Sustainable luxury fashion

: determining consume's willingness to pay for product sustainability

Abstract

This master thesis with the title “Sustainable Luxury Fashion – Determining consumer´s willingness to pay for product sustainability” by the author Philipp Hennig, explores the significance of sustainability as a product attribute of luxury-fashion products. To quantify the importance, the willingness to pay was calculated among 111 self-selected global luxury consumers using a choice-based conjoint analysis. Based on academic literature, the study categorizes luxury consumers into Social, Individual, Functional, Financial, and Sustainable segments. This research further investigated the moderating effect of age to examine if younger luxury consumers have a higher willingness to pay for sustainability. Among all studied consumer segments, quality was the most important product attribute, followed by sustainability. Generation Y&Z consumers, apart from social luxury consumers, did not have a higher willingness to pay for sustainability as a product attribute. This research indicates that sustainability has a positive effect on luxury consumer's willingness to pay for luxury fashion. With an average willingness to pay of €462.94, luxury fashion consumers are willing to pay more for a higher level of sustainability. Based on the insights gained, this research recommends incorporating sustainability as a core motivation for luxury purchases into existing frameworks. For companies, this research provides evidence that sustainability is important not only for creating a favorable image and complying with regulations but also because luxury consumers value product sustainability.

Date of Award	27 Jun 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paul Lapoule (Supervisor)