Sustainable fashion has become a big topic in recent years, as more and more people are becoming aware of the negative impact that the fashion industry can have on the environment and are willing to do something about it.
People are looking for ways to embrace sustainability and add it to their everyday lives – including in their choice of clothes.
While sustainable fashion is still a relatively new concept, there is a growing demand for it, and businesses that will be able to capitalize on this trend stand to make a lot of money.
But what is the target market for sustainable fashion? Who are the people that are most likely to buy eco-friendly clothes? Is it just those who care about the environment? Or are there other factors in play – like style, fashion, money and values?
In this article, we will discuss the target market for sustainable fashion and explore some of the reasons why people are drawn to it.
What is Sustainable Fashion?
Different people define sustainable fashion in different ways thought most definitions hover around the concept of making clothing in an environmentally friendly way.
For the sake of this article we define Sustainable Fashion as follows:
Sustainable Fashion refers to clothes that are made from environmentally friendly materials and produced in an environmentally responsible way.
Of course, once the clothing has been sustainably manufactured it still needs to be transported and that may or may not be environmentally friendly. So when we discuss the sustainability of clothing we restrict ourselves to the manufacturing process starting from the growing/acquisition of the raw material to the production of the finished product.
The Target Market for Sustainable Fashion: Who Buys?
While sustainable fashion is often associated with environmentalism, curiously the target market for sustainable fashion extends far beyond just “green-minded” individuals.
We can segment the target market for sustainable fashion into the following broad segments:
- People who are environmentally conscious
- People who want to support sustainable and ethical business practices.
- People who prefer everything organic (even clothes!)
- People who prefer recycled clothes
- People who support fair trade practices
Let’s look closely at each of these segments.
1. People who are environmentally conscious
Those who care about the environment and want to incorporate environmentally-friendly products into all aspects of their life are the ones who are most likely to be attracted to sustainable fashion.
This target market is growing in size all the time as people become more and more aware of the negative impact that the fashion industry can have on our planet.
Lack of awareness used to be a major obstacle for this target market, but with increased media coverage and promotion of sustainable fashion, that is no longer the case.
In fact, sustainable fashion can now be considered a type of green product.
2. People who want to support sustainable and ethical business practices
These are people that are willing to pay a bit more for clothing that has been made in an environmentally-friendly way and that does not exploit workers.
They are also interested in supporting businesses that are trying to make a difference and are working towards a more sustainable future.
If such people know that certain clothes are made with fabric that has been recycled or that the workers who made them were paid a fair wage, they are much more likely to buy those clothes.
In fact, some people will go as far as buying sustainably produced cloth and then asking a tailor to make it into custom clothes. In this respect, there is an overlap between the target market for sustainable fashion and the target market for a tailoring business.
3. People who prefer everything organic (even clothes!)
There is a growing trend of people wanting to lead an organic lifestyle. And for many of these people, the term “sustainable fashion” is synonymous with “organic clothing”.
This target market is made up of people who only want to consume products that are made from organic materials that have not been treated with any harmful chemicals. An example is organic cotton, which is grown without the use of any pesticides.
An added plus for this market segment is if the organic clothing is completely biodegradable.
While this target market is smaller than the previous two, it is still sizable and growing in popularity.
Many big fashion brands are now starting to produce organic clothing lines due to increasing demand.
4. People who prefer recycled clothes
Recycled clothes are those that have been made exclusively from recycled fabric or textile waste.
People who prefer to buy recycled clothes are interested in sustainability for a different reason than people in the previous two market segments.
While they are just as interested in the environmental aspects of sustainable fashion, they are also interested in its ethical implications. They believe that it is unethical to produce new clothes when there are so many clothes that have been discarded and could be reused.
The recycling of clothes also has further benefits for the environment. Clothes are often made from plants like cotton. Plants need land. And they need irrigation. The land used to grow cotton plants for making clothes is land that cannot be used for growing food. In other words, the recycling of clothes can have the added benefit of freeing up arable land.
So just as people like to buy recycled paper, there will be a growing trend to buy recycled clothes. This target market is only going to grow.
5. People who support fair trade practices
People who support fair trade practices are also interested in sustainable fashion for ethical reasons – although in a slightly different way than those who buy recycled clothes.
They believe that it is wrong for workers to be exploited and paid unfairly, which often happens in the traditional fashion industry.
Such people will hunt for clothing brands that not just support sustainable fashion but also support fair trade practices. An example of such a fashion brand is People Tree.
People who support fair trade practices are also likely to buy their clothes online if that is the only place they can get clothes made following ethical business practices.
Summary
There is a growing awareness of the negative impact that the fashion industry can have on our planet. As a result, more and more people are interested in buying sustainable fashion.
The target market for sustainable fashion can be categorized into different segments of environmentally-conscious people. The key segments include people who want to support ethical and sustainable business practices, those who prefer clothes made from organic materials, those who only buy recycled clothes, and those who believe in fair trade practices.
With the growing demand for sustainable fashion, we can expect to see more and more fashion brands catering to these target markets in the future.