Systematic Literature Review Of Sustainable Fashion Consumption From 2015 To 2019

Collaborative fashion

Collaborative fashion can be defined as providing the consumers an option for the alternative of fashion instead of purchasing new fashion products ( Iran et al., 2019). There are various alternatives to the classic form of collaboration including swapping, renting and purchasing second-hand fashion. In regards to this systematic review, several scholars had specifically touched on collaboration in terms of clothing and discovered the level of acceptance in China, United States, Iran, and German ( Iran et al., 2019; Liang & Xu, 2018; Norum & Norton, 2017). Based on the research by Iran et al. ( 2019), Germany students were more engaged in collaborative fashion compared to the students in Iran. Germany students were more engaged in collaborative fashion compared to the students in Iran. This is due to the cultural differences between German and Iran, whereby German students are found to be shaping more on their feminine culture with power distance and lower uncertainty avoidance rates compared to the Iranian students. Meanwhile, the research conducted in the United States by Norum and Norton ( 2017) showed that consumers from Generation Y are labelled as a group who fully practise sustainability in fashion. This is due to the fact that this generation is willing to be entirely involved in second-hand, renting and swapping alternatives compared to Generation X, who are only attracted in consuming second-hand clothing which proves that collaborative is more prevalent and is becoming a new huge business opportunity there ( Liang & Xu, 2018).

On top of that, previous studies by Gaur et al. ( 2018); McNeill and Venter ( 2019) had looked into collaborative fashion as part of the general products in India, the Unites States and New Zealand. The cross-cultural study between United States and India revealed that the customers in United States have more eco-conscious value as compared to the Indian customers ( Gaur et al., 2018). The strong argument of difference is that customers from the United States were found to have more harmony orientation towards nature and follow the regulations more strictly. Meanwhile, the involvement of social norms, personal enhancement, and emotion play important roles in influencing the collaborative fashion consumption among the female consumers in New Zealand ( McNeill and Venter, 2019). Another research initiative regarding this topic covering the luxury item was conducted by ( Kessous & Valette-Florence, 2019; Onel et al. 2018; Turunen & Leipämaa-Leskinen, 2015). Turunen and Leipämaa-Leskinen ( 2015) postulated that the consumption of second-hand product in Finland were driven by five main factors which include sustainable selections, real deals, pre-loved treasures, unique finds and future investment. It can be said that the consumption of luxury second-hand brands is allied to green consciousness, product heritage and symbol of status compared to the first-hand luxury purchase which is more entailed to power-building, social ranking and quality ( Kessous & Valette-Florence, 2019). Throughout this systematic review, the reviewers realised that there is an absence of collaborative fashion-related research on jewellery and cosmetics. It may be difficult for both product categories to practice collaboration concepts (swapping, renting and buying second-hand), but it is possible with the availability of social media and online platforms such as Carousell, as it is able to connect the consumers in a wide network while enabling transactions of pre-loved and second-hand products.

Ethical and slow fashion

Ethical aspect has become a prominent concern since the occurrence of excessive consumption, labour abuse and ignorance of animal welfare ( Carrigan et al., 2004). On the one hand, the introduction of the slow fashion approach by Godart and Seong ( 2015) is synchronised with the movement of sustainability in fashion. Just like slow food, currently, slow fashion is quickly becoming the new black. Based on this systematic literature review, two studies covered the topic of ethics in apparel ( Bly et al., 2015; Brandão et al., 2018); two studies for jewellery ( Moraes et al., 2017; Nash et al., 2016); four studies for general products ( Cho et al., 2015; Jung & Jin, 2016; Lee & Cheon, 2018; Ritch, 2015); three studies for luxury items ( de Klerk et al., 2019; Dong et al., 2018; Jung et al., 2016) and one study for cosmetics ( Chun, 2016). The study conducted by Brandão et al. ( 2018) in South Western European countries had exposed that transparency of information does not subsequent a positive significant result. It is shown that retailers need to reduce the creations of the ephemeral fashion and start to implement the concepts of timeliness of style which gives more meaning to customers ( Bly et al., 2015). At the same time, de Klerk et al. ( 2019), discovered that most customers in South Africa expressed strong ethical concern about luxury products, but never transform it into real action. This is probably due to the excessive material possession and the love of owning luxury products ( Dong et al., 2018). Past studies related to cosmetics and personal body care also revealed that the ethical aspect, including honesty, trustworthiness, had left a minimal impact on the consumers’ emotional attachment in the United Kingdom ( Chun, 2016). This is due to the customers’’ limited consideration which is only to empathy and citizenship image.

In a different perspective, Nash et al. ( 2016) uncovered that over half of the respondents in the United States revealed that ethics-concerned messages are extremely or somewhat important to their jewellery-purchasing decisions. The inclusion of jewellery products with ethical concerns may result in the enhancements in terms of quality, value and uniqueness. Moraes et al. ( 2017) stated that to influence customers through ethical practice, there must be a strong linkage between ethical activities and the consumption practices of fine jewellery. Up to this point, the new practices of ethical luxury consumption are likely to succeed with the presence of innovation process involving the convergence of ethical materials and competencies. In terms of general products, customers in the United States were found to purchase ethical brand when they consider the elements of pragmatic benefit and sensory pleasure ( Cho et al., 2015; Jung & Jin, 2016; Lee & Cheon, 2018). The literature on ethical fashion also covers general products specified to food retailing. According to Ritch ( 2015), participants in the United Kingdom started to consider ethical production practice as part of their decision-making and supporting market preferences. Overall, previous studies show that ethical and slow fashion provide less and not significant impact on apparel, luxury items and cosmetic products. However, the fashion product categories such as jewellery and general products have a significant impact on the ethical and slow fashion concepts.

Eco-fashion

Environmentally fashion can be described as a fashion involving with an overall process that can maximise the benefits to all wherein minimise the carbon footprint impacts ( Joergens, 2006). Based on this systematic review, two studies were focussing on clothing ( Khare & Varshneya, 2017; Matthews & Rothenberg, 2017); four studies of general product ( Kim et al., 2016; Paparoidamis & Tran, 2019; Saleem et al., 2018; Shin et al., 2018); three studies of luxury items ( Ali et al., 2019; Fiore et al., 2017; Han et al., 2019), while nine studies were focussing on cosmetics ( Ahmad & Omar, 2018; Amos et al., 2019; Baden & Prasad, 2016; Chin et al., 2018; Ghazali et al., 2017; Hsu et al., 2017; Kahraman & Kazançoğlu, 2019; Ndichu & Upadhyaya, 2019; Pudaruth et al., 2015;). Past research by Khare and Varshneya ( 2017) show that relatives and friends are not important drivers in influencing the organic clothing purchase decisions of youths in India. It can be signifies that a decision to purchase this product is bonded based on personal pro environmental values and previous experience. Besides that, Matthews and Rothenberg ( 2017) found that customers in the United States were more concerned about sustainable materials, price and production, rather than the technology adopted. They prefer the eco-friendly labelling over organic labelling for apparels. In addition to that, four studies have discovered the eco-friendly general products. A past study carried out by Saleem et al. ( 2018) which explored the relationship between eco-conscious value and social interaction related to the choice and use of eco-personal cars in Pakistan showed a positive significant result. The findings of his study proved that there is a growing of preference towards environmentally friendly product selection in developing countries. Kim et al. (2016) and Paparoidamis and Tran ( 2019) share the same findings which revealed that promoting and marketing a new, eco-friendly faux leather product is a worthwhile prospect for the United States and the United Kingdom.

However, another research initiative by Shin et al. ( 2018) showed a negative relationship of eco-consciousness among customers in dealing to purchase the detergent‐free washing machines. Moving to green luxury products, several previous studies showed that consumers are started to put their attention on the concept of environmentally friendly and sustainable luxury involving wine, automobile and airplane services ( Ali et al., 2019; Fiore et al., 2017; Han et al., 2019). Most of them are the highly-educated customers and have vast information about environment-related issues. Moving on to organic cosmetics and personal care, a series of past studies exploring this topic, covering several countries, revealed that lifestyles practise, personal image, health and economic conditions are the factors that contribute to these purchasing patterns ( Ahmad & Omar, 2018; Amos et al., 2019; Chin et al., 2018; Ghazali et al., 2017; Pudaruth et al., 2015). Hsu et al. ( 2017) mentioned that the importance of exposing the country of origin, technology in production, and price to influence the eco conscious purchase intention. This review of the current literature reveals that previous scholars have examined numerous studies focussing on the organic cosmetics and environmentally friendly personal care that cover several countries, including the emerging and developing countries. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of studies, especially on the eco-conscious clothing and luxury products in the context of developing countries.

Recycled and upcycled fashion

The raw materials used in producing recycled garments can be attained through the accumulation of supply chain and post-consumer collection methods. It can be manifests that the adoption of recycled materials in a production is synchronise with the global effort to practices the movement to acquire a closed-loop production cycle. Meanwhile, the term “upcycling” was first coined by Kay ( 1994) which significantly elucidated the concept of adding value to used and old product, which slightly differs from the concept of recycling that cut the value of the products. Notably, upcycling is synonym to the creation of something new and upgrade the function better from old, used, or disposed items. In sum, the objective of upcycling is to focus on putting a value in a development process that are truly sustainable, creative, and innovative ( Muthu, 2016). Previous research has revealed the fact that customers evaluate the products made from recycled plastic positively ( Grönman et al., 2013; Magnier et al., 2019). Atlason et al. ( 2017) found that consumers support the effort to reuse the recycling textile waste to produce new garments and people older than 50 years old with higher education are seem to favour the integration of this sustainable product design. Yet, at the same, the Finnish and Canadian consumers also oftenly separate the basic recycled material (metal, paper, glass) and they practise it in the same ways for their garments collection ( Vehmas et al., 2018; Weber et al., 2017). As circular clothing is built based on new processes material so customers who avoid to wear second-hand fashion can optionally choose to purchase this circular garments. In part of commercialisation value, circular clothing should be more available on the market while at the same times be branded as luxury items and special editions. However, Rolling and Sadachar ( 2018) still argued the effectiveness of using recycled material on luxury items. Their research exposes that despite of putting recycled material as a brand descriptions, it is more effective to use sustainable message element in luxury marketing communication. From the systematic literature review, there are no previous research related to recycle and upcycle fashion implemented in jewellery and cosmetics. It happened due to the irrelevancy of those products to be practiced with this dimension of fashion.