Search Results (8)

The rapid rise of the pre-loved luxury fashion market in China reflects a unique shift in consumer behaviour, shaped by growing concerns for sustainability, affordability, and personal expression. While global scholarship on circular fashion has expanded, studies remain predominantly focused on Western consumers, leaving Chinese market dynamics underexplored. This study addresses this gap by examining the motivations and channel engagement of Chinese consumers purchasing pre-loved luxury fashion, including pre-owned, vintage, and collectors’ items. A sequential mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative data from a survey of 438 Chinese consumers with qualitative insights from 21 semi-structured interviews. Structural equation modelling revealed that economic, individual, and social motivations significantly influenced perceived value, which in turn enhanced engagement with resale channels. Functional motivations, though present, played a less prominent role. Furthermore, engagement with online and offline channels, including social media platforms, livestream commerce, and luxury consignment boutiques, was found to mediate the relationship between perceived value and purchase intention. The study contributes to theory by adapting established luxury value frameworks to the pre-loved context and by introducing channel engagement as a mediating construct in the consumption of second-hand luxury fashion. The main theoretical frameworks that underpin the study, such as the Brand Luxury Index and the Four Value Dimensions, are used to provide a clearer understanding of its conceptual foundation. In particular, some key quantitative indicators, such as β-values or R², would make the summary more specific and informative. Practically, the findings provide actionable insights for platform operators and luxury brands seeking to build consumer trust and enhance experiential value in China’s rapidly evolving resale market. By situating the research within a culturally specific and digitally advanced retail environment, the study broadens understanding of circular luxury fashion consumption in non-Western contexts. Full article

The global secondhand apparel industry, valued at USD 256B in 2025, is expanding rapidly. The growing acceptance of secondhand fashion and advancements in retail technology have driven millions of individuals to resell, yet little research has analyzed the motivations behind these decisions. Guided by Consumption Values Theory and Goal-Framing Theory, this qualitative study uses ten in-depth interviews with experienced resellers to examine why individuals participate in apparel reselling. Analysis of the participants’ narratives indicates that financial gain is the dominant driver of participation, followed by the convenience provided by reselling platforms and channels, emotional satisfaction, and contributing to sustainability. Conceptually, the study integrates value-based and goal-based lenses to offer an extensive explanation of reseller motivations, shifting focus from the buyer perspective that has dominated prior research. Practically, the findings suggest that resale platforms can encourage participation by reducing visible fees, enabling faster payout, and simplifying the reselling process, while also making community and environmental benefits more visible. In all, these insights help retailers and sustainability advocates better design approaches that support individual resellers and sustain growth in apparel resale. Full article

The rapid rise of fashion resale platforms has created new pathways for sustainable consumption, yet little research has compared how different governance models, company-controlled versus seller-controlled, shape consumer trust and purchasing behavior. This study addresses that gap by applying the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework to examine how information precision, authenticity, and risk aversion influence consumer trust and purchase intention within circular fashion markets. Drawing on an experimental design with 524 U.S. consumers randomly assigned to each platform type, multi-group structural equation modeling reveals that the three stimuli significantly enhance trust, which in turn drives purchase intention. Risk aversion exerted stronger effects in company-controlled contexts, whereas trust translated more directly into purchase intention on seller-controlled platforms. Theoretically, the research extends SOR applications to sustainability by identifying trust as the psychological bridge linking platform design to circular consumption. Practically, it offers actionable guidance for brands and peer-to-peer platforms on authentication, information transparency, and risk-reduction strategies that strengthen consumer confidence and promote environmentally responsible resale participation. The findings advance understanding of how governance structures can accelerate sustainable fashion retailing and contribute to the circular economy. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the fashion, textile, and clothing industries by enabling automated assessment of garment quality, condition, and recyclability, addressing key challenges in sustainability. This systematic review explores the applications of AI in evaluating clothing quality and condition within the framework of a circular economy, with a focus on supporting second-hand clothing resale, charitable donations by NGOs, and sustainable recycling practices. A total of 135 research resources were identified through searching academic databases including Google Scholar, Springer, ScienceDirect, IEEE, Taylor and Francis, and Sage journals. These publications were subsequently refined down to 49 based on selected inclusion criteria. The selection of these sources from diverse databases was undertaken to mitigate any potential bias in the selection process. By analyzing the effectiveness and challenges of related peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and technical reports, this study highlights state-of-the-art methodologies such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), hybrid models, and other machine vision systems. A critical aspect of this review is the examination and analysis of datasets used for model development, categorized and detailed in a comprehensive table to guide future research. Whilst the findings emphasize the potential of AI to enhance quality assurance in second-hand clothing markets, streamline textile sorting for donations and recycling, and reduce waste in the fashion industry, they also highlight gaps in the available datasets, often due to limited size and scope. The types of textiles captured were most commonly swatches of fabric, with 20 studies examining these, whereas whole garments were less frequently studied, with only 7 instances. This review concludes with insights into future research directions and the promising use of AI within fashion and textiles to facilitate a transition to a circular economy. This project was supported through RMIT University’s School of Fashion and Textiles internal seed funding (2024). Full article

Characterized by inexpensive and readily available products, fast fashion has increased the consumption and disposal of clothing, for which criticism has been significant due to its negative environmental and social impact. Therefore, transitioning to sustainable business models (SBMs) that balance profit with corporate social responsibility (CSR) is critical. This study explores sustainable value propositions in Polish Zero Waste fashion businesses, addressing the gap in research on SBMs. It also employs the theory of organizational paradoxes to examine tensions between profit maximization and CSR. Data were collected from 249 Polish Zero Waste companies listed on mapazerowaste.pl and analyzed through content analysis and statistical methods. Additionally, 21 YouTube videos from 2020 to 2022 were examined to study sustainable fashion promotion. Multiple coding and categorization schemes were used to identify themes, followed by frequency analysis and correspondence analysis. Second-hand clothing emerged as the most common value proposition (120 companies), reflecting consumer trends in resale. The repair sector with cobbler and leather repair services (55 companies) also showed a strong presence, highlighting demand for tailoring and upcycling services Rental services (2 companies) remain niche due to limited consumer acceptance. Promotion efforts on YouTube focus on building awareness of fast fashion’s impacts and teaching sustainable behaviors. Sustainable value propositions, exemplified by Polish Zero Waste businesses, synthesize profit and CSR strategies, addressing organizational paradoxes. These findings inform strategies to balance financial and socio-environmental goals, with implications for policy and practice in advancing sustainable fashion. Full article

Fashion resale has emerged as a notable strategy for the fashion industry to reduce its environmental footprint by promoting fashion circularity. Despite extensive research on consumer awareness of resale and the purchase of pre-owned items, there remains a gap in understanding the factors that influence consumers’ participation in resale markets, encompassing both selling and buying practices. Drawing on social practice theory (SPT), this qualitative study examines the nuanced factors influencing consumers’ online resale practices and investigates how online fashion resale practices (OFRPs) have become integrated into their daily consumption patterns. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirty experienced Chinese consumers engaged in both the selling and buying practices of secondhand fashion. Initially, the study identified eight nuanced motivations and seven challenges influencing consumers’ OFRPs. Subsequently, the research uncovered two types of materials and seven core skills necessary for successful OFRP transactions, along with six associated meanings of OFRPs. Specifically, we found that participants seamlessly integrated OFRP into their daily routines through nurtured sociality, and OFRP only fostered sustainable consumption behaviors in one-third of participants, suggesting significant room for improvement. This study provides empirical insights into the existing literature and offers actionable recommendations to key stakeholders for advancing fashion circularity—a critical objective for the sustainability of the fashion industry. Full article

With the development of China’s fashion resale market, sustainable consumption patterns have gradually become popular in China. Although the prospects of China’s fashion resale market are recognized, more and more consumers are also actively participating in the circular consumption model. Consumers have multiple identities in participating in resale, and can be sellers or buyers. However, the sales intention of Chinese consumers to participate in resale as sellers is still unclear. We need to understand what value Chinese consumers are looking for in resale as sellers. The focus of this exploratory study is to understand the intention of Chinese consumers to sell unwanted fashion items as sellers to determine the key attributes that affect customer value and participation. This study applies consumer value theory to explore consumers’ sales intentions and potential themes. This empirical study collected a sample of 1217 seller resale reviews from social media platforms, using LDA text mining, textual point of view extraction, and co-occurrence plotting for data analysis. Nine potential themes were drawn. The results show that lifestyle change is the primary reason why most consumers participate in resale. The perception of their self-concept prompts Chinese consumers to participate in resale. This article provides theoretical and practical significance. Full article

The fashion industry has recently embraced a circular economy due to the increased consumer awareness of environmental issues, especially among younger generations. However, it is unclear if younger consumers, especially Generation Z, are willing to consistently engage in sustainable consumption patterns, such as buying and selling pre-owned fashion products through online resale platforms. This research specifically focuses on Generation Z consumers’ online fashion resale participation continuance. A research model was proposed with perceived benefits, pro-environmental beliefs as antecedents to attitude and continuance intention, and consumer perceived value as a moderating factor shaping the specified direct and mediating relationship. An online survey was administered to a convenience sample of 257 Generation Z consumers, and exploratory factor analysis identified five dimensions of perceived benefits of online fashion resale participation, epistemic benefits, product choice benefits, quality benefits, value for money, and budget benefits. Two groups of consumers were identified based on value perceptions of clothing consumption: maximum value pursuers and self-oriented shoppers. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis. Results showed that pro-environmental beliefs affect Generation Z consumers’ attitudes and continuance intention to online fashion resale participation with strong effects for the group of self-oriented shoppers. Among the five dimensions of perceived benefits, only epistemic benefits affect continuance intention for self-oriented consumers. Theoretical and practical implications are provided in this paper. Full article