The Role of Fashion vs. Style Orientation on Sustainable Fashion Consumption

Today, textile consumption is far from being sustainable with regard to production, purchase, maintenance, and disposal. The current fashion system is characterized by planned obsolescence, and environmental and social unsustainability. To resolve the tensions between sustainability and fashion, the notion of style is one promising avenue. While fashion is ever changing, following trends, style evolves slowly and continues to remain stable over time, expressing consumers’ ways of life. Thus, the created planned obsolescence by fashion could be reduced by the notion of style. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of emphasizing style rather than fashion to enhance sustainability in fashion consumption. We suggest that as one ages, one tends to be less fashion-oriented. Further, higher style orientation enhances one’s ability to have more concern for the environment or knowledge about environmental apparel that further leads to sustainable consumption habits like environmental apparel consumption. Survey data across Germany, Sweden, UK and US is collected to examine the proposed relationships and thus provide insight on the role of fashion and style on sustainable fashion consumption.