The Impact of Sustainability Information on Consumers' Purchase Intentions in Fast Fashion

Does sustainability information actually change what people buy?

Fast fashion is the world's third-largest manufacturing industry, and its environmental and ethical cost is well-documented. As governments tighten regulations and brands publish sustainability reports, a critical question remains: does showing consumers sustainability information actually change their purchase intentions? This dissertation used an experimental research design with UK university students to find out.

An experimental design testing real consumer behaviour

• Research design: Designed a two-group experimental study showing one cohort of UK university students a fast fashion product with basic information, and the other with added sustainability information.
• Literature review: Built a structured review of the fast fashion industry, sustainability information disclosure, and consumer purchase intention theory to frame the research hypotheses.
• Hypothesis testing: Tested interaction effects across product design, perceived quality, brand, age, gender, and academic major to identify which consumer segments respond most strongly to sustainability messaging.
• Findings synthesis: Identified that sustainability information has the strongest lift for low-to-medium quality products, mediocre brands, and for female business students aged 22 to 24, with implications for the intention-behaviour gap in fashion consumption.

Sustainability information is not just a tick-box exercise. It has real, measurable influence on purchase intentions, especially when consumers are uncertain about a product's quality or brand reputation. The challenge for the industry is the intention-behaviour gap: strong purchase intentions do not always translate into actual purchases. This research argues that fast fashion brands need to be more transparent about their sustainability initiatives, and that governments need to enforce stricter standards to make those signals trustworthy.