Date of Completion

2023

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Community Development and Applied Economics

Thesis Type

Honors College

First Advisor

Trisha Shrum

Keywords

pro-environmental behavior, sustainable fashion, environmental identity, clothing consumption

Abstract

The fashion industry is known to be one of the most polluting and resource-intensive industries, which contributes greatly to climate change and environmental degradation. Consumption of clothing has increased dramatically over the last thirty years, spurred on by the rise of fast fashion and the increased use of synthetic fabrics. This study explored the mediating role of environmental identity and demographic characteristics (age, gender, annual income, and level of education) on performing fashion pro-environmental behaviors. Data was collected on self-reported pro-environmental behaviors (PEB) and demographics through a nationally representative survey (N=507). The analysis found that environmental identity was the strongest predictor in performing fashion-related PEB. High environmental identity increased the odds of respondents reporting having performed fashion-related PEB in 10 of 15 models run, which indicates that environmentalists are adopting fashion-related PEB at an increased rate. In this paper, I argue that viewing the world through ’green-tinted glasses,’ where the environmental impact of one’s action informs the decision-making process, is a mechanism to express environmental identity in our ever-changing world.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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