Gen MZ Toward Sustainable Fashion Practices - Alternative Services and Business Models

Abstract

As information emerges on the scale and seriousness of environmental, economic, and socio-cultural challenges related to the fashion industry, millennials and Generation Z (Gen MZ) consumers direct their attention to sustainable fashion. Their perspective and possible influence on the future of more responsible consumption is not fully explored, especially in terms of 1) understanding of the complexities of industry’s unsustainability, 2) what it implies concerning sustainable fashion consumption, and 3) using the opportunities that ICT provides to create platforms, services, and business models that align with their visions, demands, and needs. This paper describes two small qualitative studies tackling these gaps – an action research intervention and an open questionnaire, both focusing on already sustainability-aware consumers, to gain insights about their thoughts on sustainable fashion, including acquisition and dispossession decisions, the importance of understanding production challenges, awareness/action gap, and their visions in terms of novel services and business models. Using transition design framework, and in conjunction with our previous work, findings served to envision local, community-based alternative services and business models that support more responsible consumption and continued, dynamic creation of sustainable fashion practices among Gen MZ consumers.