Outpacing Fast Fashion: The Role of Social Information, Choice Architecture, and Policy in Shaping Sustainable Consumption

Abstract

Despite their strong prosocial and pro-environmental values, members of Gen Z are leading consumers of fast fashion in the US, with their patronage labeled as both an “addiction” and a “paradox” by the media. Across three studies, this dissertation explores behavioral science solutions to the fast fashion crisis among American Gen Z, while also reconsidering whether it should be characterized as an attitude-behavior gap. Chapter 2 investigates the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions, elite cues, and a combination of both on Gen Z’s beliefs, policy preferences, and behavioral intentions related to fast fashion. Chapter 3 assesses the relative impacts of price, environmental impact, and brand ethics on clothing purchase decisions, as well as the alignment between consumers’ stated and revealed preferences. Chapter 4 seeks to identify how to effectively present information about sustainability attributes on garment labels to encourage more sustainable choices among consumers. Key results suggest that Gen Z’s fast-fashion related beliefs and behaviors are responsive to evidence and elite cue interventions, while policy preferences are not. Interestingly, Gen Z consciously prioritizes price over sustainability attributes in clothing purchase decisions, and ethical considerations are as important, if not more so, compared to environmental impact. The alignment between Gen Z consumers’ stated and revealed preferences calls into question the validity of the “attitude-behavior gap” label when describing their consumption of fast fashion. Further, a combination of multiple translations of sustainability attributes alongside a composite sustainability rating on garment labels promotes sustainable consumption. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by discussing the policy and psychological implications of this work. In summary, addressing fast fashion will likely necessitate a hybrid policy approach that combines traditional economic policies with nudges from behavioral science.