Journal of Sustainable Marketing

In this issue, you will find articles from around the globe addressing the issue of sustainability as it relates to fashion production, purchasing, ownership, and disposal. A big thank-you to all the authors who submitted their research to this special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Marketing. We also give very special thanks to all our reviewers who diligently read and commented with many asks for better writing, clearer analyses, and theory expansion from the authors. And we thank Dana Alden, the editor in chief, for allowing us to go on this journey and discover the global perspective. We have insights from researchers across many different countries to consider. In total, we received 27 articles for initial review. We are publishing 11 articles and one commentary “Sustainability Challenges and Opportunities in Luxury Fashion: A Response to Policy Deregulation in the United States” by Hepner (2025). The final issue represents a global look at the fashion industry as it stands today, and the challenges to change it to a more environmentally and socially friendly industry.

There are two articles from India about fashion production and knowledge from a manufacturers and consumers points of view: “Structural Analyses of Sustainable Fashion Adoption: An Integrated Approach…” (Yadav et al., 2025) and “A Practioners’ View on Sustainable Fashion…” (Pradhan & Kishore, 2025), which gives us a comparison of values and a new way of looking at the issues. Further work out of Norway is about production in the European Union “The E.U., Textile Strategy…” (Maldini & Klepp, 2025). The paper outlines the limitations in the EU strategy and suggests ways to improve the messaging.

Most of the articles (six) pertain mainly to the consumers’ purchasing of clothing. “Beyond Green Promises…” (Arnesen et al., 2024) from Norway investigates the effect of concrete messaging and its effects fostering consumer engagement in sustainable practices. Another study, “A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Consumer Intention to Purchase Ethical Fashion…” (Pérez et al., 2025), compares consumers from China and Spain. Many cross-cultural differences were found in intention to purchase sustainable versus fast fashion. A study from Indonesia, “The Role of Social Media in Sustainable Fashion Adoption…” (Andika et al., 2025) highlights psychological mechanisms and financial constraints in the purchasing of clothing. The role of materialism, extended self-theory, and symbolic self-completion theory among Gen Z consumers is investigated in the USA in “Accumulative vs. Appreciative Materialism …” (Stovall et al., 2025). Highlighting the problem of single-use garments in the bridal industry, consumer motivations to rent or buy used bridal gowns were investigated by researchers from Austria in “Collaborative Consumption Models in Bridal Fashion (Riedl & Raffetseder, 2025). The final article that pertains to purchasing is “Dress to Impress the planet...” (Garnelo-Gomez et al., 2025). Based on data collected in the Italian market, the authors’ study emphasizes the importance of positive emotions in communication strategies.

There is another article from Norway, “Unravelling the Threads…” (Arnesen, 2025), which examines the interplay between luxury fashion and consumer emotions of authentic pride in sustainable clothing ownership, whether new or second-hand. The final article is another experimental study, study that investigates compulsive hoarding tendencies in the fashion domain, “My Clothes, My Precious: Psychological Ownership…” (Yu et al., 2025).

As a collective, the research articles that make up this special issue explore diverse facets of sustainable fashion from multiple perspectives, including consumer behaviour, marketing strategies, policy implications, and psychological mechanisms. Under the category of consumer behaviour, three articles focus on the consumer, seeking to understand behavioural and psychological mechanisms within the fashion context. "Dress to Impress the Planet" focuses on the role of emotions and environmental concerns in driving sustainable apparel consumption, “Accumulative vs. Appreciative Materialism" investigates how different materialism types (appreciative vs. accumulative) influence sustainability-oriented consumption and “The Role of Social Media in Sustainable Fashion Adoption" examines psychological and financial factors affecting switching behaviours in Indonesian consumers.

Two articles explore cultural and contextual fashion consumption issues, with “A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Consumer Intention to Purchase Ethical Fashion” highlighting cultural variations in ethical fashion adoption between China and Spain and “Collaborative Consumption Models in Bridal Fashion” exploring factors influencing second-hand or rental gown adoption in Austria. A final three consumer behaviour articles examine trust and emotional dynamics in the fashion context, with “Beyond Green Promises" identifying trust and pride as key motivators for sustainable fashion consumption through concrete marketing communication; “Unravelling the Threads …" analyzing the influence of exclusivity and sustainability feedback on consumer emotions and behaviours; and “My Clothes, My Precious" linking psychological ownership with compulsive hoarding behaviours in fast and regular fashion, suggesting targeted interventions.

Market and policy perspectives are examined in a second category of articles in this issue, with "The EU Textile Strategy" critiquing the EU’s focus on durability over reducing overproduction, suggesting marketing-related policy refinements and “Sustainability Challenges and Opportunities in Luxury Fashion" discussing regulatory challenges in aligning U.S. brands with European sustainability standards. Practitioner perspectives and marketing tactics are also addressed here, with “A Practitioners’ View on Sustainable Fashion" offering insights into industry professionals' views on sustainable practices using grounded theory and “Sustainable Fashion Adoption: A Nostalgia-Evoked Approach" demonstrating how nostalgia in marketing can effectively engage consumers, especially males. Lastly, environmentalism and its social “Exploring Sustainability Practices in Fashion Applications", which evaluates the integration of sustainability practices in mobile applications, emphasizes the gaps in social sustainability.

The key contributions of this special issue are centred on behavioural insights into fashion consumers, marketing implications in the sustainable fashion context, policy critique, and practical interventions for behaviour change. In this issue, articles consistently underscore the importance of emotions, trust, and cultural factors in shaping sustainable fashion behaviours. Effective communication strategies, such as concrete claims and nostalgic marketing, are highlighted as pivotal in influencing consumer adoption and articles emphasize the need for stronger, production-focused policies to address overconsumption rather than solely product durability. Lastly, practitioner-oriented frameworks and strategies, such as collaborative consumption models, are presented to offer actionable pathways to foster fashion sustainability.

We hope you enjoy this special issue on un(sustainable) fashion and are able to find new useful perspectives to help mitigate environmental and social harms due to issues related to poor clothing manufacturing, use, and disposal, and change consumer and corporate habits to be gentler on our planet.

Kia ora

Lisa McNeill, Professor, University of Otago.

Judith Zaichkowsky, Distinguished Professor, Simon Fraser University.

Conflict Statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article

Funding Statement

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.