Sustainable Fashion Trends and Purchasing Pattern Analysis for Textiles and Apparel

Sustainability is reshaping India’s fashion market, note N. Gokarneshan and U. Ratna, as rising awareness and eWOM increasingly guide consumers toward eco-friendly apparel choices.

India’s diverse population presents significant opportunities for expanding the sustainable fashion industry. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of United Nations emphasise sustainable fashion as a key contributor to broader sustainability objectives. Sustainable apparel marks a vital shift in the fashion industry by addressing environmental degradation, ethical labor practices, and growing consumer demand for responsible production. It reduces pollution and waste through eco-friendly materials and energy-efficient processes while promoting fair wages and safe working conditions.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) foretells that by 2025, India’s sustainable fashion sector will be worth $9 billion. Consumers are increasingly drawn to sustainable consumption, driven by environmental awareness or the desire to appear environmentally responsible. Many recognise the impact of their purchasing decisions on the environment as well society. Environmental consciousness involves understanding the negative effects of resource use and promoting eco-friendly behavior.

Traditional and social media, including electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), strongly influence consumer behavior. Businesses in emerging markets like India can create effective sustainable marketing strategies by understanding consumer attitudes toward eco-friendly products. The shift towards sustainable fashion necessitates the use of eco-friendly dyes, chemicals, and auxiliary materials to reduce the environmental footprint of textile production.

Conventional dyeing and finishing processes often involve toxic substances that contaminate water sources, harm ecosystems, and pose health risks to workers. On the other hand, eco-friendly options like plant-based dyes, safer chemicals, and materials that break down naturally provide safer, non-toxic choices that reduce pollution and support recycling.

Despite growing momentum in the sustainable fashion, massive water consumption, chemical-intensive dyeing processes, and the release of microplastics from synthetic fibers contribute to widespread environmental degradation. Fast fashion exacerbates these problems by encouraging overproduction and overconsumption, leading to vast amounts of textile waste in landfills and incinerators. Additionally, energy-intensive manufacturing processes emit substantial greenhouse gases, while supply chains often lack transparency and accountability.

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has become a powerful means to spread information about any product or service, which is enough to change people’s minds about buying sustainable fashion clothing. India is still in the early stages of adopting sustainable fashion clothing. But when it comes to exports, India is currently the third biggest country in the world when it comes to apparel (Ministry of Textiles releases its yearly report, 2022–23).

The USA, EU-27, and the UK are India’s main textile and clothing export markets. Collectively, these countries make up almost half of India’s textile and clothing exports. In terms of jobs, industry is also important. Millions of people, including a lot of women and those who live in rural areas, depend on it for their income. It provides both direct and secondary jobs. Marketers, practitioners, and academics have demonstrated significant interest in eco-friendliness and environmental concerns, which has driven the adoption of sustainable practices in various industries, including fashion.

Sustainable apparel, as an example, embodies these values by incorporating recycled or organic materials, eco-friendly labeling or packaging, second-hand usage, or designs aimed at prolonged wear, thus aligning with the growing demand for environmentally conscious choices.

A plethora of previous studies have focused on sustainable fashion consumption, including environmental consciousness, in developed and developing nations, e.g., USA, Germany, UK, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh and so on.

Given this backdrop, there has been a significant scarcity of research to comprehend the influence of eWOM on purchasing behavior for sustainable apparel, specifically in India. Additionally, several studies examine purchasing behavior by incorporating the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Stimulus-Organism Response (S-O-R) model, and Theory of Planned behavior (TPB) with specific products, for instance, green cosmetics, sustainable tourism, organic food, and green products.

Hence, this study aims to extend the TPB by incorporating eWOM in order to gain a better understanding of consumers’ sustainable purchase behavior. In this sense, filling this research gap is the main goal of this study. Therefore, researchers proposed an integrative model to investigate the potential of environmental consciousness as a moderator in the TPB framework, which is hardly examined in sustainable apparel, particularly in India.

The current study provides two novel contributions:

1. Investigating the moderating role of environmental consciousness in between eWOM and TPB factors.
2. Seeking to enrich the existing literature by exploring the role of eWOM in shaping customers’ sustainable purchase behavior, particularly in an Indian context.

Based on the above-mentioned contributions, this paper attempts to respond to the subsequent key research questions:

RQ1. What is the impact of eWOM to influence consumer purchases of sustainable apparel?

RQ2. What is the relationship between the TPB factors and eWOM in the TPB model?

RQ3. How does environmental consciousness moderate or strengthen the relationship between eWOM, attitude and subjective norms?

This paper presents a few theoretical and practical implications for policymakers, advertising agencies and companies by examining the influence of eWOM on customers’ purchasing behavior for sustainable apparel. Additionally, it also extends the TPB paradigm, as a result, these findings can be useful for policymakers, practitioners and marketers to gain a deeper comprehension of how customers perceive environmentally friendly products within the realm of social media.

The subsequent portions of this paper proceed with an analysis of the existing literature and theoretical rationale, an explanation of the used methodologies, a presentation of obtained results, a discussion of the results, implications, and recommendations for future perspectives.

Theoretical frame work

The following aspects are covered

• Sustainable apparel
• Theory of planned behaviour
• Electronic word-of-mouth
• Subjective norms, attitude and perceived behavioural control
• Moderating role of environmental consciousness

Technical details

The following aspects have been considered:

• Measures
• Data collection and sample
• Data analysis

The findings

Assessment of measurement model

Prior to executing the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, this study deemed it necessary to examine the measurement model. This evaluation was meant to investigate the “average variance extracted (AVE)” and “composite reliability (CR)”, of the constructs, and reliability. The loadings of all statements varied from 0.734 to 0.940 (see Fig. 1), and all were found to be quite significant (p < 0.001), indicating satisfactory “convergent validity”. “Cronbach’s α (CA)” and “composite reliability (CR)” were utilised to investigate the construct reliability, all of whose values were well beyond the 0.70 suggested range. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the “average variance extracted (AVE)” for every construct in our study exceeds the minimum threshold of 0.50, as evidenced by values varied from 0.549 to 0.845. Hence, convergent validity was ascertained.

Fig. 1. Structural model.

The study employed the Fornell-Larcker criterion to evaluate discriminant validity, an important component of the model. Discriminant validity is demonstrated for AVE when the square root of each construct is bigger than its corresponding inter-construct correlations. Since the requirement has been satisfied there were no discriminant validity issues in the present case.

Moreover, the present study calculated the inflation factor (VIF) to verify the presence of multi collinearity in the data. The variance inflation factor (VIF) values for each item in the study vary from 1.001 to 3.535, which is below the cutoff of 5.0. This indicates that the structural model does not exhibit multi collinearity, and there was no negative effect between items.

Subsequently, values of SRMR were utilised to examine the model ampleness, resulting in a value of 0.056. Further, Henseler et al. verified that the SRMR value falls below the threshold limit of 0.08, which is widely regarded as indicative of a satisfactory fit.

Assessment of structural model

The subsequent phase of PLS is structural model validation. It is utilised to evaluate the testing hypotheses by means of a bootstrapping technique, employing 5000 resamples. The outcomes of path relationships have been determined. To assess the model’s sample consistency, we analysed the “coefficient of determination (R2)” and “predictive relevance (Q2)”.

The results of the model indicate that ATT accounts for 39.6  per cent, SN accounts for 27.9  per cent, PBC accounts for 21.7  per cent, and PB accounts for 41.1  per cent. As per Rasoolimanesh et al. , R2 values above 20  per cent are deemed statistically significant in the context of consumer behavior research. The researchers assessed the research model’s out-of-sample anticipatory relevance by employing blindfolding techniques and measuring its Q2 value. According to Hair et al., the model demonstrates strong predictive relevance because of its non-zero value.

With regards to the outcomes of PLS-SEM, eWOM had a significant positive influence on PB, (β=0.328, p = 0.000), ATT (β=0.226, p < 0.001) and SN (β=0.316, p < 0.001) and PBC (β=0.205, p < 0.01); thereby H1, H2, H3 and H4 were supported.

Afterwards, for (H5, H6, and H7), the results showed that ATT had a positive impact on PB (β=0.268, p = 0.000), SN had a positive effect on PB (β=0.364, p < 0.001) and PBC was shown to have a significant positive influence on PB (β=0.211, p < 0.001).

Finally, environmental consciousness positively moderates or strengthens the relationship between eWOM, ATT (β=0.184, p < 0.01), and SN (β=0.098, p < 0.01). Thus, the proposed hypotheses (H8, H9 and H10) were confirmed supported.

Conclusion

Sporadically, this paper contributes robust results regarding the impact of eWOM on buying behavior towards sustainable apparel by incorporating the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Moreover, the study is also an attempt to investigate how environmental consciousness moderates the association between eWOM, attitude, and subjective norms. This study demonstrates the interesting and novel findings supporting all the hypotheses. The outcomes of the study exhibit that eWOM significantly and positively influences purchasing behavior.

Hence, it indorses H1 and suggests that eWOM is a highly influencing factor in framing consumers’ preferences to make purchases. The eWOM espouses to transform individual’s behavior towards purchasing sustainable apparels products and influence to create awareness for choosing sustainable products. Furthermore, various previous studies. endorse that eWOM is considered the most influential factor in forming the intension towards any product, specifically, sustainable product as well. Besides, eWOM has also been pondered to delineate attitude of any factor.

On the other hand, attitude towards any stimuli is not a static phenomenon, it fluctuates simultaneously to the conditions or situations. The eWOM is perceived as a strong determinant in shaping behavior and attitude which assist in decision-making. Our findings also exhibited the positive impact of eWOM on the attitude of individuals. Hence, H2 is confirmed. Concomitantly, there are multiple studies that support this notion that eWOM is not only positively influence attitude but subjective norms and perceived behavior control also.

According to the results, the consumers cherish the recommendations of their friends, family, and prominent experts and this influences their choice to buy sustainable apparel. The significant influence of eWOM on subjective norms highlights how digital platforms shape perceived social pressures. Positive or negative online feedback creates a collective standard that individuals feel compelled to align with, especially in decision-making contexts such as purchasing sustainable apparel or adopting sustainable behaviors. This aligns with the idea that subjective norms are heavily tied to perceived expectations from reference groups, which in the digital age are often represented by peers, influencers, or reviewers online.

Additionally, eWOM has significant influence on perceived behavioral control suggests that online reviews, tutorials, and shared experiences reduce uncertainty and provide actionable guidance with regard to sustainable apparel. For example, individuals may feel more confident in trying new products or behaviors after seeing others share their successful experiences or provide solutions to potential barriers, such as cost, availability, or complexity. Therefore, H3 and H4 are confirmed, and these findings are in line with past studies.

Moreover, the findings of the study regarding H5, H6 and H7 reflect the positive relationship of attitude, SN and PBC to purchasing behavior for sustainable apparel. It means that subjective norm, attitude and perceived behavioral control are highly influenced factors to form appropriate purchasing behavior. A study conducted by Ramany et al., Liang et al. and Zhang et al. also support this hypothetical phenomenon that these factors (subjective norm, attitude and perceived behavioral control) significantly impact purchasing behavior of people towards sustainable apparel products. These factors (ATT, SN and PBC) embolden individuals that the apparel product should have ensured all the sustainability aspect of before purchasing them. Hence, H5, H6 and H7 are confirmed.

Lastly, the results of the study revealed that the role of environmental consciousness strongly moderates the association between eWOM with attitude and eWOM with subjective norms. Our results are in line with earlier environmental research that highlighted the significance of environmental consciousness in influencing sustainable responsible choices. Hence, H8 and H9 are confirmed.

Theoretical and practical implications

Theoretical implications

This paper uses environmental consciousness as a moderating variable in an effort to scientifically validate the relationship between eWOM and apparel product purchase behavior. Additionally, a conceptual model and theoretical framework that significantly influences consumer purchasing behavior and environmental consciousness is introduced in this study.

In order to validate the significance of environmental consciousness in purchasing behavior, the current work offers a robust theoretical and conceptual framework by incorporating the theory of planned behavior. The outcomes of the current study shed more light on how the TPB model and sustainable clothing purchasing behavior relate to each other.

The results indicate that customers have a favorable attitude and inclination toward sustainable products, and a sufficient number of consumers actually ended up purchasing sustainable apparel brands. The study’s framework contributes to the corpus of academic information currently accessible on sustainability and the TPB paradigm.

The three variables of the TPB model are subjective norm, attitude and perceived behavioral control as well as two more variables eWOM and environmental consciousness were employed in this study to expand the model. These factors were explored in the context of sustainable buying behavior, but most of the research has been done on them independently.

As a result, the present study contributes to the theoretical framework by incorporating all of these factors that influence consumers’ decisions to buy sustainable clothing. Moreover, the current study established a theoretical basis for the moderating influence of consumers’ environmental consciousness based on concepts related to consumer environmental awareness.

This study investigated the hitherto understudied enabling effect of environmental consciousness in reinforcing consumers’ attitudinal processes toward eco-friendly purchase behaviors. In general, the current study broadens the scope of environmental consciousness by examining its function as a moderating factor and contextual factors, such as sustainable apparel.

Practical implications

Likewise, the current study reveals some useful implications for managers, practitioners, and marketers in apparel sector companies, particularly in the Indian setting. In context of social media and eWOM, the results of our research offer valuable insights for marketing managers with a better knowledge of customers’ perceptions and sustainable buying behaviors of apparel. The outcome clearly indicates that eWOM marketing has been crucial in educating customers about eco-friendly products. Therefore, managers and marketers should give customers a particular platform to assist them in establishing confidence in the advertisements.

As a result, managers and marketers must prioritise a sustainable clothing marketing strategy at the management level by fostering customer trust and offering accurate information. Their social media platforms for communicating about their products should be specific and transparent, and they should be willing to receive comments and help customers communicate easily.

If consumers receive appropriate answers to their questions about how to use sustainable products, they could be more willing to trust them. Businesses should dedicate efforts to enhancing communication channel authentication, so customers are more encouraged to make environmentally friendly purchases.

It is necessary to create policies that highlight the benefits of converting from non-green to sustainable products, with a focus on the advantages for both individuals and the environment. The results also suggest that apparel marketers and retailers might employ social media (eWOM) to provide information about new trends, fashion tips, and characteristics of sustainable apparel products.

Limitations and recommendations for future research

Even though this study has significant theoretical and practical ramifications, there are still a number of limitations. First, this study is among the initial ones to incorporate the TPB paradigm to investigate the moderating influence of environmental consciousness in the setting of a growing market such as India. As a result, the findings’ generalisability may be limited, even in emerging countries, because the volume of these markets exceeds the breadth of the study, and another moderator could be investigated.

Second, this study used a small sample size using an online questionnaire and convenience sampling, which may not inference the total population. To circumvent this issue, researchers could procure data from alternative sources, and a more extensive sample size could potentially lead to diverse conclusions.

Third, the study relies on cross-sectional data, while longitudinal and experimental research approaches could address causation.

Fourth, the majority of participants were male and aged between 20 and 30. As a result, future research might use a larger sample size of females and focus on those aged 40 and up, as their perspectives on sustainable fashion may differ.

Finally, this study is limited to sustainable fashion; the results cannot be extended to other fields. Further research could explore other areas such as organic food, eco-friendly tourism, greenwash marketing, etc.

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About the author:
Dr N.Gokarneshan serves in the Department of Textile Chemistry, SSM College of Engineering, Komarapalayam, Tamil Nadu. Dr U.Ratna brings her expertise in the Department of Fashion Design, Department of Textiles and Clothing, Avinashilingam Institute of Home Science and Higher education for women, Coimbatore.