The retailers’ perspective on sustainable fashion behavior change

In this session, Annuska Toebast will present her work on the retailers’ perspective on sustainable fashion behavior change.

The intention to purchase sustainable fashion (SF) does not always translate to SF purchase behavior. This is referred to as the intention-behavior gap. Retailers are uniquely positioned to influence consumers’ fashion purchase behavior to address the intention-behavior gap. This study explores how sustainable fashion retailers perceive the drivers of consumers’ SF behavior. We interviewed 25 SF retail managers and applied the SHIFT framework as an analytical lens to categorize how retailers perceive consumers’ drivers to purchase SF and how they persuade consumers to purchase their SF products or services. Results indicated that SF retailers presume drivers related to the ‘Individual self’ as being most vital for SF consumer behavior change. At the same time, they motivate their target audience to engage in more sustainable fashion behavior mostly by targeting ‘Cognition’ drivers. Theoretical and managerial implications will be discussed during the presentation