Background and Purpose. Although the body of scholarship focused on environmental sustainability (ES) and the apparel and textile industry is ever expanding, there remains a paucity of literature on understanding the decision process consumers engage in when acquiring ES apparel. Research that does detail aspects of the apparel-purchase decision process typically focuses on a specific market segment such as wheelchair-bound apparel consumers (O'Bannon et al., 1988) or consumers of innovative apparel products (Ko et al., 2009). Narrowing in on the sustainable apparel-purchase decision process, very few studies exist. A study by Dickson and Littrell (1997) identified evaluative criteria used by consumers of alternative trade organizations and concluded that these individuals drew on quality criteria in their decision-making process to a significantly greater degree compared to non-ATO consumers. However, the primary objective of Dickson and Littrell was not to understand or model the ES apparel-purchase decision process. In fact, no research published to date has examined this process as the primary study objective.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to: (1) begin an exploration of the ES apparel purchase decision-making process and (2) compare that process to a more traditional process. Method. Due to the limited research related to the topic, this study used a qualitative approach and collected data through semi-structured interviews with 26 individuals (nine men and 17 women). The participants were asked to describe a recent experience they had purchasing an article of clothing that they felt was ES and how they came to make the purchase decision. Follow-up questions included: "What motivated the purchase?", "While you were shopping did you consider other alternatives before making your final purchase?", and "Would you say that the process of purchasing this most recent garment was typical of how you buy most of your clothing?" The interviews were audio-recorded and fully transcribed. Data analysis occurred through a standard qualitative process of coding the data, synthesizing the codes into broader concepts and themes, and interpreting the results.Findings. Data gathered indicate that when purchasing ES apparel, the participants in the study worked through several stages prior to making a purchase decision. The process began with the participants recognizing and then defining an apparel need. The next stages were search for information and evaluation of alternatives. The participants repeated these stages twice-first to decide the source for acquiring the ES apparel product and then to determine which ES product to select. After selecting a product that best meets the apparel need, the penultimate