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- Volume 1, Issue 1, 2022
International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2022
Volume 1, Issue 1, 2022
- Editorial
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Sustainability in fashion and textiles
More LessThis first issue of the International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles (SFT) presents a collection of five research articles, an industry interview and a book review, dedicated to the field of sustainable fashion and textiles, ethically made, retail and consumption and education. Positioning itself from both an academic research and industry practitioners’ perspective, the journal aims to provide a platform to raise awareness of issues within the fashion industry and the need for innovation. Articles for this first issue from international academics and industry professionals cover pertinent topics such as textile waste reduction, concepts to change attitudes towards more sustainable clothing consumption and well-being as a catalyst for change.
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- Articles
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When mortality knocks: Pandemic-inspired attitude shifts towards sustainable clothing consumption in six countries
Unsustainable clothing consumption patterns, especially prevalent in the Global North, have come to the spotlight of media, policy-makers and the academic community in recent years. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the routine lives of citizens globally, which has impacted some consumers’ attitudes towards fashion and consumption practices. This study employs terror management theory and voluntary simplicity to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers’ attitudes towards clothing consumption across six different countries, from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. A structured qualitative study with closed, open-ended and multiple-choice questions was completed by a sample of consumers (N = 3748) across these countries. Among all participants of this study one-third reported that the pandemic had affected their attitude towards clothing and this study was mainly conducted to investigate the nature of those attitude changes. Qualitative analysis identified patterns of change in consumers’ attitude towards clothing (e.g., minimalism, grateful mindset, conscious mindset, decreased fashion desire, longevity and style confidence), which reveal potential for a lasting shift towards more sustainable consumption patterns. The results of this study highlight valuable managerial implications: the industry needs to respond to this shift in consumers’ attitude and move towards more sustainable business models and processes. Sufficiency-oriented business offerings, in particular, are becoming more accepted in the fashion industry. Moreover, these results are relevant for predicting future consumption patterns, especially considering that pandemics may become a more regular part of life.
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Love letters to Patagonia: Fostering sustainable consumption via consumer–brand relationships
Authors: Chitra Singh, Hyejune Park and Cosette M. Joyner MartinezThe purpose of this study was to investigate how consumers’ meaningful experiences with an apparel brand’s quality products can result in a strong consumer–brand relationship, fostering product longevity and sustainable consumption behaviours. Consumer–brand relationship theory was used as a theoretical lens to examine consumer–brand relationships developed via the use of a brand’s quality products. In this analysis, an outdoor apparel brand, Patagonia, was selected as a representative brand because of its effort to deliver quality products and initiatives to foster meaningful consumer–brand relationships and sustainable consumption. Netnography, an interpretive analysis of online textual discourse, was used to collect the consumers’ essays from Patagonia’s website. These essays were about the consumers’ experiences with Patagonia products. The essays were analysed using a theory-driven content analysis based on the consumer–brand relationship theory. Results revealed six types of consumer–brand relationships with three dominant relationships, including ‘partner quality’, ‘love and passion’ and ‘interdependence’. It was also found that a strong relationship with the brand positively affects consumers’ emotional attachment with the brand’s products, reducing the disposal of garments and resulting in product longevity. Theoretically, this study furthers our understanding of the relationship that consumers develop with a sustainable apparel brand by providing empirical evidence about the formation of product attachment in the context of the consumer–brand relationship. The findings also offer managerial suggestions to apparel brands by providing insights into how to develop a meaningful, persistent consumer–brand relationship in a sustainability context.
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How to wear happiness: Impact of wearing clothing labelled sustainable or fast fashion on subjective well-being
Authors: Catriona Tassell, Aurore Bardey and Anke SchatThis experiment aims to measure the psychological impact of wearing (un)sustainable clothing on emotions. Baseline levels of subjective well-being in a sample (N = 39) were used to allocate participants to conditions: Group 1: wearing plain T-shirts; Group 2: wearing ‘sustainable’ T-shirts and Group 3: wearing ‘unsustainable’ T-shirts. Analysis showed statistically significant differences in positive (H(2) = 11.600, p = 0.003) and negative (H(2) = 20.046, p < 0.001) feelings. Participants wearing sustainable clothing felt more positive (Median [Mdn] = 26) than participants wearing unsustainable clothing (Mdn = 20, p = 0.002). Participants wearing unsustainable clothing felt more negative (Mdn = 15) than participants wearing sustainable clothing (Mdn = 7, p < 0.001) and participants wearing a plain T-shirt (Mdn = 8, p = 0.004). This study highlights the existence of a relationship between what we wear and how we feel, reinforcing the importance of knowing the source of our clothing.
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Holistically embracing mindfulness: Enriching slow fashion for enhanced well-being
More LessThis research explores slow fashion in relation to its capacity to holistically embrace mindfulness in order to enrich the sustainable approach to fashion for enhanced well-being. Slow fashion seems to embrace a concept at the heart of mindfulness practice: awareness. Mindfulness is a state of awareness that involves accepting a clear focus on present realities. The emerging phenomenon of mindfulness is developing as a potential force for cultural change. The current predominant fashion system supports growth-focused, fast fashion, which has been destructive to environmental and human well-being. Existing scholarly discourse has identified the urgency for a significant cultural shift to alternative approaches, resulting in the emergence of a sustainable and ethical fashion space. Slow fashion, within this space, is considered through a lens of mindfulness as a conceptual framework for both practices within a fashion context. The research aims to examine key components of the two movements and discuss how the practices unite or vary and the implications of their union within the fashion system. A close examination revealed a further intertwined relationship, identifying select components of mindfulness that contradict elements of slow fashion and other components theoretically congruent with slow fashion criteria. Slow fashion has the capacity for a more conscious and holistic embrace involving the theory and practice of mindfulness. In doing so, an enriched slow fashion approach, encompassing design, production and consumption, would be enabled within the current fashion system to improve outcomes for the environment and human well-being amongst the wider community. Critically, an alignment between slowness and mindfulness intrinsically guides us towards a collective consciousness of each other, our interconnection with the environment and our internal and external realities, signifying strength in connecting interdisciplinary theories that unite in methods and mindsets that may allow thriving within natural limits.
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Behind 11 million likes: Sustainable fashion on Instagram – A critical analysis of actors and discourses on fashion, sustainability and social change
More LessSocial media has become an indispensable part of the daily lives of billions of people globally and, among its many functions, provides online space for conversations about socially important topics. Sustainability dimensions of the fashion system is a growing area of public interest, both in terms of production and consumption practices. This study explores online conversations about sustainable fashion on Instagram and maps the ongoing discourse in terms of actors, themes and views of social change that is required to achieve more sustainability in the fashion system. Instagram is a photo-sharing app owned by Facebook and a social media network of choice of the Millennial and Gen Z women, who are also main consumers of fast fashion, which makes it the perfect source of data for discourse analysis. Using the CrowdTangle tool, the 500 most influential Instagram posts that contained references to sustainable fashion from March 2020 to February 2021 were analysed. The analysis revealed that Instagram discourse on sustainable fashion is dominated by product-promoting messages from brands that communicate directly using their accounts or via collaborations with influencers. While the discourse is polycentric and there are many actors behind the most influential posts, the most numerous communications are from two brands: H&M (@hm) and Reliance Polyester (@r.elan.official). In terms of discussions about social change, these conversations were present almost exclusively in non-sponsored posts of influencers, media, industry associations and non-profit organizations. Social change is discussed in relation to the production side of the fashion system, including nuanced reflections on the role of systemic racism and poverty in fashion supply chains, moving towards local production and using new business models to scale down. However, the main emphasis in references to social change is on consumers’ actions and choices rather than on systemic change: buying less and refusing fast fashion, switching to second hand and using garments for longer.
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- Interview
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Rescuing textile waste: Q&A with Dr Christina Dean, founder and board chair, Redress
More LessEnvironmental pollution caused by textile waste is an increasing and urgent issue for the global fashion industry. Redress is a pioneering NGO working since 2007 to minimize fashion’s negative impacts and promote a more sustainable industry through circular economy practices including zero-waste design and upcycling. In this interview, Professor Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas of the British School of Fashion invites Redress Founder Dr Christina Dean to share insights into their innovative industry, consumer and education initiatives including the Redress Design Award, the world’s largest sustainable fashion competition and a new luxury social impact business The R-Collective accelerating sustainability and circularity by rescuing, reusing and recycling luxury and premium waste materials.
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- Book Review
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Sustainable Fashion: Responsible Consumption, Design, Fabrics and Materials, Wearme Fashion (2021)
More LessReview of: Sustainable Fashion: Responsible Consumption, Design, Fabrics and Materials, Wearme Fashion (2021)
Barcelona: Promopress, 176 pp.,
ISBN 978-8-41741-279-1, p/bk, £25
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