Profiling Consumers: Examination of Chinese Gen Z Consumers’ Sustainable Fashion Consumption

Yanbo Zhang, Chuanlan Liu and Yanru Lyu ()
Additional contact information
Yanbo Zhang: Department of Textile, Apparel Design and Merchandising, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Chuanlan Liu: Department of Textile, Apparel Design and Merchandising, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Yanru Lyu: Department of Digital Media Arts, School of Media and Design, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 102488, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 11, 1-18

Abstract: The textile and apparel industry is widely recognized for its negative impact on the environment and society, and China is one of the largest fashion-consumption markets worldwide. There has been a growing awareness and effort to address these concerns in China, and Chinese Gen-Z consumers are playing a crucial role in shaping sustainable practices. This study aimed to identify and profile Gen-Z consumers with substantial engagement in sustainable fashion consumption in China. Data were collected from 292 Chinese Gen-Z adults from three major cities, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, using a convenience sampling strategy and the snowball approach. Cluster analysis was employed, and two groups were identified: passionate eco-conscious consumers and indifferent fashion consumers. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and the Crosstabs approach were utilized to examine the differences between the identified groups. The results revealed that passionate eco-conscious consumers valued classic design, high quality, and versatility, would like to pay more money for high-quality fashion clothing, and expressed their uniqueness through their fashion choices compared to indifferent fashion consumers. They actively sought sustainability knowledge and preferred supporting physical stores that sell second-hand clothing. Female Gen-Z consumers demonstrated a greater inclination towards sustainable fashion consumption in comparison to their male counterparts. A persona of Chinese Gen-Z consumers with high-level involvement in sustainable fashion consumption was created and presented for better marketing to Gen-Z consumers in China.

Keywords: Chinese Gen-Z; sustainable fashion consumption; sustainability; fashionability; fashion innovativeness; fashion involvement; sustainability involvement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8447/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8447/ (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:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8447-:d:1153324

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 ().