Eighteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

This study critically reviews the literature on sustainable fashion, the movement behind it, and plausible fashion adoption theories. To build on those studies, developing a new theory about adopting sustainable fashion— mainly among millennials and Generation Z who are behind forwarding and adopting this fashion trend, is sought after. This is a theory-synthesized conceptual article that presents a literature-informed new theoretical structure pronouncing sustainable fashion adoption and its rise as a new luxury trend. We introduce the Triple-trickle Theory that incorporates the role of media and technology to allow us to organize and understand the diffusion of sustainable fashion and identify paths for future trickle-effects on fashion research. Even though this has the benefit of offering a vast array of views and evidence that offers an adequate problem inspection, further studies providing empirical evidence are needed to establish the external validity of the theory derived from this research. This theory can be applied to develop targeted practices aimed at understanding the diffusion and adoption of sustainable fashion and further practitioners’ understanding of product positioning, target marketing, marketing strategy, and luxury opportunities in general. Though interest in sustainable fashion has increased among consumers, there still exists no theory or model to explain its adoption. Therefore, the Triple-trickle Theory is proposed and aimed for being a more relevant framework to offer a theoretical premise for future empirical investigations of sustainable fashion adoption.