ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Circular Economy
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsus.2025.1630453
Exploring factors shaping consumers' behaviour towards circular fashion: A Focus on Generations Y and Z
Provisionally accepted
- Cranfield University, Cranfield, United Kingdom
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The fashion industry faces significant challenges due to its linear systems and environmental impact. As sustainability gains priority among consumers, especially Generations Y and Z, the industry is urged to transition towards a circular economy. Despite this, the 'attitude-behaviour gap' persists, indicating minimal impact on consumer behaviour. This study explores factors influencing consumer behaviour towards circular fashion, focusing on Generations Y and Z. Nine hypotheses were developed, exploring relationships among environmental awareness, circular fashion awareness, willingness to change, willingness to pay a premium, and circular behaviour. Online surveys yielded 408 responses from participants from developing and developed countries. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used for hypothesis testing. Results show consumer behaviour is influenced by environmental awareness and circular fashion awareness, and willingness to change. Additionally, purchasing decisions are driven by product quality and durability. The findings assist fashion businesses in aligning strategies with consumer perception among Generations Y and Z.
Keywords: Circular fashion, Circular economy, sustainability, consumer behaviour, structural equation modelling
Received: 17 May 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abdelmeguid, Afy-Shararah and Salonitis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Konstantinos Salonitis, Cranfield University, Cranfield, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.