A Social Practices Approach to Encourage Sustainable Clothing Choices

Clare Saunders (), Irene Griffin, Fiona Hackney, Anjia Barbieri, Katie J. Hill, Jodie West and Joanie Willett
Additional contact information
Clare Saunders: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Cornwall, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Irene Griffin: Fashion and Textiles Institute, Falmouth University, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Fiona Hackney: Manchester Fashion Institute, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M15 6BG, UK
Anjia Barbieri: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Cornwall, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Katie J. Hill: Northumbria School of Design, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE7 7XA, UK
Jodie West: Innovation, Impact and Business, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Joanie Willett: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Cornwall, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: The literature on sustainable clothing covers five key thematic areas: problems associated with fast fashion; sustainable fibre production; sustainable design protocols; corporate responsibility; sociological and social–psychological understandings; and pro-environmental behaviour changes. This article interweaves these approaches in a study that assesses the potential of experiential learning in clothes making, mending, and modifying workshops to help generate new social practices. The workshop design drew on the five key thematic areas and purposively provided participants with infrastructures and equipment, facilitators, and peer-to-peer support and dialogue as means to help them collaboratively generate new skills, new senses of meaning, and more sustainable ways of thinking, feeling, and acting in relation to clothes. This article reveals that our social practices approach encouraged research participants to positively uptake pro-environmental clothing choices. Thematic qualitative analysis of a small sample of participants’ wardrobe audit interviews, informal discussions, reflective videos, and reflective diaries illustrates nuanced and dynamic individual responses to the workshops and other project interventions. Nuances are contingent on factors including styles, creativity, habits, and budgets. We argue that, in order to mainstream the benefits of our approach, it is necessary to normalise approaches to clothing and style that sit outside of, or adjacent to, mainstream fashion, including clothes making, mending, and modifying practices.

Keywords: social practices; sustainable clothing; slow fashion; wardrobe studies; pro-environmental behaviour change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1282/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1282/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1282-:d:1332268

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().