Environmental Sustainability in Fashion Supply Chains - Research Paper Example

Eco-Fashion Purpose – Purpose of the paper is to find the relationship between perceptions based values in terms of product sustainability and environmental sustainability of fashion supply chains among young generation Y consumers and their purchasing decision for eco-fashion apparels. Findings – Knowledge about the benefits of sustainability of eco-fashion products can direct purchasing behaviour of generation Y customers. Originality/value – The paper has pointed out that personal belief and value system of customers can direct purchasing decision of customers while purchasing eco-fashion products. Keywords; Consumer value system, Eco-fashion, Sustainable consumption, personal image, knowledge about benefits of ecofriendly fashion apparel andfashion trend. Paper type- Research paper Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 4 Chapter 2: Literature Review 5 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 8 Chapter 5: Limitations and Future Recommendation 15 References 16 Apeendices 18 Chapter 1: Introduction According to research scholars such as Niinimaki (2010), Birtwistle and Moore (2007) and Fineman (2001), concern about un-sustainability of fashion apparel consumption is growing among consumers. Research scholars have showed concern about the sustainability and environ friendliness of fashion supply chain. Growing demand for environment friendly clothes has forces the manufacturers and retailers to think about the reshaping the supply chain in order to market and promote sustainable fashion collections (Wong et al, 2012; Fletcher, 2008 and Joergens, 2006). Interesting fact is that, general fashion customers do show positive attitude towards environment protection but surprisingly very few of them show the same attitude towards eco-fashion consumption (Niinimaki, 2010). According Birtwistle and Moore (2007), this attitude-behaviour gap de-motivates fashion companies and encourages green marketer but important fact is that very few researcher have tried to understand the reasons behind existing gap in eco-fashion consumption decision (ECD) of customers (Sener and Hazer, 2008). Niinimaki (2010) has stated that factors like SRA or store-related attributes, PRA or product-related attributes, ethical practice of the manufacturers, environment friendly design of products decide ECD. Whatever the factor is, there is no doubt that purchasing behaviour for eco-fashion is a highly debatable issue among research scholars. Carrigan and Attala (2001) have argued that customers do not prefer to shell out extra bucks in order to purchase eco-fashion products. According to research scholars, the relationship between perceived value of eco-fashion and eco-fashion consumption decision is asymmetric and non-linear in nature. Gam and Banning (2011) have pointed out that all the stages of product life cycle of fashion apparel manufacturing cause negative impact on environment but environment cannot infinitely support the non-sustainability of supply chain of apparel retailing due to depletion of natural resources (Winge, 2008). Young generation or Generation Y consumers in the age group of 18yrs to 35 yrs who are characterized high disposable income, scepticism about marketer’s claim and information empowerment show social and environmental awareness while purchasing fashion apparel (Bhaduri and Ha-Brookshire, 2011). Interesting fact is that researchers have found that very few members of generation Y have real knowledge about sustainability in fashion apparel products (Ha-Brookshire and Norum, 2011); hence it can’t be said specifically that generation Y take purchasing decision for eco-fashion on the basis knowledge of sustainability. Unfortunately, very few researchers have tried to shed light on reasons which can drive purchasing decision among young people for purchasing eco-fashion apparel. On the basis of above mentioned gaps in the existing literature review the study has developed following research objectives. 1.1 Research Objective To find the relationship between perceptions based values in terms of product sustainability and environmental sustainability of fashion supply chains among young generation Y consumers and their purchasing decision for eco-fashion apparels? 1.2 Research Question How perceptions based values in terms of product sustainability and environmental sustainability of fashion supply chains among young generation Y consumers can direct their purchasing behaviour for eco-fashion apparels? Chapter 2: Literature Review The study has selected five articles in order to gather secondary data about the research topic. These articles can be used in order to develop hypothesis for this research. 2.1 “Consumer values and eco-fashion in the future” The article was written by Kirsi Niinimäki in the year 2009. The research scholar has tried to discuss values, expectations and attitudes of consumers regarding sustainability in textile and apparel products. The research paper has highlighted the ethical context of consumer decision process for sustainable fashion products and its impact on mass market. According to Niinimäki (2009), ethical value and attitude consumers are derived from their income, education and social status, these ethical values direct the purchasing decision of consumers when it comes to eco-fashion. Majority of consumers prefer to purchase eco-friendly apparel in order to show external symbolisms such as personal identity, social class etc to their peer group and social surroundings, although they do not have proper knowledge about benefits of sustainable environment friendly products. Following hypothesis can be drawn on the basis of argument of Kirsi Niinimäki. Hypothesis 1: Consumers do not purchase eco-fashion products on the basis of its benefits or actual need but they purchase the sustainable & eco-friendly products in order to develop social and personal image. 2.2 “Environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains: An exploratory case based research” The article was written by Federico Caniato, Maria Caridi, Luca Crippa and Antonella Moretto in the year 2012. The paper has focused on exploring environmental sustainability issues in context to supply chain management for fashion industry. According to Caniato et al (2012), three factors such as, 1- drivers which can push fashion companies to adopt green marketing, 2- different practices by fashion apparel companies in order to address environmental sustainability issues and 3- environmental key performance indicators for fashion retailers decide the context of sustainability of fashion supply chain. The research work done by Caniato et al (2012) was more of case study in nature rather than quantitative analysis of the research problem; hence the study has not helped the researcher to formulate the hypothesis. 2.3 “Young Generation Y consumers perceptions of sustainability in the apparel industry” The research work was done by Jessica Hill and Hyun-Hwa Lee and it was published in the year 2012. The researcher duo collected data from 80 college students in the age group 18-25 in order to conduct the research and they have found that majority of Gen Y believe that proper marketing communication campaign and education is needed in order to improve their understanding about principles of sustainability and role of eco-fashion in ensuring environmental sustainability. Following hypothesis can be generated on the basis of the research work of Jessica Hill and Hyun-Hwa Lee. Hypothesis 2: Young people are driven by fashion trend while purchasing eco-fashion items despite being the fact that they do not have knowledge about principle of sustainability. 2.4 “Fashioning Sustainability: How the Clothes we wear can support Environmental and Human Well-being” The study was conducted by April Shannon McGrath in the year 2012. According to the researcher, fashion companies need to decrease material flow and increase usage of eco friendly products while manufacturing the apparel in order to ensure sustainability of cloths. The researcher has surveyed individuals in the age group of 18yrs to 35yrs and found that customers purchase eco friendly products in order to satisfy needs of personal identity, leisure, stimulus for new cloths but they are concerned about quality of cloths. Hence companies need to manufacture cloths which can be meaningful to customers for longer period of time. Following hypothesis can be drawn on the basis of above discussion. Hypothesis 3: Purchasing eco-friendly fashion apparel can help customers to achieve both personal well being and environmental sustainability objectives. 2.5 “Discursive Confusion over Sustainable Consumption: A Discursive Perspective on the Perplexity of Marketplace Knowledge” The article was written by Annu Markkula and Johanna Moisander in the year 2011. Key purpose of the paper was “to conceptually elaborate and empirically illustrate the nature and implications of the discursive polyphony and the perplexity of information and knowledge that consumers face when striving for ecologically sustainable lifestyles and consumption practices”. According to the researchers, customers do not have proper knowledge about benefits of sustainability and environment friendliness of products, such lack of knowledge not only generate confusion in the mind of customers while purchasing eco-fashion products but also negatively affects the consumption pattern. Markkula and Moisander (2011) have stated that customers face three types of discursive struggles such as 1- aesthetic dilemma due to conflict between sustainable consumption and fast fashion, 2- economic dilemma due to conflict between sustainable development and material prosperity and 3- political dilemma due to conflict between individual versus institutional actions. Hence following hypothesis can be drawn. Hypothesis 4: Better knowledge about benefits of environment friendly products can decrease discursive struggles among consumers while taking the purchasing decision. Chapter 3: Research Methodology According to Saunders et al (2007, 2009), every researcher must formulate a structural approach in order to conduct the research which can address pertaining issues of the research proble. The researcher has decided following model in order to conduct the reseach. 3.1 Research Philosophy The researcher has used positivism research philosophy in order to address the research problem by using quantitative techniques. Chosing positivism philosophy has helped the researcher to address the relationship between categorical and non categorical variables. 3.2 Research Approach Saunders et al (2009) have stated researcher can use deductive or inductive method for conducting the research. The researcher has used deductive approach by placing the theoratical argument regarding eco-fashion in the literature review in order to generate the hypothesis in the first place and then testing the hypothesis by using observations or data collected through survey. 3.3 Research Strategy The researcher has used qualitative research strategy while collecting data by from secondary data sources such as scholarly journals in order to present the argument in the literature review section In the second part of the study the researcher has quantitative methods such as collectiong primary data from respondents with the help of questionnaire based survey, then analyzing the data by doing statistical treatments and futher testing the hypothesis in mathematical manner. 3.4 Sampling Techniques The researcher has decided to use non probabilistic sampling technique for collecting data from respondents, selecting convenience sampling method as part of non probabilistic sampling method has helped the researcher to save lot of time and cost associated with the questionnaire survey method. The researcher has selected a fashion apparel store which sells both eco-friendly and normal fashion apparels. Study group for the study was generation Y in the age group of 18yrs to 27 yrs. By doing observation for one week, the researcher has found that daily average footfall of generation Y customer is 70 to 90. Hence the sample populatation for the survey is [70+90]/2=80. Raosoft software has been used in order to decide the actual sample size. Actual sample size for the study was 67 at 95% confidence lence and 50% response distribution rate. The researcher has used qualifying questionnaire in order to filterout generation Y customers who actually buy eco-fashion items, on the basis of qualifying questionnaire only 20 respondents have stated that they are experienced with using eco-fashion apparels. Hence, final sample size for the study was 20. 3.5 Study Settings The researcher has used non- contrived study settings in the retail store in order to collect data under natural environment. Choosing non-contrieved study setting will help the researcher to present behaviour of whole population by collecting data from small samples. 3.6 Data collection The researcher has used secondary data sources such as peer reviewed journals, articles, books, print media, online sources etc while doing the qualitative analysis in the literature review section. On the otherhand, close ended questioonnaire with five questions were used in order to collect data from respondents for doing quantitative analysis. 3.7 Analysis Tool The researcher has used coding techniques in order to convert responses of respondents into statistically valuable inputs. Multiple regression analysis has been used in order to understand relationship between independent and dependent variable whereas ANOVA has been used for testing the hypothesis. Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion 4.1 Assumptions µi (independent variable or IV) µ1 (Personal and social image or IV 1) µ2 (Fashion trend or IV 2) µ3 (Pesonal well being or IV 3) µ4 (Knowledge or IV 4) µd (dependent variable or DV) µd (Purchasing decision or DV) Hypothesis for the study, H1 [Alternate Hypothesis]: Knowledge about the benefits of sustainability of eco-fashion products can direct purchasing behaviour of generation Y customers. H0 [Null Hypothesis]: Knowledge about the benefits of sustainability of eco-fashion products cannot direct purchasing behaviour of generation Y customers. Question 1 Table 1: Distribution for Responses Total Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 20 8 7 3 1 1 Contribution 40% 35% 15% 5% 5% It is evident from the analysis that majority of respondents [75%] have agreed with the fact that young people purchase eco-fashion products for the sake of improving social and personal image. Question 2 Table 2: Distribution for Responses Total Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 20 7 6 4 2 1 Contribution 35% 30% 20% 10% 5% It is evident from the analysis that majority of respondents [65%] have agreed with the fact that young people purchase eco-fashion products for the sake of keeping pace with latest fashion trend. Question 3 Table 3: Distribution for Responses Total Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 20 9 8 1 1 1 Contribution 45% 40% 5% 5% 5% It is evident from the analysis that majority of respondents [85%] have agreed with the fact that purchasing eco-fashion can help them to achieve personal well being such as satisfaction, happiness, pleasure etc. Question 4 Table 4: Distribution for Responses Total Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree 20 9 10 1 0 0 Contribution 45% 50% 5% 0% 0% It is evident from the analysis that majority of respondents [95%] have agreed with the fact that gathering detailed knowledge about the benefits of eco-fashion products can help them to take purchasing decision for eco-friendly products without facing any discursive confusion. Multiple regressions According to Gray (2003), multiple regression analysis helps in determining relationship between dependent and independent variables. Coefficients Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) 2.551 1.354 1.884 .079 IV1 -.031 .211 -.044 -.145 .886 IV2 .420 .170 .638 2.467 .026 IV3 .124 .179 .171 .692 .500 IV4 -.146 .265 -.110 -.549 .591 a. Dependent Variable: DV On the basis of significance level [accepted range is 0.05]; only IV2 is significant in the context of the study. Which means only fashion trend determines the purchasing behaviour generation Y customers while eco-fashion products. Mathematical formulation of the relationship can be expressed in the following manner. Y (Dependent Variable) = β0 + β1X1 + β2X2 +β3X3 + β4X4 = β0 + β1 (Independent Variable 1) + β2 (Independent Variable 2) +β3 (Independent Variable 3) + β4 (Independent Variable 4) Here, β= relational coefficient, β0=intercept in the regression curve On the basis of significance analysis, accepted β values are: β2= .420 and β0 (Constant) = 2.551 Hence, the modified multi regression equation will be, Purchasing decision of generation Y customers for eco-fashion products= 2.551 + .420 (in order to follow latest fashion trend) It is evident from the regression analysis, young generation or generation Y customers purchase eco-fashion products in order to follow latest fashion trend although they do not have knowledge about benefits of eco-friendly products. ANOVA Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Regression 5.441 4 1.360 3.208 .043 Residual 6.359 15 .424 Total 11.800 19 a. Dependent Variable: DV b. Predictors: (Constant), IV4, IV1, IV3, IV2 This analysis of variance is valid according to the significance level [accepted significance is 0.05], Tabulated value for df1=4 and df2=15 is 2.36143 while calculated value is 3.208, Fcal, df 19, 0.05> Ftab, df 19, 0.05 Hence, The reseacher has rejected the null hypothesis and accepted alternate hypothesis, which means, Knowledge about the benefits of sustainability of eco-fashion products can direct purchasing behaviour of generation Y customers. It can be said on the basis of above analysis that marketers and eco-fashion retailers need to communicate the benefits of environment friendly products to customers in order to motivate them to purchase eco-fashion products and increase consumtion level. Chapter 5: Limitations and Future Recommendation The reseacher has not used reliability statistics such as Cronbachs alpha, kmo and Bartlett’s test in order to ensure that sample respondents represent charecteristics of whole population. Sample size 20 is too small for the study. Use of parametric tests was needed in order to ensure reliability of the data analysis. Future researchers should focus on removing above mentioned limitations while conducting research in order to address pertaining issues of the research problem. Future researchers have the scope to test behaviour of more numbers of variables while analyzing sustainibility issues of eco-fashion supply chain. References Bhaduri, G. and Ha-Brookshire, J. E., 2011. Do transparent business practices pay? Exploration of transparency and consumer purchase intention. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 29(2), pp. 135-49. Birtwistle, G. and Moore, C. M., 2007. Fashion clothing – where does it all end up? International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 35(3), pp. 210-6. Caniato, F., Caridi, M., Crippa, L. and Moretto, A., 2012. Environmental sustainability in fashion supply chains: An exploratory case based research. [online] Available at: [Accessed 15 March 2013]. Carrigan, M. and Attalla, A., 2001. The myth of ethical consumer: Do ethics matter in purchase behavior? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(7), pp. 560-77. Fineman, S., 2001. Fashioning the environment. Organization, 8(1), pp. 17-31. Fletcher, K., 2008. Sustainable fashion and clothing. Earthscan, Malta: Design Journeys. Gam, H. J. and Banning, J., 2011. Addressing sustainable apparel design challenges with problem-based learning. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 29(3), pp. 202-19. Gray, S., 2003. Multiple regression basics. New York University: Stern School of Business. Ha-Brookshire, J. and Norum, P., 2011. Cotton and sustainability: Impacting student learning through sustainable cotton summit. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(4), pp. 369-80. Hill, J. and Lee, H. H., 2012. Young Generation Y consumers’ perceptions of sustainability in the apparel industry. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 16(4), pp. 477-491. Joergens, C., 2006. Ethical fashion: myth or future trend? Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 10(3), pp. 360-71. Markkula, A. and Moisander, J., 2011. Discursive Confusion over Sustainable Consumption: A Discursive Perspective on the Perplexity of Marketplace Knowledge. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 15 March 2013]. McGrath, A. S., 2012. Fashioning Sustainability: How the Clothes we wear can support Environmental and Human Well-being. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 15 March 2013]. Niinimäki, K., 2009. Consumer values and eco-fashion in the future. [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 15 March 2013]. Niinimäki, K., 2010. Eco-clothing, consumer identity and ideology. Sustainable Development, 18(3), pp. 150-62. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. And Thornhil, A., 2009. Research Methods for Business Students. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2007. Research methods for business students. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Sener, A. and Hazer, O., 2008. Values and sustainable consumption behavior of women: A Turkish sample. Sustainable Development, 16(5), pp. 291-300. Winge, T. M., 2008. Green is the new black’: Celebrity chic and the ‘green’ commodity fetish. Fashion Theory, 12(4), pp. 511-24. Wong, C. W. Y., Lai, K. H. and Cheng, T. C. E., 2012. Value of information integration to supply chain management: Roles of internal and external contingencies. Journal of Management Information Systems, 28(3), pp. 161-200. Apeendices Coding Section 1: Qualifying Question No. Qualifying Question Options Code 1 Do you shop or use eco-fashion apparel frequently? Yes 1 NO 2 Section 2: Survey Question Name of Respondents: Gender: Age: Contact Details: Code for Options No. Statement Type of the variable Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 1 Do you think Generation Y or young generation customers purchase eco-fashion apparels in order to develop their social and personal image although they do not have knowledge about its benefits? Personal and social image [Independent Variable 1] 1 2 3 4 5 2 Do you think Generation Y or young generation customers purchase eco-fashion apparels in order to follow fashion trend despite being the fact that they do not have knowledge about principle of sustainability? Fashion trend [Independent Variable 2] 1 2 3 4 5 3 Do you think purchasing eco-fashion apparel can help customers to achieve both personal well being and environmental sustainability objectives? Pesonal well being [Independent Variable 3] 1 2 3 4 5 4 Do you think better knowledge about benefits of environment friendly products can help you to make purchasing decision easily? Knowledge [Independent Variable 4] 1 2 3 4 5 5 Do you think detailed knowledge about product sustainability and environmental sustainability of eco-fashion apparel can help young people to purchase more eco fashion products? Purchasing decision [Dependent Variable] 1 2 3 4 5 Data Questionnaire Action Plan- Gantt chart Read More