Abstract:
The basic human need of clothing has now evolved into the concept of fashion, and
it keeps developing further into significant niches such as ethical fashion. The
growing concerns on ethical fashion have exhibited a vast impact on consumer
purchase intentions, especially of young consumers. This research was conducted
with the main objective to assess the impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase
intention of undergraduates of the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura. It has been observed that fashion consumers
prefer or reject certain products depending on the ethical considerations, beliefs and
attitudes they hold on regarding that specific brand or product, which paved the path
to constructing this research study. The research coverage areas include three aspects
of ethical fashion, namely cruelty-free, fair trade and eco-friendly and their individual and collective impact on consumer purchase intention. Data were collected through a
structured questionnaire that was administrated online to the sample of
undergraduates. The findings suggested that there is an overall positive impact of
ethical fashion on consumer purchase intention which is exhibited through their
willingness to pay a premium and choosing of ethical brands and products over others
now and in future. Further statistical analysis is done through tests of correlation and
regression and those provided insight into individual variable relationship and impact
with the purchase intention of the undergraduates. Based on the results of the study,
it can be stated that both businesses and consumers should pay greater attention to
ethical fashion, as it has a significant effect on the direction that the fashion industry
would take in the future.
