IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i9p4015-d1645822.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

I Don’t Buy It! A Critical Review of the Research on Factors Influencing Sustainable Fashion Buying Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Natalie Hogh

    (School of Business, Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, An der Hochschule 1, 86161 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Joshua Braun

    (School of Business, Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, An der Hochschule 1, 86161 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Lara Watermann

    (School of Business, Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, An der Hochschule 1, 86161 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Simone Kubowitsch

    (School of Business, Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg, An der Hochschule 1, 86161 Augsburg, Germany)

Abstract

Research on the factors influencing sustainable fashion consumption, particularly green apparel buying behavior (GABB), has grown significantly in the last decade. Understanding how to promote GABB while reducing fast-fashion consumption is of critical importance to researchers, marketers, and policymakers. However, deriving actionable insights requires robust methodologies. Therefore, the goal of this systematic narrative review was to analyze existing literature on GABB, to identify key drivers, and to critically examine the methodological approaches, applied theoretical backgrounds, and utilized geographical scope. Following a structured multi-stage review process—including a database search, screening, and synthesis— n = 15 empirical studies focusing on GABB were included. The identified drivers are categorized into five factors: sociodemographic, personal, behavioral, social influences, and product attributes. Additionally, the review identified methodological shortcomings, including a predominant reliance on self-reported data, a lack of experimental designs and longitudinal studies, and a limited sampling scope across studies. Addressing these limitations in future research is essential to develop practical interventions that encourage sustainable fashion consumption and guide effective marketing and policy strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Natalie Hogh & Joshua Braun & Lara Watermann & Simone Kubowitsch, 2025. "I Don’t Buy It! A Critical Review of the Research on Factors Influencing Sustainable Fashion Buying Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-25, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4015-:d:1645822
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4015/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4015/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nitika Sharma & Raiswa Saha & V. Raja Sreedharan & Justin Paul, 2020. "Relating the role of green self‐concepts and identity on green purchasing behaviour: An empirical analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3203-3219, December.
    2. Pat Auger & Timothy Devinney, 2007. "Do What Consumers Say Matter? The Misalignment of Preferences with Unconstrained Ethical Intentions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 361-383, December.
    3. Tamara Vlastelica & Milica Kostić-Stanković & Tamara Rajić & Jelena Krstić & Tijana Obradović, 2023. "Determinants of Young Adult Consumers’ Environmentally and Socially Responsible Apparel Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Karolina Bielawska & Magdalena Grebosz-Krawczyk, 2021. "Consumers’ Choice Behaviour Toward Green Clothing," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2 - Part ), pages 238-256.
    5. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:2:p:238-256 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Jūratė Banytė & Šarūnė Vaidelinskaitė & Laura Šalčiuvienė, 2023. "Investigating the Link between Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour in the Context of Sustainable Clothing: The Role of Social Norms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    7. Lin, Boqiang & Bai, Rui, 2020. "Dynamic energy performance evaluation of Chinese textile industry," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    8. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    9. Siti Hasnah Hassan & Jasmine A. L. Yeap & Nabil Hasan Al-Kumaim, 2022. "Sustainable Fashion Consumption: Advocating Philanthropic and Economic Motives in Clothing Disposal Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-17, February.
    10. Louise M. Hassan & Edward Shiu & Deirdre Shaw, 2016. "Who Says There is an Intention–Behaviour Gap? Assessing the Empirical Evidence of an Intention–Behaviour Gap in Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 219-236, June.
    11. Sheth, Jagdish N. & Newman, Bruce I. & Gross, Barbara L., 1991. "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 159-170, March.
    12. Andreas Chatzidakis & Minas Kastanakis & Anastasia Stathopoulou, 2016. "Socio-Cognitive Determinants of Consumers’ Support for the Fair Trade Movement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(1), pages 95-109, January.
    13. Kelvin Mwita, 2022. "Strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research in social science studies," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(6), pages 618-625, September.
    14. Yu-Shan Chen, 2010. "The Drivers of Green Brand Equity: Green Brand Image, Green Satisfaction, and Green Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(2), pages 307-319, May.
    15. Marthe Hårvik Austgulen, 2016. "Environmentally Sustainable Textile Consumption—What Characterizes the Political Textile Consumers?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 441-466, December.
    16. Luigi Leclercq-Machado & Aldo Alvarez-Risco & Romina Gómez-Prado & Berdy Briggitte Cuya-Velásquez & Sharon Esquerre-Botton & Flavio Morales-Ríos & Camila Almanza-Cruz & Sarahit Castillo-Benancio & Mar, 2022. "Sustainable Fashion and Consumption Patterns in Peru: An Environmental-Attitude-Intention-Behavior Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thi Thuy An Ngo & Chi Hai Vo & Ngoc Lien Tran & Khanh Vy Nguyen & Thanh Dat Tran & Yen Nhi Trinh, 2024. "Factors influencing Generation Z’s intention to purchase sustainable clothing products in Vietnam," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(12), pages 1-37, December.
    2. William Sun, 2020. "Toward a theory of ethical consumer intention formation: re-extending the theory of planned behavior," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 10(3), pages 260-278, December.
    3. Taneja, Shilpa & Ali, Liaqat, 2021. "Determinants of customers’ intentions towards environmentally sustainable banking: Testing the structural model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Frommeyer, Britta & Wagner, Elisa & Hossiep, C. Richard & Schewe, Gerhard, 2022. "The utility of intention as a proxy for sustainable buying behavior – A necessary condition analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 201-213.
    5. Ahsan Akbar & Saqib Ali & Muhammad Azeem Ahmad & Minhas Akbar & Muhammad Danish, 2019. "Understanding the Antecedents of Organic Food Consumption in Pakistan: Moderating Role of Food Neophobia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-20, October.
    6. Jose Antonio Román-Augusto & Camila Garrido-Lecca-Vera & Manuel Luis Lodeiros-Zubiria & Martin Mauricio-Andia, 2022. "Green Marketing: Drivers in the Process of Buying Green Products—The Role of Green Satisfaction, Green Trust, Green WOM and Green Perceived Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    7. Wintschnig, Bea Alexandra, 2021. "The Attitude-Behavior Gap – Drivers and Barriers of Sustainable Consumption," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 6(2), pages 324-346.
    8. Henri Kuokkanen & William Sun, 2020. "Companies, Meet Ethical Consumers: Strategic CSR Management to Impact Consumer Choice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(2), pages 403-423, October.
    9. Hsiu‐Hua Chang & Wei‐Jen Chuang, 2021. "Encourage stakeholder engagement in sustainable development: Drivers of consumers themselves benefits and society welfares," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 748-762, March.
    10. Erifili Papista & Athanasios Krystallis, 2013. "Investigating the Types of Value and Cost of Green Brands: Proposition of a Conceptual Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 75-92, June.
    11. Shah, Sayed Kifayat & Zhongjun, Tang, 2021. "Elaborating on the consumer’s intention–behavior gap regarding 5G technology: The moderating role of the product market-creation ability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Yifei Wu & Young-Sook Lee, 2025. "A Study on the Impact of the Consumption Value of Sustainable Fashion Products on Purchase Intention Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-39, May.
    13. Grimmer, Martin & Bingham, Timothy, 2013. "Company environmental performance and consumer purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1945-1953.
    14. Pengji Wang & Adrian T. H. Kuah & Qinye Lu & Caroline Wong & K. Thirumaran & Emmanuel Adegbite & Wesley Kendall, 2021. "The impact of value perceptions on purchase intention of sustainable luxury brands in China and the UK," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(3), pages 325-346, May.
    15. Debora Bettiga & Lucio Lamberti & Emanuele Lettieri, 2020. "Individuals’ adoption of smart technologies for preventive health care: a structural equation modeling approach," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 203-214, June.
    16. Anxin Xu & Chenwen Wei & Manhua Zheng & Lili Sun & Decong Tang, 2022. "Influence of Perceived Value on Repurchase Intention of Green Agricultural Products: From the Perspective of Multi-Group Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    17. Mäntymäki, Matti & Salo, Jari, 2013. "Purchasing behavior in social virtual worlds: An examination of Habbo Hotel," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 282-290.
    18. Joshua Chang, 2025. "The mediating role of brand image in the relationship between storytelling marketing and purchase intention: case study of PX mart," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    19. Hye Jung Jung & Yun Jung Choi & Kyung Wha Oh, 2020. "Influencing Factors of Chinese Consumers’ Purchase Intention to Sustainable Apparel Products: Exploring Consumer “Attitude–Behavioral Intention” Gap," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Joachim P. Hasebrook & Leonie Michalak & Anna Wessels & Sabine Koenig & Stefan Spierling & Stefan Kirmsse, 2022. "Green Behavior: Factors Influencing Behavioral Intention and Actual Environmental Behavior of Employees in the Financial Service Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-35, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4015-:d:1645822. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.