Reusing Garments – an Investigation of Influencers to Return Used Garments
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REUSING GARMENTS – AN INVESTIGATION OF INFLUENCERS TO RETURN USED GARMENTS Thesis for One-Year Master, 15 ECTS Textile Management Maria Köhler 2017.18.08 Title: Reusing Garments - An investigation of influencers to return used garments Publication year: 2018 Author: Maria Köhler Supervisor: Jonas Larsson Abstract Background: A sustainable economy becomes more and more important for most parts of the society. Especially the fashion industry is being criticized for wasting resources and being non-sustainable. Therefore, some textile producers started to implement programs that are aiming on a reuse of garments. Aims of research: The purpose of this research is to discover how customers can be motivated to return unwanted garments, also considering possible hindering factors. To gather this information it is necessary to build a theoretical framework with customer-based theories. The thesis explored how a second hand multi-brand retailer can take active action in encouraging customers to return unwanted textiles. Method: This research was conducted as an inductive qualitative research. The data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with several second hand retailers. The analysis was carried out following the Giogia method. Results: The thesis revealed that the garment disposal behavior is affected by various influences. Influences on the disposal behavior of garment consumers are personal values and believes. The dispose of unwanted garments is often influenced by an ease of handling and the same behavior is followed over the years simply because individuals are used to a certain garment disposal behavior. The largest hindering factors why customers do not return garments to retailers are caused by a lack of information as well as insufficient transparency. This behavior can be affected by second hand retailers by providing improved communication and a motivation to return garments by offering benefits for the customer. The size of the company does not play a major role Keywords: Sustainability, Fashion retail, Extended producer responsibility, Post-consumer textile waste, Second hand retailing . I Table of contents List of figures .................................................................................................................................III 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ - 1 - 1.1 Problem statement .............................................................................................................. - 1 - 1.2 Goal setting ........................................................................................................................ - 2 - 1.3 Research questions ............................................................................................................. - 3 - 2 Definitions and theoretical frameworks .............................................................................. - 3 - 2.1 Definitions .......................................................................................................................... - 3 - 2.1.1 Fashion industry ............................................................................................................ - 3 - 2.1.2 Textile supply chain ....................................................................................................... - 3 - 2.1.3 Garment disposal ........................................................................................................... - 5 - 2.2 Theoretical framework ....................................................................................................... - 6 - 2.2.1 Theory of reasoned action (TRA) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) .................... - 6 - 2.2.2 Stimulus-Organism-Reaction (S-O-R) model ............................................................... - 7 - 2.2.3 Green fashion versus eco-fashion .................................................................................. - 7 - 2.2.4 Slow fashion versus fast fashion.................................................................................... - 8 - 2.2.5 Circular economy versus linear economy ...................................................................... - 9 - 2.2.6 Sustainable consumption concept in the textile and fashion industry ......................... - 10 - 2.2.7 Take back models ........................................................................................................ - 20 - 2.3 Fashion companies offering second hand products ......................................................... - 21 - 2.3.1 The Rag Bag ................................................................................................................ - 21 - 2.3.2 Houdini ........................................................................................................................ - 21 - 2.3.3 Filippa K ...................................................................................................................... - 21 - 2.3.4 Aplace .......................................................................................................................... - 21 - 3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... - 22 - 3.1 Presentation of the method selection: Expert interviews ................................................. - 22 - 3.2 Interview guide ................................................................................................................ - 22 - 3.3 Data collection ................................................................................................................. - 25 - 3.4 Data analysis .................................................................................................................... - 26 - 3.5 Quality criteria and research assessment.......................................................................... - 26 - 4 Interview outcome ............................................................................................................ - 27 - 4.1 Interview results of second hand retailer ......................................................................... - 27 - 4.1.1 Houdini ........................................................................................................................ - 27 - 4.1.2 Filippa K Second Hand ................................................................................................ - 29 - 4.1.3 Pearl ............................................................................................................................. - 29 - 4.2 Key findings from the interviews ..................................................................................... - 30 - 5 Discussion ......................................................................................................................... - 31 - 5.1 Sustainable fashion and its consumer profile ................................................................... - 32 - 5.2 Meaningfulness of prices and Rank a Brand.................................................................... - 33 - 5.3 Attitude behavior gap ....................................................................................................... - 34 - 5.4 Consumption and buying incentives ................................................................................ - 35 - 5.5 Customer relationship ...................................................................................................... - 36 - 5.6 Second hand customer categorization and motives ......................................................... - 37 - 5.7 Customer decision making and social media ................................................................... - 37 - 5.8 Consumer attraction strategy: Recommendations for action ........................................... - 38 - 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ - 39 - 7 Limitations and further research ....................................................................................... - 41 - 8 References ........................................................................................................................ - 41 - 9 Appendix .......................................................................................................................... - 48 - II List of figures Figure 1: Forward and reverse supply chain..........................................................................- 4 - Figure 2: Garment lifecycle................................................................................................... - 5 - Figure 3: Basis model Theory of Reasoned Action...............................................................- 6 - Figure 4: Basis model Theory of Planned Behavior………………………………………..- 7 - Figure 5: Stimulus-Reaction model.......................................................................................- 7 - Figure 6: Mediator: Wish................….................................................................................- 12 - Figure 7: Hosting effect of premium price...........................................................................- 15 - Figure 8: Summary of results………………................…...................................................- 18 - Figure 9: Marketing claims................…..............................................................................- 19 - Figure