Practice theory approach to Gen Z’s sustainable clothing consumption in Finland

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to answer the questions of what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and what prevents their further proliferation.

Design/methodology/approach

This is qualitative research that draws from 22 semi-structured interviews with high school students in the capital area of Finland. The data were analyzed with the use of thematic analysis, a flexible method of data analysis that allows for the extraction of categories from both theoretical concepts and data.

Findings

This paper contributes to studies of young people’s consumption with the practice theory approach, putting forward the category of following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice. The three-element model of the practice theory allows answering the question of challenges that prevent the practice from shaping. The paper further advances this approach by identifying a list of context-specific dispersed practices incorporated into sustainable fashion.

Practical implications

The study suggests practical ways of improving clothing consumption based on the practice theory approach and findings from empirical research. Sustainable practices require competences, knowledge and skills that the school, as an institution working closely with high school students, could help develop.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the current studies of sustainability and youth culture of consumption with a practice theory approach and findings, related to a particular context of a country from Northern Europe.

Citation

Gurova, O. (2024), "Practice theory approach to Gen Z’s sustainable clothing consumption in Finland", Young Consumers, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-06-2023-1765

Introduction

Sustainability is among the top priorities globally due to the environmental challenges and nature degradation that the world is experiencing, which also impact people’s habitats and quality of life (Khalil et al., 2021). The consumer's perspective has been acknowledged by scholars as undervalued but critical in the transition to a sustainable future (Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021; Niinimäki, 2021). Consumers play a tremendous role in transition to sustainable fashion (Dzhengiz et al., 2023). Young consumers are important change agents for sustainability transformation (Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021). The consumer habits of today’s young consumers will determine how the planet will look in the future.

However, there are obstacles on the road to sustainability. Scholars talk about the “value – action” gap (Williams and Hodges, 2022) or “attitude - behavior gap” (Djafarova and Foots, 2022; Park and Lin, 2020), both of which mean that consumers may have a positive attitude toward sustainable clothes but commonly end up not buying them. Studies mention that awareness of sustainability and circularity issues is still a problem, even among young people who are overall considered among the most well-aware consumers (Williams and Hodges, 2022; Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021; Khalil et al., 2021). Lack of awareness of negative effects of the fashion industry leads to unsustainable consumer behavior in fashion (McNeil and Moore, 2015). In addition, the desire to be “fashionable” often outweighs the desire to be ethical or sustainable among young consumers (McNeil and Moore, 2015). Despite having the highest levels of ethical fashion awareness among other generations, younger people have been found to consume fewer ethical products because they perceive fashion along a price-quality continuum and have yet to consider ethical clothing as a viable alternative to cheap throwaway fashion (Park and Lin, 2020). Djafarova and Foots (2022), however, talk about strong awareness and desire of Gen Z towards ethical and environmental issues.

Fashion is a tricky subject. On the one hand, fashion is associated with fun, identity-seeking, self-expression and pleasure. It gives energy and invigorates young people. On the other hand, there is a strong criticism of fashion and a call to young people to be environmentally and socially responsible consumers in contemporary Northern European countries like Finland. As a result, young people are engaged in uneasy relationships with fashion – love–hate relations of a sort. In this article, I will look at these relationships through everyday practices involving clothes. This research aims at answering the questions of what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and what obstacles sustainable fashion practices face.

The first section of the article is devoted to literature review that observes studies on fast and sustainable fashion and clothing consumption habits of young people. The second section unfold methods used for collecting and analyzing data. After that, the article offers an analysis section followed by the discussion and conclusion summarizing the answer to the research questions and offering directions for future research.

Literature review

Fast and sustainable fashion

Fast fashion has been recognized as the source of many environmental and social problems (Sahimaa et al., 2023; Dahlbo et al., 2021; Kim et al., 2021; Niinimäki, 2020; Park and Lin, 2020; McNeil and Venter, 2019). The fast fashion model assumes mass-produced clothing with short turnaround times, aiming to bring the newest styles to market as quickly and cheaply as possible (Sahimaa et al., 2023). Fast fashion is associated with such brands as H&M, Zara, Topshop, Uniqlo, Gap and many other chain stores (Rahman et al., 2023). Scholars argued that fast fashion consumption is salient among young consumers comparing to other demographics (Hassan et al., 2022). Particularly, it is appealing to young female consumers, who exhibit the highest levels of demand for new fashion items, because they are, on the one hand, in a period of ideal identity-seeking (McNeil and Venter, 2019) and, on the other, have little awareness of the social impact of their fashion consumption (McNeil and Moore, 2015). Fast fashion consumption is based on the desire for instant fulfillment by means of affordable fashion clothing without rational control (Chaturvedi et al., 2020). Impulse shopping, over-purchasing, very short garments’ lifecycles, and ease of disposable clothing are characteristics of such consumer behavior (Niinimäki, 2024). It leads to excessive consumerism (Rahman et al., 2023) and enhances throwaway culture (Hassan et al., 2022). The typical attitude among fast fashion consumers is a lack of awareness of or ignorance towards the consequences of their actions for the environment due to believing that an individual doesn’t have control over larger environmental issues (McNeil and Moore, 2015).

In recent years, ultra-fast fashion, associated with the Chinese giant Shein, has started taking over among young consumers and caught the attention of the media (Mahmood, 2022; Dzhengiz et al., 2023). Shein is alarmingly cheap and produces new outfits at a higher pace than fast fashion brands (Mahmood, 2022). It is especially appealing to young people, because they are still learning to manage their finances and recovering from recession and the prevalence of ubiquitous lifestyle standards promoted by (often more well-off) influencers (Mahmood, 2022).

There are several other concepts that challenge fast fashion, such as eco-fashion, ethical fashion and sustainable fashion. Sometimes these concepts are used interchangeably (Henninger et al., 2016). There is no established definition of these terms as the literature on sustainable fashion is still in its infancy (Campos et al., 2022). Therefore, I rely on the approach of Henninger and colleagues, who explained the differences among these concepts in the following way (Henninger et al., 2016). Eco-fashion has been associated with anti-fur campaigns. Ethical fashion is associated with fair working conditions, a sustainable business model, organic and environmentally friendly materials and certification and traceability. Sustainable fashion as part of the slow fashion movement is often misleadingly described as the opposite of fast fashion. However, it is a different concept that stems from a concept of slow fashion. Slow fashion is based on a philosophical ideal that centers on sustainability values, such as good working conditions and reducing environmental destruction. It challenges the fast fashion paradigm by breaking down existing boundaries between the organization and its stakeholders, slowing the production process to a more manageable timeframe, moving away from the self-concept and focusing on empowering workers by offering a choice that enables change (Henninger et al., 2016).

In this article, I suggest using sustainable fashion as an umbrella to all these concepts and also as a practice which will be conceptualized later in the text. My main focus is on the prolonging the lifecycle of clothing, because extending the use time of garments is a significant contribution to sustainable fashion (Laitala and Grimstadd Klepp, 2015; Laitala and Klepp, 2018; Niinimäki and Durrani, 2020). Some of practices that prolong lifecycle of clothing, mentioned in academic literature, are purchasing garments from second hand or charity shops, minimizing laundry, opting for airing garments, redesigning or altering garments so they fit better, repairing them if they suffered breakages, restyling, reshaping or embellishing to give clothes new life (Niinimäki and Durrani, 2020, pp. 154–155; Fletcher, 2014). Sustainable fashion is therefore a set of practices aimed at prolonging the lifecycle of clothing.

Features of (un)sustainable consumer behavior of generation Z

Generation Z is the successor of the Millennials and the predecessor of Generation Alpha (Khalil et al., 2021). They are called “Gen Z”, “GenZers” and “Zoomers” (Khalil et al., 2021) as well as “post-Millennials” (Chaturvedi et al., 2020). In this research, “Generation Z is identified as individuals who were born between 1995 and 2010 (Chaturvedi et al., 2020) which means they are between 13 and 28 years of age at the moment of writing. Some studies, however, mark the beginning of this generation as the mid-1990s, the year 1995, while others consider it 1997–1998, arguably ending in 2010, or between 2012 and 2018 (Khalil et al., 2021, p. 3; Chaturvedi et al., 2020). In this article, I use the terms “Generation Z” and “young consumers” interchangeably.

The socio-cultural context influences Gen Z’s consumer behavior in the following ways. They grew up through globally challenging circumstances and traumatic events, such as 9/11 in 2001, the global financial crisis of 2008, the migration crisis in Europe in 2014, the pandemics in 2020–2021, the war in Europe in 2022, and the global climate crisis. They have lived in a multicultural and multi-racial world (Khalil et al., 2021). Like the Millennials, they are aware of environmental problems, but they suffer an even more severe impact on the ecosystem due to global warming and a lack of resources (Khalil et al., 2021). They are less well-off than the Millennials and therefore thriftier and more entrepreneurial. As a result, Gen Z ranks climate change, income inequality and poverty as the top causes of concern and believes businesses have a social and environmental responsibility to address such challenges (Chaturvedi et al., 2020; Williams and Hodges, 2022). Members of this generational cohort are highly educated consumers with a sound understanding of environmental issues and eco-friendly products (Chaturvedi et al., 2020). Gen Z consumers are willing to spend more money to buy sustainable products or to buy from a sustainable company (Kim et al., 2021; Williams and Hodges, 2022; Chaturvedi et al., 2020) and will boycott those companies considered unsustainable (Williams and Hodges, 2022). At the same time, younger consumers, specifically those between the ages of 15 and 29, are the most frequent consumers of fast fashion items (Williams and Hodges, 2022).

Gen Z consumers prefer having access to products as opposed to ownership of them, resulting in a preference for sharing services (Williams and Hodges, 2022). In addition, Gen Z consumers are not brand loyal, as it is more important to them to find brands that reflect their unique style and are in alignment with their values (Williams and Hodges, 2022).

Gen Z are called “digital natives”, which means that in the era of digital connectivity, social media plays an important role in spreading awareness about sustainable consumption (Khalil et al., 2021; Djafarova and Foots, 2022; Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021). Scholars emphasize the role of social media platforms, such as Instagram, that enables swapping or selling their clothing and may help users become more comfortable with purchasing apparel second-hand, as the items and their sellers are familiar to them, thereby allowing participants to trust that they know where the clothing has been (Williams and Hodges, 2022).

This research will look at Generation Z as consumers through the prism of their practices of following sustainable fashion. Gen Z is a specific group of consumers that shares a particular set of clothing-related practices that will be further explored.

Theoretical approach: following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice

Many studies of sustainable consumer behavior in Gen Z adopt the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by social psychologist Icek Ajzen (1991) (Chaturvedi et al., 2020; Bulut et al., 2021; Arora and Manchanda, 2022). This theory assumes that the intention to perform a behavior can predict the behavior and is therefore focused on determining the intent to act, namely, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs and perceived behavioral control. It is a powerful theory, but as any other theory it has some limitations. The TPB does not take into account the materiality of clothing or infrastructure available for purchase of goods or recycling. Instead, it is focused on the psychological determinants of consumers’ actions, such as intentions, norms and perception.

Practice theory focuses on actions per se. Practice theory is another powerful theoretical framework widely applied, also in consumption studies (Schatzki, 1996; Reckwitz, 2002; Shove and Pantzar, 2005; Shove et al., 2012; Warde, 2005). Reckwitz (2002, pp. 249) defines practices as a “routinized type of behavior”; as a block or pattern that consists of interdependencies between diverse elements including “forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, “things” and their use, a background knowledge in the form of understanding, know-how, states of emotion and motivational knowledge” (Shove et al., 2012, pp. 6–7). Shove et al. (2012) suggest a scheme based on three main elements of practices: materials, meanings and competences. Materials encompass objects, infrastructure, tools, hardware and the body itself (Shove et al., 2012, p. 23). For this research, among the most important part of the materials is, for instance, the availability of infrastructure for thrifting and recycling or tools for repairing and upcycling clothing. Meanings is a term that represents the social and symbolic significance of participation in practices (Shove et al., 2012, p. 23). For this study, this means justifications that young consumers give for why and how they follow clothing consumption practices. Competences are multiple forms of understanding and practical knowledgeability (Shove et al., 2012, p. 23). Competencies would mean knowledge and awareness about sustainable fashion. When the elements combine, the practice is born or, in terms of practice theory, the practice recruits a practitioner. Then, the practices are reproduced in everyday life. A practice can fall apart if a needed element or a link between the elements are missing. Importantly, practices are “homegrown” (Shove and Pantzar, 2005, p. 43), which means that although their elements may circulate in any context, they are glued together in a particular way. Its way is shaped by previously existing and related practices. As a consequence, practices are rooted in a particular context.

Schatzki (1996, p. 90) emphasized the importance of doing and saying, linked in a particular way, in relation to practices and the need for a link between them for a practice to be formed and further reproduced. The major avenues of linkage are understandings of what to do and say, related rules, principles and instructions, and teleoaffective structures, comprising goals and tasks. Schatzki (1996, p. 91) differentiated practices as dispersed and integrative. Dispersed practices are dispersed among different domains of social life, whereas integrative practices are constitutive of particular domains (Schatzki, 1996, p. 91, 98). Multiple dispersed practices “wander through and meet within” integrative practices. Unlike integrative practices, dispersed ones don’t usually have a teleoaffective structure. However, an integrative practice is not an automatic summary of a set of dispersed practices. The latter may be transformed when it is incorporated into the integrative one (Schatzki, 1996, p. 99). A wide range of dispersed practices involve clothing if we look at a clothing item’s lifecycle. Therefore, I consider “following sustainable fashion” as an integrative practice which consists of a particular set of dispersed practices. I suggest to looking at what challenges prevent this integrative practice from forming.

Practice theory has already been used to study fashion. For instance, Vladimirova et al. (2022) explored “fashion consumption practice” as a routinized behavior related to acquiring, using, or disposing of fashion items. The article used a three-element structure of practice to look at the disruption of fashion consumption practices during COVID. Joining this line of thought, this research suggests considering following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice consisting of various dispersed practices that it will construct from the data retrieved from interviews. This approach will help trace the functioning of this practice as well as the obstacles that prevent its shaping and further proliferation. This means the research will identify the practices with a bigger gap between “doing” and “saying” and suggest how this gap can be narrowed.

Methods and data

Case description: Finland

This research is an exploratory single-case study (Yin, 2003). It explores consumer practices in a context of a particular country – Finland. Finland is a relatively affluent Northern European country, with an average wage of 45,365 EUR per year in 2021 (Statista, 2023). It is a typical Northern European country in terms of clothing consumption. Finnish citizens consume slightly less textiles (11.3 kg per year) compared to Sweden (12.8 kg), Denmark and Norway (both 15 kg), but much more than some Baltic countries: Latvia (6.1 kg) and Lithuania (7.0 kg) (Dahlbo et al., 2021). Separate collection of textile waste in Nordic countries is similar (44%), whereas in Baltic countries, it is significantly lower (Dahlbo et al., 2021). Overall, in Europe, an average person consumes a much higher amount than in Finland (26 kg per year), but scholars mention that due to differences in the method of calculation, these data are not fully comparable (Dahlbo et al., 2021).

Culturally, Finnish society has been agrarian for a long time, and craft skills were highly valued (Kokko and Räisänen, 2019). Today, textile craft remains a popular hobby and leisure activity (Kokko and Räisänen, 2019). Ecological awareness and the ideas of sustainable development are important considerations in Finnish basic education as well as in other Nordic countries (Kokko and Räisänen, 2019). Moreover, craft is a standard school subject in basic education in Finland, like in Scandinavian and Baltic counties, while in other European countries it is integrated into such subjects as arts, home economics or design and technology (Kokko and Räisänen, 2019).

Overall, Finland is a country with a strong sustainability discourse supported by the actions of the state; the Finnish government has the aim of strengthening Finland’s role as a leader in the circular economy (Ministry of the Environment, 2023). Finland strives to be a leading country in textile waste reduction, as regional collection and recycling of textile waste have started in it two years earlier than the European Waste Directive requires in 2025 (Europa, 2023). Some 50% of Finns live within one kilometer of the closest textile bring site (Europa, 2023). A previous study has shown that 30% of Finns have passed clothes, shoes, children’s supplies and other similar items to a second user for good or for loan. In total, 53% of households have bought clothes from traditional flea markets, online or other secondhand marketplaces (Statistics Finland, 2019, cited in Dahlbo et al., 2021, p. 34). Nevertheless, these data show that despite strong institutional and educational efforts, there is still room for improvement in consumer behavior, as consumers still have the possibility of choosing “wrong” from a sustainability point of view.

Method of data collection

The method of data collection is semi-structured interviews with high school students in the capital area of Finland (the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo). The interviews were conducted in Finnish and English languages in the winter and spring of 2023. The interviews lasted from about 30 to about 75 min. The topics of the interviews were awareness of fast, sustainable fashion and greenwashing, as well as practices of acquisition, use, and discard of clothing. The interviews also included questions on services related to sustainable fashion, but they are not included in the present analysis. The database consists of 22 interviews (Table 1). Among them were 19 young women and three young men. The majority of interviewees were high school students (15), with a few vocational school (4) and university (3) students. The age of the interviewees ranged from 16 to 21, with the majority being 17–18 years old. The data were collected by members of the “Village for sustainable clothing–bringing together educators, young consumers, and companies” project, led by Laurea University of Applied Science and Finnish Textile and Fashion (VISU, 2023).

The data collection was first organized through the municipality of the city of Vantaa (a part of the inner core of the capital region), which gave us access to schools and permission for conducting field research. An advertisement for the research was posted in the Finnish electronic system for schools, Wilma. In addition to the interviewees recruited this way, we also approached young people through snowball sampling to recruit more young people from Helsinki, Espoo and vocational schools in addition to high school students. Therefore, the interviewees were recruited according to purposive sampling, a nonprobability sampling when participants are chosen in a strategic way, i.e. young people of a particular age (Gen Z) representing the capital area of Finland (Bryman, 2012, p. 418).

Method of data analysis

To analyze the data, I used thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006). It is a widely used, flexible method of data analysis. A number of themes were fetched from the literature. The themes were: awareness of fast, sustainable fashion and greenwashing; acquisition, use and discard clothing practices; materials, meanings and skills within clothing practices. These themes were further filled out with codes from the interviews, which, furthermore, were supported with quotes. Other themes, such as practices’ names as well as influencing actors, were fetched from the data. It was possible to use the principle of triangulation (Bryman, 2012, p. 392) as I had opportunities to discuss the data and analysis with the project team. The data analysis aims to identify patterns in the data. The description of analysis is organized further in the text according to the fetched themes and codes.

Limitations

The research has several limitations. This is qualitative research, and it is not representative towards the whole country or other countries. The discussed practices can be different in other contexts. I did not analyze differences within the group of interviewees – for example, between young people of different genders, educational levels and localities – as this is a goal for future research. The sampling is skewed as it mostly includes young high school women. The uneven distribution of men and women creates bias. Although the topic of clothing is universal, it was much easier to recruit female interviewees. The sampling has its focus on the capital region, which creates another limitation. In addition, the data may be biased, as those young people who are already interested in clothing could answer the request to join the research.

Analysis

Awareness

Awareness about fast and sustainable fashion, as well as an understanding of greenwashing, contribute to competences that make sustainable fashion practice possible. I measured awareness as an answer to an open question of whether interviewees know what fast and sustainable fashion are and how they would define it. As it was mentioned above, some studies found that awareness about sustainability and the circular economy can be a problem among young people (Williams and Hodges, 2022; Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021; Khalil et al., 2021), but Djafarova and Foots (2022) found strong awareness among the UK Gen Z. This research has also found the strong awareness on the key notions among young Finnish consumers. Only four interviewees struggled to give any clear definitions, one of whom could explain what fast fashion means and could not say what sustainable fashion is, but later during the interview was able to talk about sustainability in fashion. This can be considered a high level of awareness, at least, regarding the basics of key categories. The interviewees were not asked specifically about more nuanced aspects, such as ecolabels, but notably, the whole discourse of clothing is, to a large extent, structured by the idea of sustainability in many interviews. The characteristics of fast and sustainable fashion mentioned by young people are summarized in Table 2.

As for greenwashing, young people were asked whether they noticed efforts by companies to be sustainable and what they thought about them. Three groups of opinions can be distinguished; the opinions are summarized in Table 3. The first group, supporters, agreed that the efforts of companies are an “important step in the right direction” (10). They noticed the efforts and supported the brands that are trying to be more sustainable: “[I choose] Cubus [because] it is more natural” (1). I “look at fast fashion brands that are more ecological” (1). “H&M, Zalando’s take-back programs are important steps in the right direction” (10). This group doesn’t question the companies’ sustainability efforts. The second group, skeptics, instead, is unsure about the actions of the companies. For instance: “H&M, Zara have clothes made of recycled materials, but I don’t know if it’s true” (16). “[Finnish brand] Marimekko seems ecological and branded domestic, but I don’t know if they are any better than others” (5). The third group is composed of critics of the efforts of fashion companies: “Fast fashion companies are just fishing for little green dots” (22). “Fast fashion companies talking about sustainable production, environmental friendliness is just greenwashing” (3). “Green marketing is greenwashing” (11). “I’d force the big corporations to release less, like, fewer collections, because there is no point in producing that much if it all goes to waste after all” (18). Moreover, interestingly, one interviewee criticizes second-hand companies, whose business models seem to be more sustainable, as moving in the direction of fast fashion brands: “Many of my friends, they go to the flea market, they think that it is ecological. Then they buy terrible clothes, wear once, and throw in the trash afterwards. And they are like “This is ecological because I bought it at a flea market”” (12).

Clothing use map

To classify practices related to sustainable clothing consumption, I used three stages in the lifecycle of clothes that are typically distinguished: acquisition, use, and discard (cf. Vladimirova et al., 2022). To reconstruct the so-called “clothing use map”, I used the answers to questions about where clothes were obtained from, how their lives were prolonged, and how clothes were discarded. This classification is not fixed, and some practices transgress boundaries of one group. For instance, sharing can be a practice of acquisition, use and discard, depending on its goals. The findings that will be discussed later are compared to the findings of other studies on young Finnish consumers.

Acquisition

Making clothes (knitting, crocheting or sewing) is not a common practice nowadays, but its value is acknowledged and pronounced as a trend among young people. The data showed that if family members (mainly mothers and grandmothers) can sew, younger family members can also learn some skills from them. This is typical that older women in families have sewing and mending skills (Korsunova et al., 2023, p. 5). Family plays an important role in passing on such practices. Lack of skills and tools, in turn, is often mentioned as the reason that prevents young people from sewing, knitting or crocheting:

I knit clothes […]. For example, knitting vests, woolen socks, leggings - I've made them all myself. So now I have a habit that if I want a knitted vest that I see in a shop, I don't buy it. I start looking for instructions online and then I make it myself […]. My mom was like, well, I'll teach you to knit now, when I was really little, like in the first grade of primary school. It's become a bit of a hobby because many times you can get a knitting yarn from the store for much less, plus time, but it's fun to do (3).

I've been interested in [making own clothes]. I once made a T-shirt out of a long-sleeved shirt because I didn't like it when it was long-sleeved. But it hasn't really gone anywhere since we don't have a sewing machine (14).

The most interesting finding about the acquisition of clothes is acceptance and the common presence of the practice of thrifting, or shopping for used clothing, as almost all our interviewees mentioned practicing it to different degrees. Although, as one of the interviewees noted, “probably, the most common way is to buy [fast fashion] clothes at the moment, at least in Finland” (13), many mentioned shopping for used items, with some of them using the word “thrifting” instead of “shopping” (in English-language interviews). Thrifting is even emphasized as being the first choice, the preferred method of acquiring clothing by some young consumers:

I usually try to go to the flea markets first, to see if I can find [an item of clothing]. Then, if I don’t find anything, I try to check H&M first and then I go to other stores, like Jumbo’s [shopping mall] (3).

It depends on what clothes I want to buy. If I know that I can find something like that in a secondhand shop, then I go there. I often use UFF. But if not, then I go to shopping center (17).

Thrifting extends the lifecycle of clothing (Niinimäki, 2020). Used-goods consumption seems to be normalized among young people in Finland and is not a matter of shame or embarrassment. The meaning of “used goods” is not associated with poverty. Instead, the used goods are perceived as no different from the new ones (except for some groups of clothing, such as underwear or socks). However, income plays a role in thriftiness as thrift stores may be cheaper and more accessible for overall thrifty and not so well-off Gen Z consumers. Such change of meaning makes this practice a strong contributor to sustainable fashion. This conclusion is in line with other studies stating that buying secondhand is one of the main ways to participate in the circular economy among Finland’s population (Korsunova et al., 2023). Moreover, in Finland, there might be peer pressure to contribute to a circular economy and exhibit green behavior, at least among some groups of young people as one interviewee talked about bullying for shopping at fast fashion brands.

The normalization of used-clothes consumption has happened along with growing material infrastructure. One of the last developments is the appearance of second-hand shops in shopping malls, which has happened over the past few years. Before, shopping malls were closely associated with fast-fashion chains. For instance, Redi, a shopping center in Helsinki, to attract new customers, launched a Recycling Mall within a mall (Helsinkismart, 2023). Redi has stores of Recycling center (Kierrätyskeskus), UFF and Fida. These are all second-hand chain stores operated as charities. There is, in addition, Second Hand Market, hosting sustainable brands, vintage sellers and circular economy services. Kamppi and Tripla, the shopping malls located respectively in the city and right outside the city center, at Pasila district, has Moody Monday. The shopping malls, both in inner city and suburbs, full of fast fashion brands, have been historically shopping places for the middle-class families (Lilius, 2019). Stockmann, a more upscale department store in the city center, also hosts a vintage store and cafe called Relove. This transformation illustrates a fundamental change of second-hand consumption being embraced as a part of the mainstream middle-class culture of consumption. This also means that newness as a value attached to clothes has been in the process of rethinking by consumers.

One consequence of the popularity of thrift stores and flew markets is that 12 interviewees care less about brands: “There is no particular brand that I always buy. I just like the way it feels on me and the way it looks” (1). “I don’t really think about the brands that much, but […] I try to look for, if I’m thrifting something, that I know the brand, and it has some good reputation. Maybe when I thrift, I try to find Levi’s jeans” (17). This more relaxed attitude towards brands in relation to everyday clothing may illustrate a shift in importance from symbolic to material parts and from exchange to use value. This shift in meaning is valuable contribution to developing of sustainable fashion as an integrative practice, with its importance of materiality and longevity.

Furthermore, offline shopping significantly prevails over online shopping: the interviewees mainly prefer shopping live, on the spot. Despite Gen Z being digital natives, they choose to buy clothes offline, for instance, as experience with friends:

I prefer [to shop] on the spot because it looks so much different online […] Yes, I have done [online shopping] a couple of times, but then I've found that it's not really my thing, that I'd rather go to a real, physical store to look. […]. I think it's more fun to spend time, to go shopping, than to just be at home and browse the internet, because it's really done a lot anyway (13).

They may browse before shopping, but for them, offline shopping is preferred because it is easier to find items that fit as sizes are not standardized; they don't have too much spare money to spend on clothes and then wait; they fear not being able to return; they are not willing to engage with returning if they do not like the bought thing; they want to avoid climate emissions associated with shipping; the joy of discovery and treasure hunting is important; they want to know how a cloth feels on them; they want to be sure it is needed; they want to check the quality, used items they buy require a bit more attention to detect flaws if thrifting; and so on. Interestingly, paraphrasing what one interviewee said, if there is a flaw, it is a reason not to buy, i.e. minimize consumption – this is possible to do while shopping offline (11).

Some characteristics of shopping practices can remind those associated with fast fashion, based on wants rather than needs. For instance, some interviewees acknowledged that they shop often, one of them told that even more than before, including when shopping for second-hand items. In turn, others mentioned practices that belong to what is called a sufficiency-driven approach (Garcia-Ortega, et al., 2023). They use different ways of avoiding unnecessary consumption:

I really only buy clothes when I need clothes. Maybe a few times a year, always seasonally. […]. I try to live very minimally (15).

These interviewees talk about avoiding shopping for fun or for the sake of shopping, impulse shopping and purchasing cheap and trendy clothes – “they are a whim for the moment” (6). Instead, young consumers seem to seek purchasing rarely, based on need and according to the seasons. They talk about taking long breaks from buying clothes or giving themselves a “cooling-off” period before buying an item. These practices require further investigation as potential “growth points” for sustainable consumption.

Sharing (borrowing, lending, exchanging, swapping and even “stealing” from relatives as well as handing down) is a form of collaborative consumption happening within families, extended families, or circles of friends’ that makes an important contribution to sustainable fashion consumption (Niinimäki, 2021). Reusing textile products “as is” brings significant environmental savings (Fletcher, 2014, p. 119). A transfer from ownership to sharing proves that the capitalist, throwaway culture turns into something else. Peer-to-peer sharing seems to be very popular and normalized among interviewees and 14 of them talked about it. This is in line with Dahlbo et al. (2021) findings, mentioned above, that about one third of Finns have passed clothes and other similar items to a second user. It contradicts what Korsunova-Tsaruk et al. (2021) found – that sharing is unimportant in the narratives of perception of circular economy. The explanation for the discrepancy perhaps comes from the fact that Korsunova-Tsaruk et al. (2021) studied associations with the circular economy, and their main focus was on sharing mediated by digital interfaces rather than traditional peer-to-peer sharing. When looking at practices and not perception, peer-to-peer sharing between immediate and distant family members as well as friends is common among young adults in Finland.

However, renting and leasing in Finland, which have caught the attention of many studies recently (Armstrong et al., 2015; Aparecida Vasques et al., 2017; Niinimäki, 2021; Laukkanen and Tura, 2022), seem to be not that popular among young consumers from Gen Z. Many reasons were given why renting clothes is not an activity that they want to do. It is too stressful, not easy, takes too much energy, is too complicated for daily practice, does not work if one wants to own clothing or has an emotional and sentimental attachment to clothes, or it is not possible to do for cultural reasons. Overall, as one interviewee summarized, it is “not what kids of our age do” (11). This is in line with Korsunova-Tsaruk et al.’s (2021, p. 766) finding that access-based consumption is not the “new normal” for young adults in Finland.

Unlike renting, sharing among friends and family is popular as it brings fun, allows for maintaining the sense of novelty of wardrobe:

With friends – yeah, we're borrowing from each other. It's such a nice practice to be able to change clothes. And then we also exchange clothes sometimes, if you feel that you don’t wear it at all, but someone else would, you'd rather exchange it. And within the family – yes, we borrow each other's clothes, but maybe mostly I borrow other people's clothes. My little brother is 190 centimeters high, so he can't borrow my clothes very much. […]. I think it's such a nice thing to be able to borrow. […] It gives me something new in my wardrobe for a while, so I don't get bored with the same clothes. […] My friend and I have a dress that we wear together. And then my little brother and I have a couple of hoodies that we wear together (13).

With friends, [we] switch our clothes. Because I understand the feeling of wanting new clothes, because it's normal for humans to want new things (11).

The meaning of novelty is something young consumers want to preserve, even if the items are used; they are new to them. That is why sharing is helpful in prolonging the lifecycle of clothes without retaining ownership. It helps maintain a sense of novelty as well as excitement and fun. The practice of sharing competes with the practice of renting and wins over it in this sense. Both practices contribute to sustainable fashion, but the configuration of elements favors sharing, which is already there and has many practitioners. Sometimes sharing is, however, problematic, especially between siblings – younger and older sisters and brothers – as they try to find their place in the social world and maintain their personal boundaries. In this case, the practice of sharing competes with the practice of constructing self and identity and maintaining personal boundaries through clothes. This may change when the meaning of clothing changes in the process of a young person’s growing up.

Use

The interviews revealed a surprising pattern for the context of throwaway consumer culture where fast fashion predominates: The young people bring up the subject of the importance of clothing durability. Eight of those who participated in the interviews said they wanted to keep wearing clothes for a long time. Additionally, they strive to rotate their current wardrobe well and to have few, if any, unworn items which are the examples of throwaway mentality:

I usually wear clothes for so long that they break or are so worn out that I can’t wear them anymore (12).

I very rarely replace clothes. I might add something new [to my wardrobe]. Then if I don't use something, I'll take it out. But I don't mean to be like that: “Spring! This is a really old black anorak. Let's throw it in the trash and get a new one”. No! (17).

To achieve this longer durability, they sometimes employ certain wardrobe-building techniques, such as purchasing “neutral” or “universal” clothing that can be worn with many ensembles or creating a “capsule wardrobe” as a way to build fresh looks using a smaller number of cohesive pieces.

If a clothing item is torn, ripped or stained, 12 of our young consumers would normally try to fix it themselves or with the help of parents or grandparents. Social media, particularly YouTube, can be helpful in providing videos on how to fix things. Stains or small holes, however, do not always require fixing:

I’m a really good stain remover […]. If it's stained, then I'll wash it. I'll try to use some good methods to wash it. If it's broken that you can fix it, then I'll fix it. […] If it's a really small hole, I sometimes don't fix it, because you can't see it. […] If it's something I can't fix, I usually ask my grandma to fix it when she comes to visit […]. If it’s a broken garment with a zipper, I usually cut the zipper off because you can reuse it (17).

A small stain on an expensive shirt does not change its value for the owner which shows that the concept of newness as a key value has been rethought which is an important development for sustainable fashion. As one interviewee explained:

I have this one Marimekko woolen shirt […]. I got acid on the shirt. And then it got these dark-green spots from that. But I have just been using it because […] it's an expensive shirt, and it's of a good quality. So, I don't mind a little paint and acid on clothing (11).

Mending, one of the key practices for prolonging the lifecycle of clothes (Durrani, 2021; Niinimäki and Durrani, 2020), is acknowledged as a useful skill. The most common types of repairs mentioned are quite easy: sewing a button or fixing a hole. A bit more difficult is cutting a length of jeans, trousers or skirt. But not all young people have mending skills and can repair a garment, even the simplest ones. Therefore, they may feel a lack of energy or commitment toward repairing, confirming previous studies that consumers tend to have a positive attitude toward repair but a low level of engagement (Korsunova et al., 2023). The interviewees, however, mentioned that mothers and grandmothers usually help them repair clothes. The roles of family and school are emphasized in learning the skills necessary for the practice to develop and circulate:

[I learned repair skills] from my mother and my grandmother. I mean, my mom somehow underestimates her own skills maybe in that she can fix or she can't […] For example, she has shortened the pants I'm wearing. I think she's really good at making all these shortenings, corrections and everything, so I've always tried to watch her do them, so that I could learn myself. And then my grandmother is also like that (16).

As previous studies show, craft skills are highly valued, and women of older generations are commonly involved in it (Korsunova et al., 2023).

Additionally, schools have “Craft work” and “Home economics” as subjects in their basic education curriculum (Kokko and Räisänen, 2019). This is a good opportunity for young people to learn the skills. But this opportunity is not always available or used, although its value is acknowledged for and among young people. The data show that this practice may have a good potential for reinventing:

It would be a good idea if [repair skills] were taught in schools. It might be a good idea to include in the program how to mend a hole or something like that, how to attach a button, because you need [such skills] and then the threshold can be very high to start if you've never done it before […]. I have a feeling that many young people have values and those things are very important to them (19).

The practice of upcycling or redesigning and transforming clothing to enhance its value for reuse, is an example of prolonging the lifecycle of clothing (Fletcher, 2014, p. 118). The interviewees tried upcycling. They made a top out of a scarf, a vest by cutting out sleeves from a hoodie, shorts out of shortened jeans or embellished jeans with embroidery or jeans and shoes with paintings, among other things. Jeans were probably the most upcycling-friendly item. All these practices have great potential for sustainable fashion, but they appear to be sporadic, a way to experiment, have fun with clothes, explore one's own creativity, do a school project, or it is made at the request of friends and relatives. It is not a practice that is employed systematically:

I painted on [my brother’s] shoes and the jeans, so I made a kind of back pocket for the jeans, when he asked me to do that. And then I did something else on the thigh, like a painting thing. And then I painted the shoes, too (16).

Laundering is, in turn, a practice that affects clothing longevity (Fletcher, 2014, p. 92), which importance is underestimated for sustainable fashion. Laundering requires knowledge. Proper laundry can increase the lifespan of clothing, and improper laundry can quickly ruin a clothing item. Laundry at a lower temperature without tumble-drying and ironing saves energy (Fletcher, 2014, p. 97). A half of young people told they read laundry instructions; other half explains that they do not read them, take them for granted, do not care much or their parents do their family’s laundry. Some, however, acknowledge the importance of understanding laundering, explain laundering in detail, and give more nuanced examples of care for clothing:

I see that the most important maintenance of clothes is when you wash them. You have to know certain programs and the right detergents to keep the garment in good condition for a long time. If, well, this denim jacket had been washed unnecessarily much and completely wrongly, I don't think it would have survived from the 80s to this day (15).

The practices of laundering are more clearly explained in some interviews as some interviewees take it seriously: wash clothes rarely to extend their lifecycle; wash only matching-color items together; wash at a lower temperature or adhere to the recommended temperature; use the delicate program; wash items by hand if needed; wash only the dirty part, not the whole thing; dry items with air, not a tumble dryer; shake items after laundry so they are not wrinkled; determine whether items can and should be ironed. In addition, caring for clothes may include the use of a lint remover, a lint roller and even a cashmere comb.

Discard

The interviews revealed a pattern of practices in this end-of-life stage for clothing: storing, sharing, downcycling and recycling. If their owner does not want to wear them anymore, the clothes can be repurposed and transformed into clothes for home, the cottage or dirty work. They can be stored – sent to the basement to wait until they’re back in fashion or needed. They can be handed down or shared with siblings or friends, as discussed above. It is a very common practice to ask if anyone wants an item before sending it for recycling. Not-wanted clothes can be sold at a flea market or donated to charities. Donating to UFF, Recycling center (Kierrätyskeskus), Salvation Army is a very common way of dealing with end-of-life clothes. If clothes are not wearable anymore, they can be transformed into useful rags and mops (this is called “downcycling”). If clothes are ruined, they can end up in the trash bin afterwards. Recycling, or converting used materials into new ones, including the recovery of energy, is a common practice that is normalized in Finland (cf. Korsunova et al., 2023) as the country has infrastructure for dealing with end-of-life clothes without landfills:

I'm just thinking about whether to take it to a flea market or ask a friend, for example, if they want one of these. But so, probably a flea market would be the first thing I would think of. […] Sometimes clothes have turn into those “cottage clothes”. We have two cottages, so then always this could be taken even to the cottage because there often goes a bit more used, more raggedy clothes (6).

If it's something I wouldn't wear myself, I'd probably just sell it at a flea market. Often, we take the clothes to some other place and then when we accumulate more of them, we take a bigger pile at once […]. My mother has once rented a rail from Relove. It's just a flea market, so we rented [a rail from them] and then we took clothes there. And then we've taken clothes to the Recycling centre together and to the Salvation Army too (5).

End-of-life clothes can be resold. Reselling is a practice that can keep clothing “in the loop” and prolong its life. The energy needed to collect, sort and resell second-hand garments is 10–20 times less than that needed to make a new one (Fletcher, 2014, p. 119). It was discussed above that thrifting is popular among young people in Finland, but how about reselling? The data reveal a more complicated attitude toward reselling. The interviewees often mentioned that they tried to resell items, but only for a few it worked nicely:

I know that as soon as I have a piece of clothing left over, I know that I'm not going to wear it anymore. I take a picture of it, when I have time, and put it in my Tise [app for resale] profile. And sometimes it might be three months that no one buys anything, but then sometimes it might take several people a week, maybe two (2).

The infrastructure for reselling is quite well developed in the capital region of Finland. These are offline flea markets across the cities, a variety of digital platforms that offer different ways of reselling (Tise, Emmy, Zadaa or Facebook Market, as well as Tori.fi, among others), and the garments’ owners can either sell clothes themselves or outsource the process of selling to a platform, second-hand stores or another outlet. Digital skills help young consumers resell easier on platforms. One interviewee mentioned that they prefer reselling to returning, taking into consideration that returned garments can be not sold, but just destroyed by the brand.

Others, however, treat reselling as a hard job. Reselling is difficult for many of those who tried: it takes too much energy; it takes too long to sell something; one has to know the places that actually sell; a potential consumer may not show up at the agreed place; or it is just easier to give away than to sell:

You have to know the good places that they [consumers] actually go to buy those clothes. It seems to me that nowadays it's a bit harder to find a good place to sell things at a good price (13).

I had [application for reselling clothes] Zadaa for quite a long time. But now I think it’s inactive, because people put so many clothes there, that in a way, if you have clothes that have been there for several months, the probability of finding them [for potential clients] there is really low (19).

I’m not really in the mood when it comes to the sales process. […] I have tried, but more often they just stay on the rale, so then I just got read of them because I don’t have the energy to sell so much (8).

It seems that the second-hand clothing market has the same problem as the new clothing market: an oversupply of clothes that are difficult to sell because there are just too much of them. Potential sellers must have knowledge and skills in selling, which is not necessarily the case as different online platforms have different interfaces and rules. Offline events also need to be found, followed, and prepared for. The knowledge of how and where to resell clothing does not come automatically, as do not the skills to resell. Therefore, the practice of reselling competes with the practice of donating clothing to charities as it’s much easier to do. This, however, means that donating to charities, which is another sustainable practice of dealing with end-of-life clothing, will most likely be flourishing.

Discussion and conclusion

The article posed the following research questions: what clothing practices related to sustainable fashion can be observed in young consumers' daily lives in Finland’s capital region and what obstacles sustainable fashion consumption practices face?

The research considers following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice. It is a category associated with a number of dispersed practices that were grouped into a clothing use map that has three stages: acquisition, use and discard. The acquisition stage includes such practices as making clothes, shopping, or thrifting, refusing to buy and sharing. The use stage includes keeping and rotating clothes in the wardrobe, mending (repairing, upcycling) and laundering. The discard stage includes storing, repurposing, reselling and recycling.

The most notable of these practices that seem to make the biggest contribution to sustainable fashion in Finland are thrifting, sharing and recycling. These practices are already popular and widespread among young consumers. Whether consumers associate them with sustainability or not is a question that may not be that important for dispersed practices as they do not necessarily have a teleoaffective structure, i.e. a particular goal of being sustainable. More importantly, these practices are already spreading in young people's lives. There are also practices that may have better potential for contributing to sustainable fashion: mending (including upcycling), laundering and reselling. From the practice theory perspective, a practice is not developed if materials, meanings and competences have not fully come together. As this study shows, the main challenge for these practices to develop and further spread may be a lack of knowledge and skills, which create a high threshold for these practices to recruit practitioners.

The analysis has shown that there are several important actors that shape the sustainable fashion consumption of young people in Finland. The most important among them are family, friends, social media and school. These actors have influence and can nudge young consumers. Since the article is mainly about high school students, I put forward the argument that the educational system has a huge potential for promoting knowledge and skills related to sustainable fashion and a set of related practices. As practice theory scholars have emphasized, practices have a trajectory and a history (Warde, 2005, p. 139). Finland already has a history of teaching crafts and other relevant knowledge in such subjects as “Craft work” or “Home economics” (cf. Kokko and Räisänen, 2019). Therefore, schools could take a lead role in teaching not just basic repair skills; they are already taught to some extent. As Wilson (2023, p. 321) argues, nearly all studies have emphasized that consumers need to be educated on clothing longevity and sustainability, and this knowledge can be embedded in education. Schools could also educate students on how to maintain the garments or even how to resell them. These skills could be implemented as a part of the curriculum and subjects that are already there in a more systematic manner.

Implications to theory and practice

The study used a practice theory approach to explore the clothing behavior of Gen Z in the capital region of Finland. The analysis has shown some contradictory and supporting results from the previous studies. Due to the “value - action” gap (Williams and Hodges, 2022) or “attitude – behavior gap” (Djafarova and Foots, 2022; Park and Lin, 2020), there is a discrepancy between what consumers say and do. This concerns sustainable fashion consumption as well. However, following sustainable fashion as an integrative practice consists of many dispersed practices. At least one of them – thrifting, or shopping for used items, has been present across all interviews. Therefore, this allows for the assumption that, for this practice, the gap might be narrowing. However, the assumption still needs to be proved with observation of actual consumer behavior.

Previous studies have noted a low level of awareness regarding sustainability among young consumers, despite them being among the most well-aware consumers overall (Williams and Hodges, 2022; Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021; Khalil et al., 2021). This study, however, supports the opposing view of Djafarova and Foots (2022), who found strong awareness of Gen Z toward ethical and environmental issues. This study has demonstrated a high level of awareness among Finnish Gen Z consumers about fast and sustainable fashion. In turn, the awareness regarding greenwashing has varied. While Williams and Hodges (2022) stated that young people would boycott the companies they considered unsustainable, this study has shown that only some Gen Z consumers are sensitive toward companies' wrongdoings. Others trust the companies' rhetoric and do not recognize greenwashing.

Previous scholarship has stated that the desire to be fashionable outweighs the desire to be sustainable among young people (McNeil and Moore, 2015). The data allow me to put forward the argument that to be fashionable means to be sustainable among young consumers in Finland; or that sustainability is currently in fashion. Whether it is a short-term trend, or a long-term development is yet to be seen in future studies.

It was found that young people consume fewer ethical products because they are price-sensitive (Park and Lin, 2020). Indeed, Finnish Gen Z are thrifty and conscious about prices. This must be the reason why they choose second-hand outlets instead of more expensive sustainable fashion brands. Moreover, this study also confirms that Gen Z are not brand loyal, like Williams and Hodges (2022) stated. In addition, despite being called “digital natives” (Khalil et al., 2021; Djafarova and Foots, 2022; Korsunova-Tsaruk et al., 2021), young people in the capital area of Finland prefer offline over online shopping, doing it not just for the reason of saving money but also to enjoy the experience.

The practical implications of this study are that marketers and companies should take into account the consumer patterns of Gen Z. Sustainable fashion brands might face difficulties if they choose Gen Z as their customers, while thrift stores may, instead, find success. The companies should take into account that transparency is needed with this generation. To stand out in the eyes of the consumers, the companies could disseminate knowledge about greenwashing. In addition to companies, the study emphasizes the role of schools. Sustainable practices, in which clothing is involved, require competencies, knowledge and skills that the school, as an institution working closely with high school students, whose practices were mainly studied in this research, could help develop. Among such competences can be not only the ability to repair clothing, take proper care of it or do laundry in the right way, but also the skills to resell clothing through various channels.

Table 1

List of interviewees

No.	Gender	Age	Education
1	Female	16	High school
2	Female	16	High school
3	Female	17	High school
4	Female	17	High school
5	Female	17	High school
6	Female	17	High school
7	Female	17	Vocational school
8	Female	18	High School
9	Female	18	High school
10	Female	18	High school
11	Female	18	High school
12	Female	18	High school
13	Female	18	High school
14	Female	18	High school
15	Female	18	Vocational school
16	Female	19	High school
17	Female	20	University
18	Female	20	University
19	Female	21	University
20	Male	18	Vocational school
21	Male	19	Vocational school
22	Male	21	University

Source: Author’s own work

Table 2

Codes related to awareness of fast and sustainable fashion

Fast fashion	Sustainable fashion
Mass-produced at factories	Is not based on trends
Poor working conditions, child labor	Classy, timeless and higher quality
Based on trends, micro-trends	Produced sustainably, responsibly, with respect to nature, ethically
Trends change quickly	Good working conditions
Cheap	More expensive
Use synthetics, polyester	Use high-quality, environmentally friendly, natural, recycled materials
Not lasting, wears out quickly	Lasts long, durable, good quality
Discarded quickly, thrown away	Can be sold or handed down further, bought at flea markets
Create a textile waste problem	Environmentally friendly
Ultrafast fashion (Shein) is even worse	Has eco-certificates
Increases CO2 emission and other harmful consequences to nature

Source: Author’s own work

Table 3

Codes related to awareness of greenwashing

Supporters	Sceptics	Critics
Agreed with the actions of the companies Reproduce companies’ statements related to sustainability Do not reflect on greenwashing	Unsure about companies’ actions Identify controversies in companies’ rhetoric and actions Question the authenticity of companies’ statements, but do not directly speak of greenwashing	Critical toward companies Active position against companies’ wrongdoings Identify greenwashing and speak about it directly

Source: Author’s own work