Consumer Perceptions Related to Clothing Repair and Community Mending Events: A Circular Economy Perspective

Abstract

While research focusing on clothing repair and community mending events as part of sustainable clothing consumption practices has been conducted in some developed European countries (e.g., the U.K. and the Netherlands), little research has examined consumer clothes mending/repairing behavior in a U.S. context. The purpose of this study was to explore U.S. consumers’ specific barriers and motivations to engage in clothing repair and their likelihood to participate in clothes mending and community mending events. An intercept survey approach was used to administer a questionnaire to participants who were attendees at three different events in a mid-sized city in Colorado, U.S. across a two-week time span. Data were collected from 254 participants. Path analysis was conducted to test four sets of hypotheses. The results suggested that consumers’ perceived barriers negatively influenced their mending frequency. Consumer’s perceived motivations positively influenced their attitudes toward mending, their mending frequency, and sustainable post-consumption clothing behaviors (SPCBs). Furthermore, participants’ attitudes toward mending, mending frequency, and their SPCBs positively influenced their intentions to mend clothes and to participate in community mending events. The current study advances the understanding of US consumers’ clothes mending behaviors and provides critical implications for local governments and education systems.

How fashion can achieve sustainable development through a circular economy and stakeholder engagement: A systematic literature review

“…• Mending clothing • Donating used clothing for second-hand usage 22 (23.4%) Bukhari et al, 2018;Camacho-Otero et al, 2019;Cattermole, 2018;Diddi & Yan, 2019;Fischer & Pascucci, 2017;Holtström et al, 2019;Hussain, 2018;Hvass & Pedersen, 2019;Kjaer et al, 2019;Koszewska, 2018;Machado et al, 2019;Magdalena & Dagna, 2019;Norris, 2019a;Pal et al, 2019;Pedersen et al, 2019;Popescu, 2018;Raebild & Bang, 2017;Sandin & Peters, 2018;Shaw & Williams, 2018;Smith et al, 2017;Staicu & Pop, 2018;Tunn et al, 2019 Narrowing resource flows (18, 19.1%) CF practices related to increasing resource efficiency, by using fewer resources per product…”

“…• More attractive alternatives exist than CE offerings in terms of product value and/or profitability 23 (21.1%) Bocken et al, 2017;Bukhari et al, 2018;Camacho-Otero et al, 2019;Diddi & Yan, 2019;Fischer & Pascucci, 2017;Franco, 2017;Holtström et al, 2019;Hussain, 2018;Hvass & Pedersen, 2019;Kjaer et al, 2019;Leal Filho et al, 2019;Moorhouse & Moorhouse, 2017;Norris, 2019a;Norris, 2019b;Pal et al, 2019;Sandvik & Stubbs, 2019;Singh et al, 2019;Stål & Corvellec, 2018;Valentine et al, 2017;Vehmas et al, 2018;Wanassi et al, 2018;Weber, 2019 Knowledge barriers Lack of knowledge and awareness about the concept and principles of CE from both internal and external fashion stakeholders, and a lack of skills and know-how in exercising CE in business, were mentioned as another key challenges for creating CF…”

“…• Lack of knowledgeable designers to balance sustainability, aesthetics, functionality, and production cost in fashion product design 19 (17.4%) Bocken et al, 2017;Fischer & Pascucci, 2017;Goldsworthy & Ellams, 2019;Han et al, 2017;Hussain, 2018;Karell & Niinimäki, 2019;Kjaer et al, 2019;Koszewska, 2018;Leal Filho et al, 2019;Moorhouse & Moorhouse, 2017;Norris, 2019a;Pedersen et al, 2019;Peirson-Smith & Evans, 2017;Sandin & Peters, 2018;Shaw & Williams, 2018;Stål & Corvellec, 2018;Todeschini et al, 2017; (Continues) Bocken et al, 2017;Camacho-Otero et al, 2019;Daddi et al, 2019;Diddi & Yan, 2019;Holtström et al, 2019;Hussain, 2018;…”

Fostering Circular Economy Through the Analysis of Existing Open Access Industrial Symbiosis Databases

“…Industrial Symbiosis (IS) is a branch of industrial ecology that emerged to facilitate achieving these benefits by favoring exchanges between pairs of companies [5], such that the waste (materials, energy or water) produced by one become the raw materials used by another [6]. Hence, this approach focuses on achieving a closed loop for materials, which is a key aspect in Circular Economy [7]. Although companies are aware of the benefits associated with IS, they either struggle to find out how and with whom to carry out potential exchanges or consider that they lack time and resources to make it effective [8].…”

Towards A Conceptual Framework of Sustainable Practices of Post-consumer Textile Waste at Garment End of Lifecycle: A Systematic Literature Review Approach

“…The quality and rigour of the articles forming the review can be traced to the journals in which they were published. Twenty of the articles analysed were published in Scimago-rated Q1 journals [2,5,51,52,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]; 12 articles were included in Q2-rated journals [23,53,[70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79]; with two articles rated Q3 [80] and Q4 [81], and the last journal was not available on Scimago [82].…”