Second‐hand clothing consumption: A generational cohort analysis of the Chinese market

Abstract

China's rapidly growing economy and consumption are creating serious environmental problems in the country. The throwaway trend credited to fast fashion changes and short-lived styles made textiles and clothing a new body of solid wastes, resulting in a negative environmental consequence in China. While minimizing consumption of textiles and apparel cannot be the primary solution to environmental problems, it is important to enhance consumer awareness of the impact of their daily consumption on the environment and to promote environmentally sustainable apparel consumption and disposal behaviours. From a generational cohort perspective, this study aims to gain an insight of Chinese consumers' behaviours towards second-hand clothing, in terms of their consumption intentions and the influence of consumers' perceived values, perceived concerns and descriptive norms on their purchase intentions. Data for this study were collected through a survey of 350 Chinese consumers across the four generational cohorts in China, including the Post-60s, Post-70s, Post-80s and Post-90s. It was observed that Chinese consumers, in general, had a strong resistance towards second-hand clothing consumption, with the Post-70s having the strongest resistance. Significant differences were identified among the four cohorts.The younger generations perceived higher values and held higher purchase intentions than their older counterparts. Different motivations were also identified among the four cohorts in their second-hand clothing consumption. K E Y W O R D SChinese consumers, descriptive norm, generational cohorts, perceived concern, perceived value, second-hand clothing

Towards Building Sustainable Consumption: A Study of Second-Hand Buying Intentions

“…In the studies conducted on Chinese consumers, three main variables influencing the intention behind second-hand clothing use were taken into account: perceived values (hedonic, economic, environmental, and uniqueness), perceived concerns, and perceived descriptive norms. The obtained results varied for four generational cohorts; the youngest respondents (post-1990s) were found to be the most willing to consume second-hand clothing and at the same time were the only group whose intention to buy was influenced by perceived economic value [5]. Additionally, some other previous studies showed that economic reasons (price sensitivity and frugality) has a big influence on SHB intention [12,13,18,19].…”

“…And it is quite a special manifestation of consumption reduction that was not taken into account among environmentally-motivated consumption reduction [44] or climate mitigating actions [45]. SHP may be recognized as an activity negatively influencing perceived social status [5,18,19] so further research on attitudes, social norms (both injunctive and descriptive), intentions, and SHP behavior, depending on the culture of the country, is necessary in order to deepen the knowledge of other aspects of self-limiting behavior and to design campaigns that effectively promote desirable, pro-environmental behavior. AOR3.…”

“…For this reason, the research on SHB was conducted among young people (between 18 and 30 years old) that never experienced communist times or a deep scarcity of goods on the market, so their personal associations of SHP with poverty should be better [19]. The research conducted on Chinese consumers also showed that younger ones (post-1990s) expressed a stronger intention to buy second-hand clothes in comparison with older people [5]. However, other studies on the green consumption attitudes and patterns [43][44][45] do not support the hypothesis that young people's behavior is more environmentally friendly compared to older individuals.…”

“…Fast fashion changes, as well as short-lived styles, have created a throwaway trend that results in a negative environmental consequence. Solid wastes are constantly growing [5]. By 29 July 2019, the population of the world had used up the natural resources for a whole year, according to the Global Footprint Network, an international sustainability organization that has pioneered the expression ecological footprint.…”

Systematic Literature Review Of Sustainable Fashion Consumption From 2015 To 2019

“…There are various alternatives to the classic form of collaboration including swapping, renting and purchasing second-hand fashion. In regards to this systematic review, several scholars had specifically touched on collaboration in terms of clothing and discovered the level of acceptance in China, United States, Iran, and German (Iran et al, 2019;Liang & Xu, 2018;Norum & Norton, 2017). Based on the research by Iran et al (2019), Germany students were more engaged in collaborative fashion compared to the students in Iran.…”