What is sustainable fashion?Abstract Purpose Ð The purpose of this paper is to examine what the term sustainable fashion means from the perspective of micro-organisations, experts, and consumers. Design/methodology/approach Ð This research is qualitative in nature, utilising a multi-methods case study approach (semi-structured interviews, semiotics, questionnaires). Grounded analysis was applied to analyse the data. Findings Ð Findings indicate that interpretation of sustainable fashion is context and person dependent. A matrix of key criteria provides the opportunity to find common elements.Research limitations/implications Ð Due to the nature of this research the sample size is limited and may not be generalised. Data were collected in the UK and are limited to a geographical region. Practical implications Ð An important implication is that defining sustainable fashion is vital in order to avoid challenges, such as greenwashing, which were faced in other industries that have a longer history in sustainable practices. Microorganisations should take advantage of identifying key sustainable fashion criteria, which will enable them to promote their fashion collections more effectively. Social implications Ð The criteria identified provide assurance for consumers that sustainable fashion is produced with social aspects in mind (fair wages, good working conditions). Originality/value Ð The paper proposes a matrix that allows micro-organisations to clearly identify their collections as sustainable.

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In this paper, we present findings from two qualitative studies where we explored sustainable consumption practices through examining consumers' information search and decision‐making processes for recent purchases of five categories of goods/services: fast moving consumer goods (such as foodstuffs and household products), white goods (such as fridges and washing machines), small electrical products (such as TVs and computers), green energy tariffs (such as electricity from renewable sources) and tourism (such as flights). This research has provided us with a set of rich data which explores the nature and extent of sustainable consumption practices across different product sectors. A comparative analysis has allowed us to draw out patterns of consumer behaviour for different product and service types. Our findings suggest that even the same green consumer will not use the same information sources or decision‐making criteria, consider the same options or focus on the same industry actors, for products in different sectors. However, we have identified some degree of consistency in purchases within sectors. We present these sector‐specific patterns of consumer behaviour and highlight differences in the criteria utilized and the research norms in each sector.

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