IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i9p4159-d1649240.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wardrobe Management Apps and Their Unintended Benefits for Fashion Sustainability and Well-Being: Insights from User Reviews

Author

Listed:
  • Gigi Jiang

    (School of Textiles and Design, Heriot-Watt University Scottish Borders Campus, Nether Road, Galashiels TD1 3HF, UK)

  • Lisa Macintyre

    (School of Textiles and Design, Heriot-Watt University Scottish Borders Campus, Nether Road, Galashiels TD1 3HF, UK)

Abstract

Global clothing production and waste continues to increase while garment utilisation is decreasing. Many consumers wear only a fraction of the clothing they own, often forgetting or overlooking items already in their wardrobes. This disconnection from existing garments encourages unnecessary purchases and contributes to the environmental and psychological burden of fashion overconsumption. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of wardrobe management apps (WMAs) and their potential for reducing fashion overconsumption. This paper has two core aims: first, to assess how WMAs contribute to sustainability through organisation, extended use, and behavioural change, and second, to examine their emotional and practical benefits for users. A content analysis of 27 WMAs was conducted alongside a thematic analysis of all 5953 user reviews from Apple and Google Play stores. Our analysis showed that 470 users reported behavioural shifts related to reduced overconsumption and increased garment utilisation, while a further 210 users described psychological benefits such as improved mental clarity and reduced anxiety. These results demonstrate the potential of WMAs to support more sustainable fashion habits and enhanced consumer well-being, offering a digital means to promote responsible consumption and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 12.

Suggested Citation

  • Gigi Jiang & Lisa Macintyre, 2025. "Wardrobe Management Apps and Their Unintended Benefits for Fashion Sustainability and Well-Being: Insights from User Reviews," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-22, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:9:p:4159-:d:1649240
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4159/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/9/4159/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:4159-:d:1649240. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.