For seven percent of consumers, sustainability is the most important purchase decision criterion for fashion products.
For everyone else, however, and that’s a full 93 percent, high product quality, good looks and a good price-performance ratio are decisive for the purchase.
So are we expecting too much from consumers or too much from fashion when it comes to sustainability?
How sustainable can fashion really be …
The French philosopher and semiologist Roland Barthes describes fashion as a “language of signs that have become conventions”, which is “closely linked to the image that people have or want to have of themselves”.
From a sociological point of view, fashion is expressive action, because the person acting uses it to express their identity and relationships.
Strictly speaking, fashion is dramaturgical action, because it needs an audience and must be seen.
Fashion is evaluated on the basis of an aesthetic judgment of taste.
It “pleases” or it “does not please”.
According to Habermas’ three-world model, it can therefore be neither “right or wrong” nor “good or bad”.
It is therefore only logical that criteria such as design and quality are more important purchasing criteria for fashion consumers than sustainability criteria.
… and must be fashionable?
Sustainability as a social expectation is therefore primarily directed at the company and is part of the company’s social reputation.
More and more consumers expect transparency in terms of sustainable production and supply chains, not on the tag on the product, but on the company’s corporate website.
They assess how trustworthy the company is and check whether it acts sustainably.
If this is not the case, there is a risk of sanctions in the form of scandalization, boycotts and loss of image.
Almost half of millennials have already changed their brand preference if sustainability considerations on the part of the company were lacking. [print_link]