Is Fast Fashion a Collective Consumption Trap? Evidence from Individual and Collective Valuations
(A2026-134238)

AUTHORS

Birgit Stoltenberg, Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions; Franchessca Guillen Rivera, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg; Francisco Layrisse, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

ABSTRACT

Fast fashion drives environmental harm and labour exploitation, yet, despite growing awareness of these facts, its consumption continues to grow. Building on the concept of product market traps, this study examines whether fast fashion functions as a collective consumption trap, where social coordination and status motives sustain potentially harmful behaviour. A three-stage online experiment (N = 254 U.K. participants) elicited individual and collective valuations of abstinence from fast fashion. Results show that social influence reduces the perceived costs of abstention, negative societal valuation persists. Participants prefer collective over unilateral abstention, highlighting a social coordination problem in which individuals struggle to align their purchasing behaviour to collectively exit fast fashion consumption. Policy implications include systemic regulation, social-pressure reduction and support for sustainable alternatives.