Green fashion and economic crisis

  The world undergoes one of the worst economic crises ever, which affects all industries, including fashion and luxury. Experts tend to say that understatement, stealth wealth and non-conspicuous consumption are becoming implicit rules. Consequently, some consumers might select new forms of status display, via philanthropic or environmentalfriendly actions. In addition, consumers might feel a need to refocus on what is really important in their lives, especially their health via reconnecting with nature. Hence, the new economic context tends to encourage the trend to go green in many industries and fashion brands begin to pick up the interest. Diesel launched a Global Warming Ready Collection. Stella McCartney is one of the well-known designers who are pushing this trend to the forefront, helping it trickle down to high street in Great-Britain. In the rest of Europe, the trend is emerging based on the success of organic food. Yet, not much is known on how consumers evaluate the fit of “green” with fashion. In addition, the scarce number of studies on ethical fashion has focused mainly on fair trade and does not take into consideration variability between nations.

  In order to understand the perceptions of consumers, a set of studies were conducted with participants from different cultures (focus groups and in-depth interviews) and samples originating from France and Canada (120 respondents in total) . It appears that the interest in purchasing organic fashion is moderate, although slightly higher in our Canadian sample, with no significant difference between genders. Overall, there appears to be a lack of awareness and trust that calls for more information on the nature and certification procedures of green fashion.

  The first three reasons that would motivate the purchase of organic clothes are, in order, environmental-friendly reasons, health concerns and ethical concerns. Nonetheless, expressing social status is evoked more in the French sample and self-expression in the Canadian one. Main differences also appear in the appeal of green fashion. For European respondents, organic fashion is lacking glamour dramatically. The typical consumer portrayed by the participants is a very simple woman in her 40’s, wealthy yet not sophisticated in her tastes. For North American respondents, the typical green fashion consumer is young, sexy, trendy and self-confident. This difference of perception seems linked to the diffusion of organic brands in the respective countries under study. 

  Overall, if consumers are ready to pay a premium to purchase organic food, they do not see the interest yet in organic fashion. There is a need to inform better the consumers on the nature of organic fashion and to continue “glamorizing” both the communication and the products.