Among the existing research on sustainable apparel consumption, most contributions focus on eco conscious decisional processes, attitudes, and behaviours, whereas little attention is given to the specific souls of ethical fashion: organic and recycle fashion, second-hand and vintage clothing, fair-trade fashion, swapping and clothing donation. Moreover, little is known about the motivations underlying such consumer behaviours and the contingent dissimilarities among them.
This contribution presents the findings of a quantitative research aimed at understanding the reciprocal importance of utilitarian, hedonic and ethical motivations in the different forms of sustainable fashion consumption.The survey was conducted on a purposive sample of Italian ethical fashion consumers through an on-line questionnaire developed according to the findings of a previous qualitative research’s phase. The results reveal that there is not a necessary discrepancy between sustainable clothing and the conventional functions of fashion and shopping, and consumers may choose ethical garments and accessories for motivations that go beyond their ethical concer
