had an impact on the responses provided by participants, whom felt pressured to give answers they perceived to be ‘correct’ or ‘socially acceptable’ therefore compromising the validity of the data they provided. Other limitations of this approach included ethical ramifications. Again given the nature of the protest, some participants were reluctant to consent to the interviews, in fear of misuse of information or unwanted publicity (as a result of media coverage). To remediate this issue, respondents were given the option to provide pseudonyms when filling out consent forms, and were offered cards with an email address they could contact should they wish to withdraw their data from the study.

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3.4.3 Created to better understand consumers’ inability to shop sustainably, and to establish consumers’ opinion of causality regarding the attitude-behaviour gap, a focus group consisting of 8 participants was conducted. Designed to be more interactive, the focus group consisted of a series of tasks/activities to help create more insightful discussions concerning these topics. Participants were asked to rank green behaviours according to their perceived difficulty on a ‘ladder of sustainability’, later having to position themselves on the ladder based on their own behaviours, explaining why they found it difficult to adopt the actions that they identified as ‘most sustainable’/’most challenging’. Participants were also tasked with establishing causality in a ‘hierarchy triangle’ in which they had to rank the government, brands, marketers, consumers, and manufactures, etc. in accordance to whom they felt was most responsible for causing the green gap, and who should be doing more to help bridge it.

LIMITATIONS:

Participants were selected based on their fitting in with the demographic ramifications of the sample size aforementioned, and their close relationship with one another, as their ‘similar characteristics, backgrounds’ and ‘interests’ (Visoky O’Grady and Visoky O’Grady, 2009) helped facilitate more open and candid discussions. However, this unification at times proved detrimental, leading discussions off topic. In addition, some participants were more vocal than others, at times ‘dominating’ the discourse preventing others from sharing their opinions, and at times ‘not engage in the dialogue at all’ (Visoky O’Grady and Visoky O’Grady, 2009).

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3.4.4 Designed with the intention of examining why consumers find it difficult to shop sustainably, and to explore the causation of the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist in their post purchasing actions, a qualitative experiment was conducted with two participants (that met the demographic requirements of the selected sample) over the course of three days. The variables within the experiment took the form of ‘sustainable shopping tasks’ designed to challenge the participants’ habitual consumption patterns, pushing them to engage in green consumption. These varied day-to-day, the first being that the participants couldn’t purchase anything that contained single use plastic, the second that they couldn’t purchase products sourced outside of the UK, and the third that they couldn’t buy products that were ordered online (and shipped/delivered to their homes). In addition, the participants were required to film a short video diary at the end of each day detailing their experience, and explaining the difficulties they incurred throughout the experiment. They were also required to explain the ways in which they disposed of their products, specifically clothing when they were finished with it.

LIMITATIONS:

Given the time constraints surrounding the project, the study had to be kept to two participants only, as a means of ensuring that the data collected was properly analysed.

Therefore it must be acknowledged that this small sample is not wholly representative of the entirety of this demographic, affecting the validity of the data produced. This again has been considered throughout the analysis presented within this report.

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3.4.5 Tasked with assessing why the green gap exists, and how brands are attempting to close it, a one-to-one interview was conducted with Stella Claxton (a lecturer at NTU and advocate/ expert on sustainable fashion). The semi-structured questions were designed to gain her perspective and insights on the information presented within the aforementioned literature, helping to fill in the gaps and establish to a certain degree causality. This data was later compared to the insights presented in both the protest interviews and survey as a means of establishing the perspectives of both consumer and industry.

LIMITATIONS:

The limitations tied to this method large in part related to the reliance on potential participants to agree to take part in the study. When approached, four of the five industry experts/companies declined to participate, due to the nature of the questions and the topic of the study. It must therefore be acknowledged that the data collected from this single interview is not wholly representative of the industry’s take on the attitude, a fact taken into consideration throughout the analysis of the insights produced.

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3.4.6 Designed to identify the main gaps in the post purchasing behaviours of consumers, an Instagram poll was conducted, asking participants where they dispose of their clothing when they have finished with it. This specific method was employed as a means of gaining insights into this topic area at scale, so that the data collected could be compared to the information produced from the focus group and survey. The poll was filled in by 46 participants, all of which met the demographic requirements of the selected sample.

LIMITATIONS:

The nature of Instagram polls meant that responses to this question were short, absent of explanation or justification. As a result, the data produced by this method was not as insightful as data produced by the focus group or interviews. This meant that it could only be employed comparatively, to justify or challenge the points raised by other methods noting gaps that needed to be filled in with literature, or areas of potential opportunity.

3.5 While much of the secondary research exists within the literature review, some sources were examined as a means of assessing the data collected through the conduction of primary methods. In addition, secondary research was also employed to inform the short case studies presented in the following chapters, as a means of exploring how brands are currently attempting to bridge the attitude-behaviour gap with their own solutions.

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RESEARCH CHAPTER 1: ATTITUDEBEHAVIOUR GAPS IN PATHS TO PURCHASE

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4.1 This chapter investigates and analyses the insights revealed through the conduction of the aforementioned primary research, which identified new reasons as to why the attitude-behaviour gap exists previously unrepresented in published literature. Highlighting additional barriers to green consumption, and the un-representative presentation of the consumer experience, this chapter will explore the impact these factors have on the development of the attitude-behaviour gap and the potential to remediate them.

Additionally, research findings collected from the survey, protest interviews, industry interview, focus group, and experiment will be used to help identify insights that could eventually be turned into business opportunities.

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4.2 Primary research findings pinpointed that while the mass majority of consumers identify as ethically conscious (87%, see Appendix, page 41) there is still a disparity between this perceived level of environmental understanding, and action. Academics like Farrer suggest that this disparity, or ‘gap’ exists because the true meaning of sustainability (and sustainable issues) has been misconstrued over time to suit the self serving agendas of businesses and industries, ‘cherry picking values’ to shift product (Gwilt and Rissansen, 2011) . This misrepresentation therefore creates consumer confusion regarding what sustainability means and how they should contribute on an individualistic level. In the focus group, Participant 2 highlighted that despite researching the topic she wouldn’t ‘know how to be more sustainable’, unless she was ‘told exactly what to do’, a sentiment reinforced by Participant 1 in the experiment who stated that her misunderstanding (of the term single-use plastic) explained why ‘it was so hard to avoid’, and the process of green consumption difficult to undertake (see Appendix, page 51).

This misrepresentation and misunderstanding also helps to explain the habitual nature of the manner in which individuals consume, as explored within the literature review. When tasked with shopping more sustainably throughout the experiment, Participant 1 noted that it was immensely difficult to assess how environmentally friendly products were, stating that retailers didn’t ‘disclose’ this information ‘anywhere on the packaging’ (see Appendix, page 52). This was further reinforced by industry expert in this topic area, Stella Claxton, who pointed out that ‘product labelling is not good enough to help consumers make those choices’, the information is usually kept ‘in a separate area on a website’ or ‘in a lot of detail within a company report’ (see Appendix, page 53). As Participant 1 highlighted, this is ‘discouraging’ for consumers, as it’s difficult to sustain being ‘that mindful and having to do that much research on an everyday basis’ (see Appendix, page 52). Gleim and Lawson agree with the sentiment, arguing that:

‘The time and effort needed to evaluate new green products, or locate recycling centres, are a part of the cost of engaging in green behaviours and impact an individual’s attitude’ (Gleim and Lawson, 2014).

Meaning, for the mass majority of consumers, shopping habitually, sticking to the brands that they know is more efficient than attempting to engage in green consumption. Hanas, 2007; and Yoon et al., 2016 explain that, despite their good intentions and conduction of research, this misunderstanding means consumers cannot be ethically conscious. The possession of ethical consciousness relies on sustainable action (the absence of which is why the attitude-behavioural gap exists), the knowledge alone that consumers possess, ‘may spark green acceptance’ but it doesn’t ‘generate actual green purchase behaviour’ (Kim et al., 2016) , suggesting that consumers possess a green acceptance as opposed to an ethical consciousness.

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4.3 Having defined the impact of consumer misunderstanding on the existence of the green gap, research also identified a number of additional factors inhibiting consumers from fully pursuing green consumption over their more habitual shopping behaviours. In the protest interviews, environmentally conscious consumers noted that that making sacrifices such as ‘cutting down on clothing’ and ‘buying used clothing’ (see Appendix, page 48) were necessary for the wellbeing of the planet, and therefore easy to sustain. However, the opinions of the mass majority of consumers differ from the perspectives of those that are environmentally conscious in this regard.

Participants in the shopping experiment noted that the restrictions associated with purchasing from second hand/vintage stores and sustainable fashion brands made them feel ‘really limited’, with factors such as an absence of diversity in sizing and high price point making the experience ‘discouraging’ and impossible to sustain (see Appendix, page 52). Participant 2 explained that these restrictions meant that ‘the ease of convenience wasn’t quite as high, which would be hard to live without on day-to-day basis’ (see Appendix, page 52), similarly participants in the focus group argued that the unattractiveness of sustainable clothing was an additional factor putting them of changing their behaviours highlighting that ethical fashions ‘don’t have to be like that.

They can be trendy’ (see Appendix, page 53). Jacobs et al suggests that:

‘Fashion-conscious consumers may be reluctant to purchase and wear sustainable clothing if this involves personal sacrifices in their fashionable appearance and lifestyle’ (Jacobs et al., 2018).

Meaning, for those who are more fashion conscious than environmentally conscious, the idea of having to compromise style, price, and availability is often abhorrent, in turn acting as a barrier to incentivizing green consumption behaviours. In general, as discussed by Niinimäki, ‘the ever-changing nature of fashion means it inevitably conflicts with the notion of sustainable consumption, because change results in a constant cycle of replacement and obsolence’ (Chao, Magnuson, and Reimers, 2016) . Therefore, the fast-fashion industry fails to facilitate the adoption of sustainable behaviours, given the contravenes relationship that exists between trends and the design of products for longevity. The disparity between the two makes it immensely difficult for consumers to change their behaviours, and as they struggle to ‘balance being self-centered and society-centered’, they unfortunately tend to lean ‘towards self-centered attitudes’ (Shen et al., 2012), explaining the existence of the attitude-behaviour gap.

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4.4 Having defined the challenges associated with pursuing sustainable shopping behaviours, participants in this study highlighted the unfair pressure put on consumers to change the way in which they purchase products, having to accept sole accountability for the emergence and growth of the green gap. Industry expert Stella Claxton discussed this unfairness, noting that ‘discussions on retailer accountability’ are slim in comparison to the exploration of consumer accountability in literature (see Appendix, page 54). Meaning, at present, because it is assumed that consumers have created and expanded this attitude-behaviour gap, they’re left to fend for themselves in an environment where shopping sustainably is immensely difficult. Claxton noted that: consumers, particularly those within the younger ’16-24 year old group’ struggle to change their behaviours because they are constantly being bombarded with ‘irresponsible marketing techniques’ from brands that profess to be sustainable, breeding an ‘addiction’ economy in which consumers are motivated by ‘the feeling of consumption not the product’ (see Appendix, page…). Therefore, Claxton suggests that the attitude-behaviour gap society should be focused on remediating is the one that exists in the disparity between brands’ ethical agendas and marketing/production techniques.

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4.5 It is challenging for consumers to turn green acceptance into an ethical consciousness, actively participating in green consumption because the way in which they have to source information regarding products pre-purchase. Having to source information across multiple platforms, which is often difficult to interpret and challenging to source is immensely inconvenient. Therefore, it is easier for them to stick to the status quo, minimizing the risks involved in the path to purchase by shopping habitually.

Consumers find it difficult to engage in green consumption because they feel that it requires them to make too many personal sacrifices, with regards to their style, budget, and time.

The focus on the attitude-behaviour gap in consumers’ intentions and actual purchasing behaviours fails to acknowledge the accountability that must be assigned to brands whom profess to be sustainable, but continually bombard consumers with marketing fueling their consumption addictions.

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4.6

CONCLUSION To conclude, despite respondents’ self identification as ethically conscious, an apparent misunderstanding of sustainability and what it means to shop sustainably has given way to the attitude-behaviour gap, indicating that these consumers possess a green acceptance rather than an ethical consciousness. In addition, the restrictions associated with green consumption behaviours require consumers to make multiple sacrifices, inhibiting them from pursuing these fully as they find such a change impossible to sustain long-term. These factors alone explain why the green gap exists, identifying key opportunity areas in which brands can innovate. By finding solutions to these issues, brands can better target these consumers, helping them on their way to adopting more environmentally friendly lifestyles.

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5

RESEARCH CHAPTER 2: ATTITUDEBEHAVIOUR GAPS IN POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOURS

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5.1 This chapter again investigates and analyses the insights revealed through the conduction of the aforementioned research, exploring the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist in the post-purchasing behaviours of consumers, specifically regarding the disposal of unwanted clothing. This chapter will additionally investigate into the strategies and business models currently being employed by sustainable fashion brands in an attempt to help bridge this gap, assessing the success of these within the marketplace. Much like in the previous chapter, the insights collated from this research will be used to help produce potentially profitable business opportunities.

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5.2 Similarly as in the first chapter, primary research findings identified a number of new insights previously unexplored in the aforementioned literature, one of which being that attitude-behaviour gaps also exist within the post purchasing behaviours of consumers, not just the path to purchase. Much like in the path-to-purchase, attitude-behaviour gaps have emerged within post purchasing behaviours because of a widespread consumer misunderstanding of how to properly and sustainably dispose of clothing when they are finished with it. When asked in an Instagram poll where they most frequently disposed of their clothing, the mass majority of respondents (72%, see Appendix, page 56) stated that they donated their unwanted products to charity shops, noting that this, in their opinion was one of the only sustainable services they could easily use to dispose of their clothing. Consumer misunderstanding in this regard exists predominantly within the misconceptions participants showcased concerning the perceived sustainable nature of donating clothing to charity. ‘Hungry for goods’, yet needing to ‘feel absolved from the responsibility from the constant refreshing of their wardrobe’ (Gwilt and Rissansen, 2011), consumers have no choice but to donate their old clothing to charity. However, as levels of consumption rise so does the proportion of clothing donated to charity shops, whom then have to sell off the excess to poorer third world countries. This ‘unregulated free-trade or dumping’ then eventually ensures this donated clothing ends up in landfill (Gwilt and Rissansen, 2011). Some respondents, including Participant 1 in the experiment, and Participant 2 in the focus group, were aware of the environmentally damaging impacts of donating clothing (‘I try to donate clothing to charity, but I see so much of it ends up in landfill’) (‘I typically dispose of my clothing by giving it to charity, but I’ve heard now they are overfilled’), but were unsure if other better options or services existed.

Currently, as a means of addressing this issue, some brands have created new business strategies, to help make the process of disposing of clothing in a more sustainable manner easier for consumers. These innovations range from the adoption of a cradle-to-cradle approach (in which businesses offer to repair clothing for consumers so that they don’t have to replace it with anything new), and upcycling (a service that consumers can use to transform their old garments into something that feels new), to shwopping (a concept in which consumers exchange clothing with their peers as opposed to again buying something new). Some of these innovations have been explored within the two case studies below.

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5.3 WHAT? In an attempt to broaden their ‘sustainability efforts’, Swedish retailer H&M launched their “Take Care” initiative, a scheme designed to ‘educate consumers on how to take better care of their fashion purchases’ (Dover, 2018).

HOW? Currently being trialed within the brand’s Hamburg store, consumers can stop by and get their clothes fixed by ‘in-store seamstresses’ (Dover, 2018), extending the longevity of consumers’ garments, removing the need to continually replace things that can be easily repaired. In addition, the initiative also provides consumers with online services such as clothing advice and information, which consumers can use to learn how to ‘remove stains or reattach buttons’ (Dover, 2018).

WHY? The scheme falls in line with H&M’s commitment to sustainability, helping them achieve the goals they presented within their 2017 ‘Sustainability Summary’ (H&M, 2018) , which include: using only ‘100% recycled or other sustainably sourced materials by 2030’ and to collect ‘25000 tonnes of unwanted clothes annually by 2020’ (Russel, 2018) . Additionally, the scheme is designed to hand more control over to consumers, providing them with the resources to make engaging in green consumption behaviours easier. It encourages them to pro-long the life of their garments, as opposed to disposing of them frivolously, challenging their more habitual patterns of behaviour.

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5.4 WHAT? As a means of improving consumer retention, and developing their sustainable efforts to meet their agenda, Nudie Jeans have adopted a cradle-to-cradle approach in which they provide their customers with ‘free repairs for life’ (Nudie Jeans, 2019).

HOW? Within this cradle-to-cradle approach, Nudie Jeans provide their consumers with a number of services to help them repair their jeans when they eventually wear out. These include: repair shops- ‘hubs’ in which consumers’ jeans can be ‘repaired, resold as second-hand, or even donated to the Nudie Jeans recycling program’ (Nudie Jeans, 2019); and repair kits, which consumers can order online for free if there are no repair shops close by.

WHY? Similar to H&M the scheme is designed to better consumers’ relationships with their clothing, designing products for longevity, whilst at the same time changing mindsets helping their customers move away from their addiction to the feeling of consuming newness. Additionally, the service was also created to help establish life-long relationships between brand and consumer, maintaining a level of brand loyalty that cannot be replicated.

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5.5 While alternatives to donating clothing to charity do exist, they have not been publicized enough.

Consumers are not necessarily aware of the negative impacts of donating clothing on the environment, which is why they continually dispose of their clothing in this manner. If consumers knew more about the damaging nature of clothing donation, and the other options available (such as the H&M “Take Care” initiative) the existence of this attitude-behaviour gap within post purchasing decisions would be less prevalent.

5.6 In conclusion, in spite of their best efforts, consumers are still large in part unaware of the more sustainable ways in which they can dispose of their clothing. The rely on the more convenient option, donating to charity shops because it is easier, thinking that it’s an environmentally friendly way of doing so, in turn alleviating themselves of the guilt that is associated with continual and habitual consumption. Similar to the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist within consumers’ path to purchase, the disparity in this regard sits between good intentions and lack of knowledge.

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6.1 RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations/business opportunities were inspired by the insights collated and analysed through the conduction of primary research. The are specifically tailored to help close the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist in pre and post purchasing behaviours by meeting the needs of the consumer, helping them engage more in both green consumption and disposal of clothing.

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6.2 Given the consumer misunderstanding that exists both in the path to purchase and post purchase behaviours, it may be beneficial to create a service that helps customers when attempting to shop and dispose of clothing sustainably. An online platform (perhaps in the form of an app or website), would help facilitate this service, providing consumers with ‘mini reports’ designed to assign ratings to brands based on sustainability, price, availability, fashionability, and sizing, etc. The service would attempt to make the process of engaging in green consumption more convenient for consumers, collating information that is at present difficult to access and digest in one place.

6.3 Challenging traditional ideals of ownership, whilst at the same time addressing consumers’ addiction to the feeling of newness associated with continual consumption, this service would appeal to those who struggle most with adapting their behaviour. Consumers would be able to rent their clothing for a short period of time, returning it to the company as they would an item of clothing they had bought online and sent back for a refund. The experience of purchasing from such a service would hopefully sustain the need to consume, only without the pressure of trying to sustainably dispose of the product, preventing more clothing from ending up in landfill.

6.4 Similar to the services curated by that of H&M and Nudie Jeans, this third party cradle-to-cradle service would assist consumers in transforming their old clothing, extending its longevity. The scheme would consist of two services: repairs and upcycling, transforming any garment, again meeting the consumer’s love of newness. Given that the service would be conducted by a third-party company, consumers wouldn’t be limited to transforming products from specific brands, providing them with more choice.

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CONCLUSION

In summary, the body of this research has explored and analysed the emergence of the green gaps in consumer behaviour, detailing its evolution and causation, through to the ways in which it is currently being and could potentially be remediated.

The first research chapter pinpointed the main reasons behind why attitude-behavioural gaps exist in green consumption during the path to purchase, highlighting that a misunderstanding of what sustainability actually means and how to be environmentally conscious on an individualistic level, was the reasoning behind why this disparity exists. The mass majority of literature in this area argued that the attitude-behaviour gaps that exist within this area are large in part caused by a consumer reluctance to change habitual shopping areas, however the data collected from primary research proved that the gap in fact stems from confusion and restriction. Additionally, this chapter also highlighted other factors inhibiting consumers from engaging in green consumption, noting that given volume of restrictions in sustainable fashion (be that poor fashionability, diversity in sizing, price point, or limited availability), it is immensely challenging for consumers to shift from the habitual manner in which they make purchases.

The second research chapter discussed the emergence and development of attitude-behaviour gaps in consumers’ post purchasing behaviours, tailored specifically to the sustainable disposal of clothing. Insights collated from primary research revealed that there again is a misunderstanding in the way in which consumers perceive the methods/ services they use to dispose of their clothing, believing them to be more sustainable than they are in reality. The tendency to rely on donating clothing to charity to alleviate the guilt attributed to continual overconsumption, is equally as damaging as simply throwing clothing away, given that the mass majority of garments donated to charity shops ends up in landfill. The case studies included within this chapter presented alternative solutions to donating clothing to charity, extending the lifetime of garments to prevent them from being disposed of as frivolously. While immensely effective, these services aren’t publicized as much as they should be, meaning consumers aren’t yet aware that these alternatives exist, again widening the attitude-behaviour gap.

In answer to the question ‘Is the green gap a façade?’ primary research has proved that this is not the case. The gap does not exist to cover an apparent societal refusal to limit consumption, rather it exists because of widespread consumer confusion.

While the information presented in the media and by brands in annual reports is vast and in-depth, it is often difficult for consumers to obtain and digest. Consumers feel intimidated by the enormity of green consumption, and often struggle to change their behaviours fully from the habitual ones on which they rely to those that aid the protection of the environment. Therein lies the reasoning as to why the gap exists.

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APPENDIX

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METHODOLOGY APPROVAL FORM

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FIG 1. VALUE CHAIN FRAMEWORK

Salimath, M., S., and Chandna, V., 2018. Sustainable consumption and growth: Examining complementary perspectives. Management Decision [online]. Unknown (Unknown) (May), Unknown. Available via: emeraldinsight [Accessed 11 December 2018].

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PESTLE

POLITICAL:

‘Governments are lagging behind on international commitments to safeguard the planet’s ecosystems, with politicians failing to grasp that economic growth depends upon environmental protection.’ (Milman, 2014).

A lack of governmental support for sustainable action means that politics is failing to incentivize consumers to close the gap by changing their patterns of behaviour, because it is not being treated as a top priority.

ECONOMIC:

‘As brexit begins to hit consumer confidence: political uncertainty leads to a dip in consumer spending’ (Dover, 2019).

‘Slowing consumer spending and overall household consumption are widely acknowledged to have been behind the slowdown in the wider British economy this year’ (Martin, 2017).

As a result of Brexit and general political uncertainty consumers are cutting back on spending, likely unwilling to change their shopping habits to those that are more sustainable because they are more expensive.

SOCIAL:

‘Peer influence, whether in a corporate or a residential setting, modifies environmental behaviour’ (Pierson, 2017).

Peer influence has the impact to incentivize consumers to change their consumption behaviours, in relation to the self-transcendence values aforementioned in the lit review, consumers change their behaviours as a means of fitting in with groups that share the same values.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

AI: AI is being used to help aid the environment, for example ‘the Plastic Tide algorithm has been trained to distinguish plastic litter using images submitted by drone users. Initially the system will help identify locations for cleanups, but it could ultimately monitor litter in real time.’

(JWT Intelligence, 2018).

Biomimicry: ‘Designers are exploring the intersection between technology and biology and design to grow sustainable materials and processes that wont harm the planet’ (JWT Intelligence, 2018).

Sustainable innovations facilitated by technology such as these, will help consumers become more environmentally friendly, closing the gap by showing them the ways in which they can track their waste production and providing them with more sustainable clothing options (created through the use of biomimicry).

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PESTLE

LEGAL:

Post Brexit, environmental law will be affected: ‘Proposals for new environmental laws to ensure green projections are not weekend following Brexit have been deemed hugely disappointing by expers’ (Gabbatiss, 2018).

‘There is no commitment to give the proposed new watchdog power to initiate legal action, nor is there any commitment to enshrine vital environmental principles, such as the precautionary principle .’ (Gabbatiss, 2018).

Meaning, without the advent of the EU holding them accountable, and without affective laws prohibiting them, brands will be able to get away with the bare minimum, continuing with their polluting production processes and failing to support consumers bridge the green gap.

ENVIRONMENTAL:

Resource depletion: ‘Short-term fluctuations in supply and demand aside, a global population explosion combined with finite resources means the planet cannot sustain ever-increasing levels of consumption using current models of production’ (Anderson, 2012).

As finite resources start to run out because of the volume at which they are being consumed within production processes, consumers must adapt their patterns of consumption, limiting the amount that they purchase to sustain the needs and longevity of the environment.

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SURVEY RESULTS

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47.

PROTEST INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

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FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPT

Focus Group Transcript: Participant 1: Harriet Participant 2: Laura Participant 3: Tirion Participant 4: Cara Participant 5: Victoria Participant 6: Megan Participant 7: Vida Cara, Victoria, Vida, Harriet, Laura, Tirion, Megan TASK 1: MINDMAP WHAT SUSTAINABILITY MEANS TO YOU Moderator: Now that you guys have mind-mapped the topic area, could you explain to me why you included some of the points on the map? So some of the things you wrote down.

Participant 1: So be mindful of the environment in relation to purchases, so when buying food think about if things are recyclable, recycling in general.

Participant 2: I wrote down minimalism, so not purchasing things that you don’t need.

Participant 3: I put not using up natural resources.

Participant 4: I put being conscious of what I’m buying, and the impact it has on the planet and our future. I mean... everything we buy will obviously have an impact on someone somehow even if we’re buying recyclable plastic, that’s still going to have an impact on the planet.

Participant 5: 1 put to reduce unnecessary waste.

Participant 6: I just put down recycling, and being mindful about causes like cleaning about the ocean and what’s going on locally.

Moderator: And then the second question regarding the mindmap is: if you were to condense down your feelings towards sustainability into one emotion, what would that be?

Participant 3: Guilt.

Moderator: Guilt?

Participant 1: I was thinking positivity, because you’re trying to make a change.

Participant 6: I’d say guilt as well Moderator: Why would you pick guilt?

Participant 6: Just because you do feel guilty, like, Tirion makes me feel guilty for buying plastic bags in Tesco!

Participant 3: I do feel that people never do enough, and even if you want to you just don’t and there’s always guilt around sustainability because it’s now past the point of us saving the world.

Participant 2: What’s a word where you just don’t think about it?

Participant 1: Irrelevant.

Participant2: Yeah irrelevant, indifferent... not arsed I’d say! It’s not a primary concern of mine.

Participant 7: Mine’s resentment because I am annoyed at people that cannot summon it within themselves to buy a basic tote. I don’t think it’s that difficult to stop buying single use plastic or to properly dispose of clothing.

Participant 2: Oh I have a canvas tote, Participant 7: Then you have to use it!

Participant 4: My word is hopelessness, now I know that’s really sad. However, I think the biggest problem with sustainability it overconsumption and our population is increasing at a baffling rate, so more people are going to overconsume without a care. And as much as we want to change that, it doesn’t matter, because it increasing at a rate that we cannot control.

Participant 7: That’s true! Like at Christmas everyone shared that palm oil ad but no one is actually doing anything proactive to minimize their own individual impacts.

Moderator: Okay, so the next activity I’ve got is called the ladder of sustainable action, so we are just going to place these sustainable action cards on the ladder according to those that are harder to maintain and those that are easier.

ACTIVITY ENSUES Moderator: So the first card is challenging the government to better their legislation.

Participant 4: That’s quite difficult to do.

Participant 6: Yeah I don’t really know to be honest.

Participant 4: We can put it in the middle.

Moderator: Okay so I have.., reads up on environmental issues to try to better their knowledge.

Participant 5: less?

Participant 1: year less.

Moderator: donates money to environmental charities.

Participant 4: I actually think that is kind of hard just because people don’t really have the money.

Moderator: avoids shopping online.

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Participant 6: That’s quite hard, that’s quite hard...

Participant 7: Yeah near the difficult end.

Participant 4: Yeah because even if you’re buying from an ethical company like that is still shopping online, there is still some element of damage involved, in petrol, in ‘shopping.

Moderator: purchases from brands with minimal packaging and an ethical agenda.

Participant 1: I’d say easier.

Participant 2: That’s easier to do depending on the person.

Moderator: Is a member of an environmental pressure group.

Participant 1: That is harder because it requires more effort.

Participant 3: Yeah it requires more commitment than donating to charity.

Moderator: Votes for parties and local representatives with sustainable agendas.

Participant 4: I’d say that goes in the middle as well because you could go to your representatives easily to find out more.

Moderator: Donates clothing to charity shops.

All Participants: Easy!

Moderator: Recycles waste.

Participant 3: Easy but actually loads of people don’t do this.

Participant 6: I’d say its fairly easy, it’s the bare minimum people can do.

Moderator: Cuts down on water usage.

Participants 4, 5, and 6: Easy!

Participant 3: Yeah but no one does it.

Moderator: Doesn’t fly.

Participant 1: Impossible, that is impossible.

Moderator: Only buys second hand clothing.

Participant 6: Oh no that’s hard.

Participant 1: I don’t think that’s hard!

Participant 5: It’s hard because you don’t always want to compromise, why should you? It requires more time, more effort, at times more money...

Moderator: Doesn’t own a car.

Participant 6: No that is too hard, that is like with the flying Participant 7: I don’t know, public transport is pretty good in large cities, you don’t need a car, it’s a convenience not an imperative!

Participant 4: Really it depends on where you live.

Moderator: Finally purchases from ethical brands.

Participant 4: I think that it really easy, the options are out there, people just don’t want to look for them. Or they have preconceived notions about the clothing quality or the price. They’re wrong they just don’t want to research.

Participant 5: I disagree, I don’t have the budget to shop from ethical brands, and upcycled or vintage clothing is often too small for my body type. It’s hard, brands aren’t making it easier to move away from fast fashion. I can depend on fast fashion.

Moderator: Properly disposing of clothing.

Participant 2: I wouldn’t know where to start! I try to donate clothing to charity, but I see so much of it ends up in landfill, other than offer it to my friends, it don’t know what to do with it.

Participant 6: Same, it’s really hard. You donate it and you think you’re doing the right thing but it turns out that’s bad for the environment.

All Participants: Yeah!

Moderator: So the next thing I’m going to get you to do is mark where you think you yourself sit on this ladder or sustainability.

Participant 3: I’m sorry but if avoid shopping online and reducing consumption is on there we are all going to be at the bottom doing less than bare minimum! You can’t avoid it!

Participant 7: I know!

All Participants: Oh no!

Moderator: Treat this holistically, take into consideration everything you do.

Participant 1: Okay.

Moderator: Why have you placed yourself in this position on the ladder?

Participant 3: Well... I try but I don’t do enough really. I’ll like a post on Instagram and share it to further the cause but I wouldn’t actually go out of my way to help. I cant commit, like I could shop exclusively from second hand clothing stores, but then again I want to go out and wear a new top next week and I know i can find something cheap and easily on boohoo.

Moderator: Do you think that the way in which you make a purchase, especially in relation to clothing... is habitual? So you always buy from the same, brands and the same thing.

Participant 1: Yes. Participant 4: Yes, and I usually shop in the same way my mum shops.

Participant 2: Really I’m more motivated by price more than anything else, so I’ll shop around and deviate but for price.

Participant 5: I’m habitual.

Participant 7: There is less risk involved, I know I can find something I like from the brands I normally shop from.

Participant 4: Cheap and cheerful.

Participant 2: With clothing especially I will look around first for other options, but I just gravitate towards the places I usually shop from.

Moderator: So would you say it would make you feel more stressed to deviate from the brands you usually buy clothing from, in exchange for something more sustainable?

Participant 2: Clothes yes definitely. I’m always worried about the returns process, the price, the fit when I try something new, if I stick to what I know I don’t have that same stress. It’s comforting.

Participant 6: I worried about sizes.

Participant 4: The price as well.

Moderator: So my final activity is the hierarchy of sustainability. So what I’m going to ask you to do is rank a series of cards showcasing different groups of people (like policymakers, the media, consumers, etc.) according to who you feel is the most responsible for making shopping sustainably easier.

ACTIVITY ENSUES Participant 6: I think the media goes pretty high up.

Participant 5: Yeah high!

Participant 6: Because they can reach a lot of people and spread the message. Moderator: Pressure groups?

Participant 4: 1 think that is quite low.

Participant 6: I don’t think they make that much of a difference.

Moderator: Marketers.

Participant 6: Near media.

Moderator: Okay, brands.

Participant 4: High!

Participant 5: I’m not sure.

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Participant 6: That is true.

Participant 4: Because ultimately without the consumer, the media, brands and the government wont care.

Participant 2: Consumers might not know how to be more sustainable unless they are told exactly what to do, like I don’t know where to shop, or how to change the way I behave, I’m confused and stressed and overwhelmed by it all.

Participant 1: I don’t know.

Participant 4: Really it is a collaborative effort.

Participant 7: Realistically brands mess up also, but they aren’t being held accountable. If the consumers don’t organize and motivate nothing happens, there is a gap between the two that needs to be bridged.

Moderator: Do you think that these groups are doing enough to further the sustainable agenda, and why?

Participant 1: No! Moderator: What do you think they should be doing?

Participant 1: They kind of have the responsibility I guess to educate the consumer, but I feel like more and more brands are failing to do that beyond trying to just shift product. It’s not sincere, the consumer doesn’t believe in it.

Participant 4: It’s just all education, if the media educated the consumer more they would do more, the thing is sustainability is a selling point at the moment for brands. Until the government makes it compulsory for all brands, nothing can really be done.

Participant 3: But also media has their own bias, so they could be telling you something but should you believe it?

Participant 7: It has to be top down, the whole bottom up approach doesn’t work. There needs to be a governing body.

Moderator: One of the journals I read stated that the reason why consumers aren’t bridging the attitude-behaviour gaps, the reason why they aren’t turning good intentions into reality is because of the way that they purchase is habitual. Which you guys have said is the case in some areas and not in others, would you say that being educated more on environmental issues alone would be enough of a motivating factor to get you to break those habits?

Participant 3: It has for me, but it is completely individualistic.

Participant 7: People still don’t care, it’s inconvenient.

Participant 3: If you aren’t that fussed it wont matter.

Participant 2: It is too hard, I don’t think I would change my purchasing habits.

Moderator: So if ethical brands were more accessible, if they were on the high-street like Topshop, would that be enough of a reason for you to start?

Participant 2: In an ideal world yes.

Participant 3: But also some of the brands are ugly, they aren’t like Topshop and they don’t need to be like that. They can be trendy. Like Stella McCartney is a brilliant example Participant 7: Like Reformation or Everlane are the only decent options. Participant 3: But they are both very expensive.

Participant 2: I just don’t want to have to compromise on what I want, versus what the environment needs.

Participant 4: We should focus more on over consumption, the lower price would just encourage people to buy more under the premise that it is environmentally friendly.

Participant 7: Would you rather spend lots of money on one nice thing or lots of clothes, because most people would opt for volume.

Moderator: Looking at it from the same perspective as the sugar tax, do you think it would be a good idea for the government to put a tax on fast fashion?

Participant 4: Yeah.

Participant 7: It would be hard to police.

Participant 6: I would still purchase in the same manner. Moderator: Thanks guys!

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EXPERIMENT TRANSCRIPT Day 1: Participant 1: Okay so here is my video diary for day one. So no single use plastic was the target for today. I think the main struggle I had today was trying to identify what constituted as single use plastic, what that even means. Does that mean the product, or the packaging? I guess in part, that’s why it is so hard to avoid, people don’t really know what it means, or what it is! When I went out shopping today, it was pretty easy to avoid in clothing. I brought my own bag with me. But with food, and beauty products it was almost impossible, it’s in everything! I couldn’t even find a sandwich without single use packaging, I had to find a restaurant and eat there.

Participant 2: This is my video diary for day two, and the challenge today was to avoid single use plastic. When shopping for clothes today I found this really challenging, I couldn’t shop online because of the plastic packaging that comes with the shipping. In store it’s easier, it was just the plastic tags. I felt really limited, there weren’t many options, I couldn’t really avoid it so I didn’t buy anything today Day 2: Participant 1: This is day two of the video diary. From what I understand of day two I needed to only source and buy things from the UK, not shipped in internationally. So today I bought food, to be honest in the places I went to go eat... so I went to go eat in Leon they didn’t disclose anywhere on the packaging or on the marketing in the shop where the food was from specifically, and if I’m honest I was so preoccupied that I forgot to ask the staff. I was more packaging aware throughout Trying to figure out if things had been sourced internationally was really hard, so when I went shopping for a new pair of shoes today (in Topshop) there was no mention anywhere of where they were produced, the staff didn’t know either. I had to Google it, and when I couldn’t find out if they were or weren’t made in the UK I had to leave empty handed. It was very discouraging, I can’t imaging trying to sustain being this mindful and having to do that much research on an everyday basis.

Participant 2: This is my video for day two of the experiment, and today I couldn’t buy anything that was sourced or produced outside of the UK. I went shopping for clothing again, and it was even more difficult in store this was almost impossible. I found a few options online, mostly independent shops but those products were more expensive. It’s a catch 22. I did buy a couple of shirts that I needed from one of the independent stores Vintage Style Me, but I didn’t purchase as much as I normally wouldn’t because of the price point.

Day 3: Participant 1: This is my last video that I have to do in the three day challenge, so today I couldn’t buy anything online. I haven’t bought or use anything online or used anything from online at all this week, I know I’ve bought it from a shop in person, but again like I said yesterday I don’t know where or how this clothing has been sourced or produced. I could see this challenge be difficult in the future if I desperately needed something. I was also asked to disclose today how I typically dispose of my clothing by giving it to charity, but I’ve heard now that they are overfilled and aren’t accepting clothing. So tomorrow when I get rid of my clothing I’m going to have to take it to the tip and recycle it, but I will give the more valuable items to my family or friends. Urn... I do occasionally throw away things like old tights or underwear, just because I can’t really donate that.

Participant 2: Today is the final day of the experiment, and I couldn’t purchase anything online. This was okay, I went to a few vintage and charity shops to have a look for some trousers today. There are more sustainable, and there was lots of options so I didn’t feel limited. The :ease of convenience wasn’t quite as high, which would be hard to live without on a day-to-day basis,. For this short period of time though. It was okay. I was asked to also talk about how I dispose of my clothing when I’m finished with it. So I always take my old clothes to a charity shop, but usually offer the clothing to my friends and family first. Sometimes I even upcycle the clothing and make it into something new. I don’t find it too hard to dispose of my clothing in a sustainable manner, there are lots of different options but I think they could be publicized more.

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INDUSTRY INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Interviewer: I Stella Claxton: SC I: The first question is, do you think limiting overconsumption will have a negative impact on the economic growth of clothing brands?

SC: Well it depends on how they do that, because if a brand decides to go for better quality but at a higher profit margin... so you sell less but at a higher price point, and make more money that way then no. In reality that is not a possibility for every brand to do that. Different consumers want different things. It is very hard. I think certainly for the fast fashion brands it will be a very difficult concept for them to wrap their heads round, so I don’t think it’s a strategy for those kinds of brands.

I: What would you say are the main ways that consumers can help limit the impact of climate change on the environment?

SC: Well buy less is the biggest thing they can do, again I don’t think that will really happen. That would be the biggest thing, because I think the waste issue is outweighing every other thing that brands are achieving.

The impacts of individual clothing items are going down, so brands are trying to reduce those, but overall the rise in consumption just negates it all. Obviously consumers can also help by buying things that are made in a more sustainable way if they are going to buy something, or they can buy second hand or just use things for longer.

I: Do you think the introduction of sustainable alternatives into the marketplace will exacerbate the issue of overconsumption because it will elevate feelings of guilt?

SC: I think for the fast fashion brands that would be a very good thing because they wouldn’t have to sacrifice their successful business model. If those materials were really a lot more sustainable and disposable without harming the environment, that would be a great solution for them. Yes it might potentially exacerbate the issue of overconsumption, but then again it depends what overconsumption would constitute as in that context.

Would there be such a thing if these materials are so great? We don’t know if we scaled it up what the impact would be, we have to do lifecycle analysis on the materials and products to be able to really assess that.

I: Is it possible to find a balance between sustainability and economic growth’?

SC: In fashion... Well possibly. I think it’s something that we used to have. We used to have economic growth and sustainability when people consumed less, so the thing is that it isn’t just about consumption, it is about how we use things and make things last. We don’t have that. So I think yes we used to have that balance, it also depends on the population growth and how much people are consuming. We are very much in a situation where western societies consume far more than our fair share of the Earth’s resources than people in developing countries. Rebalancing needs to happen.

I: Do you think brand transparency will help consumers make more informed choices when it comes to making sustainable purchases?

SC: It should do... I think they should be more transparent, but I think that product labeling is not good enough to help consumers make those choices. Quite often that information is kept in a separate area on a website, it may be a lot of detail within a company report, or it may be a section on various different forums. I think consumers find it very difficult to relate that information to an individual product, so it’s hard for them to understand how sustainable products are. Transparency is one thing, but its not being related to individual products and I think that needs to be worked on. In the past there has been talk about a rating system on labeling, so there are discussions about that going on and I think that would be fantastic. How you would measure that though would be the challenge. There needs to be something a bit more user friendly.

I: ‘Customers do not consume in a vacuum and are influenced by the context and hype surrounding products and services, as well as the associated values and status that is expected to follow their consumption.’ Do you think brands should offer consumers an incentive to shop more sustainably? (i.e. discount for donating old clothing to charity) SC: I think that it is a good idea. I could see it working if maybe you bought five sustainable pieces from ASOS you would get a 20% off discount code, yes I really do think that that would be helpful. I think incentivizing rather than punishing or criticizing customers is always better. I like the idea of incentivizing people to recycle, but then you need to work out how to incentivize them and how to track whether or not they have recycled. Then again it might just encourage people to buy more, does that then cancel out the effectiveness of the solution.

Could you reward them with an experience instead, or a donation to charity like EBay or PayPal I: Do you think it is more feasible to rely on shopping from second hand clothing stores and upcycling as a solution?

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SC: Well I think for some people that is possible but it has huge limitations... Who would do the upcycling?

Unless people really have to or they have an interest in it this would be quite limited in terms of appeal, unless people didn’t have any other choice. So I could imagine a scenario if the prices of garments rose that they were no longer afford to buy new, but I can’t see people doing that out of choice. And the issues with second hand clothing are that it is limited in terms of sizing. It is quite hard to find choice and things that people want to buy in second hand and vintage shops. There is no such thing as one solution, rather different solutions for different retailers and consumers.

I: What more do you think the government can do to help span the attitude-behaviour gap in the consumption of fashion?

SC: Well again there could be something to do with incentives. The environmental audit committee that took evidence from a range of people: there have been quite a lot of people proposing ideas for how the government should move forward with policy. So I actually think that we should have a limit on how much brands can sell, how much volume. I think we should have better provision for recycling garments, there needs to be popper bin availability. There are discussions on retailer accountability in that they are accountable for recycling the waste that they produce. In terms of the attention-behaviour gap, where all the volume purchasing is, which is very much at the younger 16-24 year old group. I think the issue is social media and the irresponsible marketing techniques, because what we have now is the immergence of an addiction behaviour- an addiction to the feeling of consumption not the product. To me it’s an ethical thing, I think it’s starting to become unethical the way that young people are being marketed to.

I: What more do you think brands can do to span the attitude-behaviour gap?

SC: The model itself, the fast fashion model is really unsustainable, so how you change that and how you move away from it will be an interesting challenge for these types of brands. If sustainable materials can minimize the impact of the fast fashion industry then that is great, but we aren’t there yet. And if that is a solution, then I think those brands should be really investing in that technology and supporting it’s development, bringing it to a commercial level. I’m not sure if the likes of Boohoo and Missguided are willing to do that. Probably what would happen is that the industry has to become more sustainable but not necessarily in a managed way, because they brands aren’t buying into it in a meaningful way. Therefore it is much more likely that change will be brought out in a punitive way in response to an environmental concerns or a crisis that means that we have to react. It is going to be messy getting there. I think the brands also have an intention-behaviour gap not just consumers, the change is going to be incremental and it’s not happening quickly enough.

I: Thank you!

INSTAGRAM POLLS

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CONSENT FORMS PROTEST INTERVIEWS

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CONSENT FORMS FOCUS GROUP

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CONSENT FORMS EXPERIMENT

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