The impact of consumer preferences on the alteration process of the sustainable fashion industry: An interdisciplinary analysis

With globalization, as in almost all sectors in economic life, international low-cost production has replaced local production in parallel with the understanding of fast and mass production in the fashion sector. Thus, the concept of "fast fashion" has emerged within the framework of the understanding of fast and high volume production. Instead of the quality of the product, fast fashion has focused the consumer on being able to consume products that can be substitutes for luxury brands at lower prices, earlier and in larger quantities. In direct proportion to the increase in the consumption of disposable products with the fast fashion trend, the amount of waste clothing has also increased; raw material use, water consumption and environmental damage during production have gained a new dimension. The concept of "sustainable fashion" stands out among the search for methods to ensure sustainability in the fashion industry, which is one of the sectors where natural resources are consumed the most. In this thesis, it is aimed to examine the sustainable fashion perspective in response to the ecological destruction caused by fast fashion practices. Unlike the existing studies in the relevant literature, this research aims to gain insights into the environmental responsibilities of consumers in the fashion sector and their ability to change/transform the process. For this purpose, six stratified income groups were determined in the study and a sample set was formed with randomly selected participants from these groups and a survey study; it was concluded that consumer decisions may have an impact on the change process of sustainable fashion and that the findings obtained may constitute a starting point for research to be carried out using more advanced research methods.