Luis Mundaca
Professor
Collaborative Fashion Consumption in Sweden and Spain : Market, environmental and behavioural insights
Author
Summary, in English
Within the context of a sharing economy, the BE-USE project aims to develop behavioural economics experiments that test, examine and generate policy recommendations to advance sustainable urban initiatives. It aims to increase the understanding of cognitive, motivational and contextual factors affecting decision-making processes and choices in urban sharing initiatives.
This report is developed under Phase 1 of the BE-USE project and aims to provide an understanding of Collaborative Fashion Consumption (CFC), which is one of the chosen case studies for the experimental phase. The report builds upon existing knowledge on the fashion industry and consumption-related issues in Sweden and Spain. These countries define the geographical scope of the project. The report pays particular attention to environmental and behavioural issues and is guided, for example, by the following research questions: What are the main factors underlying (unsustainable) fashion consumer behaviour? What can be said about the development of CFC initiatives in Sweden and Spain? What are the main motivating or hindering factors affecting the adoption of CFC in these countries? This report presents salient issues and extant research concerning the clothing consumption; including motivations, barriers, and uncertainties affecting the adoption of CFC initiatives.
The findings confirm environmental concerns about the rise of fast fashion and growth of the clothing industry. Trends also confirm unsustainable patterns in the production and consumption of fashion. From a behavioural point view, several anomalies and cognitive biases (e.g. sunk cost effect, loss aversion) are identified as potential drivers of unsustainable consumption. We identify various CFC initiatives being implemented in Sweden and Spain that address these concerns. Different business models arise and show potential for market uptake. From a consumer perspective, motivating factors playing a role in the adoption of CFC include economic reasons, convenience, pro-environmental behaviour, conformity towards emerging social norms, and innovative business platforms and experience. On the contrary, hindering factors include practical challenges in transportation and cleaning of garments, a lack of accessibility to the product, and uncertain participation of CFC members in the long term.
It is concluded that there is a need for further understand the motivations and barriers that affect the adoption of CFC initiatives. Knowledge is just emerging. The analysis of the factors underlying CFC adoption behaviour (let alone unsustainable clothing consumption in general) provides critical knowledge for the design of behavioural-oriented measures that can promote CFC adoption. The testing and analysis of potential behavioural-oriented policy interventions (e.g. via social norms) can increase our understanding of (potential) CFC adopters and provide policy avenues to promote and advance sustainable solutions in the fashion industry.
This report is developed under Phase 1 of the BE-USE project and aims to provide an understanding of Collaborative Fashion Consumption (CFC), which is one of the chosen case studies for the experimental phase. The report builds upon existing knowledge on the fashion industry and consumption-related issues in Sweden and Spain. These countries define the geographical scope of the project. The report pays particular attention to environmental and behavioural issues and is guided, for example, by the following research questions: What are the main factors underlying (unsustainable) fashion consumer behaviour? What can be said about the development of CFC initiatives in Sweden and Spain? What are the main motivating or hindering factors affecting the adoption of CFC in these countries? This report presents salient issues and extant research concerning the clothing consumption; including motivations, barriers, and uncertainties affecting the adoption of CFC initiatives.
The findings confirm environmental concerns about the rise of fast fashion and growth of the clothing industry. Trends also confirm unsustainable patterns in the production and consumption of fashion. From a behavioural point view, several anomalies and cognitive biases (e.g. sunk cost effect, loss aversion) are identified as potential drivers of unsustainable consumption. We identify various CFC initiatives being implemented in Sweden and Spain that address these concerns. Different business models arise and show potential for market uptake. From a consumer perspective, motivating factors playing a role in the adoption of CFC include economic reasons, convenience, pro-environmental behaviour, conformity towards emerging social norms, and innovative business platforms and experience. On the contrary, hindering factors include practical challenges in transportation and cleaning of garments, a lack of accessibility to the product, and uncertain participation of CFC members in the long term.
It is concluded that there is a need for further understand the motivations and barriers that affect the adoption of CFC initiatives. Knowledge is just emerging. The analysis of the factors underlying CFC adoption behaviour (let alone unsustainable clothing consumption in general) provides critical knowledge for the design of behavioural-oriented measures that can promote CFC adoption. The testing and analysis of potential behavioural-oriented policy interventions (e.g. via social norms) can increase our understanding of (potential) CFC adopters and provide policy avenues to promote and advance sustainable solutions in the fashion industry.
Department/s
- The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Publishing year
2020-06-11
Language
English
Full text
Document type
Report
Topic
- Economics and Business
- Psychology
- Environmental Sciences
Keywords
- Collaborative Fashion Consumption
- Behavioural insights
- Market insights
- Environmental insights
- Sweden
- Spain
Status
Published
Project
- Sharing Behaviour