Fast fashion contributes to substantial environmental and ethical impacts at every stage of the product lifecycle and is a continuously growing industry within Australia. While slow fashion exists as an environmentally sustainable fashion alternative and appears to be gaining in popularity, little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of the general Australian consumer towards slow fashion. This study aimed to develop an understanding of Australian consumers’ attitudes and perceptions towards the consumption of four types of slow fashion (secondhand shopping, high-end labels, hiring garments and eco-clothing). Participants (N = 209) completed a mixed-methods online survey. Quantitative items included a multiple-choice questionnaire on specific aspects of slow fashion knowledge, including clothing consumption, specific environmental impacts of the fashion industry and the origins and purpose of the slow fashion movement. Open-ended items were analysed for information about barriers, associated brand names and additional knowledge. Results from the multiple-choice questionnaire suggested participants possess satisfactory knowledge of fast and slow fashion; however, open-ended knowledge measures did not support this. Qualitative responses indicated potential barriers to purchasing slow fashion, including a lack of interest, cost, awareness, availability and sizing, as well as highlighted brand names that consumers associate with both slow and fast fashion. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind focusing on an Australian sample. These findings will have implications for behaviour-change efforts among educators and businesses, enabling them to implement targeted strategies to promote the consumption of slow fashion among general Australian consumers.

The social and environmental impacts of the global fashion industry face increasing scrutiny. As such, consumers and brands look towards ‘sustainable fashion’ for low‐impact alternatives. Simultaneously, visual social media platforms such as Instagram have become prevalent places for fashion advertising and discourse. To investigate this under‐researched area, the current study utilises visual content and social network analysis to explore how sustainable fashion is presented on Instagram, specifically: (a) what visual characteristics are present within sustainable fashion content, and (b) in what broader contexts and communities is discussion of sustainable fashion taking place? Posts included under the hashtag #sustainablefashion (N = 650) were inspected for visual characteristics, including type of clothing, presence of person, post setting, presence of nature, and post format. Most posts were photographs located indoors with no person and no nature‐based elements. The hashtags used alongside #sustainablefashion were analysed with Gephi software to establish a social network and community groups of related topics. Network analysis revealed four key community groups: online‐promotional, artisan‐traditional, eco‐ethical, and Malay‐online‐selling. Secondhand fashion also appeared to be the most prominent sustainable fashion alternative on Instagram. This study is one of the first to investigate the characteristics of user‐generated #sustainablefashion content on Instagram. Whilst social media is a burgeoning avenue for research, existing studies primarily investigate how these platforms can be harnessed for advertising, rather than what users themselves are already posting. Implications for brands who use this platform and opportunities for future research are discussed.