Drivers of fashion overconsumption: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The trend of fashion overconsumption has intensified in recent years (Marques et al., 2020). Overconsumption is defined as “buying fashion items irresponsibly or in excessive amounts, leading to negative consequences (Hakansson, 2014; Pan, 2019).” It harms consumers, society, and the environment (Gadhavi & Sahni, 2020; Xiao & Nicholson, 2013), and significantly contributes to a throwaway culture, exploitative labor practices, resource scarcity and harmful materials use, which degrade the environment (Atik et al., 2022; Ciornea, 2020; Ullah et al., 2021). Stakeholders including, manufacturers, designers, suppliers, retailers, and consumers are encouraged to reduce overconsumption for sustainability (Weber & Weber, 2022). Despite studies on the sharing economy and collaborative consumption, drivers of fashion overconsumption remain unexplored (Belk, 2014; Schor & Fitzmaurice, 2015; Carol Cavender, 2018). This study aims to identify the factors that drive fashion overconsumption and analyze their relationship to overconsumption behavior using a conceptual framework. Key research purpose include:
To identify the key drivers of fashion overconsumption.
To examine the relationships between driving factors and overconsumption behavior.
To develop a conceptual framework illustrating these relationships towards sustainable fashion consumption.
Findings reveals that understanding overconsumption is key to promoting sustainable practices in fashion consumption patterns. SOR theory provides insight into the complex drivers behind fashion overconsumption. Raising stakeholder awareness especially the consumers is pivotal for fostering sustainable fashion consumption and shifting consumer perspectives can help mitigate the impact of overconsumption. The findings benefits industry practitioners to implement more sustainable practices that benefit environment and stakeholders through mitigating the impact of overconsumption.

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