What motivates the purchasing of green apparel products? A systematic review and future research agenda

Abstract

The contemporary business landscape is witnessing an ever-increasing concern forenvironmental sustainability, which has also surfaced in the apparel industry throughthe introduction of green apparel. Whether the adoption of green apparel is as aresult of growing external pressures on firms to adopt green practices or due to delib-erate strategies to incorporate sustainable orientation in the making of products, itremains a topical subject—making a comprehensive account of the existing academicliterature indispensable. Furthermore, while academic research on green apparel isundoubtedly at an all-time high, the literature is largely disjointed, necessitating arobust synthesis of the exiting literature to illuminate the existing shortcomings andto provide direction to the future research efforts. A systematic literature review(SLR) was conducted to gauge the existing literary work in this field and to identifyresearch gaps. After the critical review of 90 selected studies, four major themeswere extracted: consumer apparel purchase, circular economy, consumer awareness,and barriers. After we identified theme-based critical knowledge gaps in the existingliterature, we posed corresponding research questions that provide avenues forfuture research. The study also constructed a framework with significant practicaland theoretical implications. Researchers can obtain a comprehensive understandingof the broader contours of this academic field and, with our meticulously tabulatedgaps and potential research questions, explore new dimensions and broaden the hori-zons of this field.