Although greater than 70 % of Europeans need to make extra sustainable vogue selections, important limitations are holding them again.
Trellis information companion GlobeScan just lately partnered with European vogue platform Zalando to conduct a complete research of Gen Z and Millennial shopper attitudes, behaviors and expectations relating to vogue and sustainability throughout 5 European nations. The findings reveal a big aspiration-action hole:
- 74 % need to be extra sustainable sooner or later by preserving clothes gadgets for longer or extending their lifespan
- 71 % of shoppers aspire to buy extra sustainably
- 66 % of shoppers say they’re making extra sustainable vogue selections
And but, persistent limitations mood shopper ambitions:
- 41 % mentioned the value premium related to sustainable vogue is a number one deterrent
- 27 % mentioned it was troublesome figuring out sustainable gadgets
- 24 % mentioned they didn’t know the place to search out sustainable vogue selections
- 21 % mentioned they’d restricted data of sustainable vogue
- 19 % had skepticism towards sustainability claims
These information-related challenges are going down in a shifting regulatory panorama the place new anti-greenwashing guidelines goal to enhance transparency however can even make it extra advanced for manufacturers and retailers to speak clearly about their sustainability efforts.
What this implies
These findings, which had been supplemented with interviews with business consultants, underscore the significance of bridging the hole between aspiration and motion in sustainable vogue. There’s important untapped potential for extra sustainable vogue behaviors, however provided that key limitations are addressed.
Vogue manufacturers and retailers have a vital function to play, whether or not by tackling the value premium by product innovation or by emphasizing the added worth that customers are keen to pay extra for, reminiscent of sturdiness or high quality. They’ll additionally harness the business’s inventive strengths to speak sustainability extra successfully and compellingly.
Nonetheless, closing the aspiration-action hole requires greater than retailer or brand-level initiatives. It calls for coordinated efforts throughout the complete vogue ecosystem—from policymakers, regulators, social media platforms, influencers and society.
Based mostly on a survey of greater than 5,000 Gen Z and Millennial shoppers in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the U.Ok. performed in February 2025.