What about Sustainability? An Empirical Analysis of Consumers’ Purchasing Behavior in Fashion Context

In recent times, the concept of sustainability has gradually taken on a leading role, particularly because of its potential ability to influence consumers’ view and, consequently, their buying choices. Based on this consideration, the work, by means of an empirical analysis, pursues two research questions: (i) is it possible to imagine a theoretical model in the fashion world able to show whether “importance”, “expectations” and “social influence” effectively affect consumers’ willingness to reward a sustainable fashion brand via their purchasing behavior? and (ii) how much are consumers willing to pay to get a sustainable item of clothing? In order to answer these two research questions, a Multiple Linear Regression Model is tested, which offers an interesting result: consumers attach little relevance to the importance accorded to a brand’s sustainability, since they orient themselves on the basis of their expectations and their own group’s thoughts. Another finding is that consumers state that they are willing to pay a price not higher than 20% to get a sustainable item of clothing. However, the paper presents two limitations, which are linked to the use of the questionnaire for the understanding of the respondents’ opinions and to the small reference sample, composed of 271 people with a high level of education.