Transforming the fashion industry’s supply chain

: an analysis of public perceptions and willingness to pay for sustainable transformation

Abstract

The basis of this thesis is a business idea based on building a sustainable supply chain for the fashion industry by transforming its upstream activities through a consultancy firm. The aim of this thesis was to determine the most problematic upstream activities and identify the sustainability initiatives that are most impactful in countering these problems. The impact was measured through a quantitative analysis of consumer's WTP an additional cost (25%) for a sustainability initiative. Four sustainability initiatives were shortlisted after analysing the social and environmental impacts of the upstream activities, product composition, recycle/repair/reuse, transparency, and responsible sourcing. An online survey was conducted, and participants were presented with scenarios representing each initiative. Linear regression model was used to identify if demographics or the influence of sustainability had any impact on the participant9s WTP for each initiative. The purpose of this analysis was to determine if there was a pattern in the general population on how they perceive different initiatives. The results of this analysis indicated that participants that were more influenced by the social and environmental impacts were more likely to pay 25% more for a product that is composed of recycled materials. It further revealed that females were more likely to pay 25% more for a brand that is actively taking initiatives to recycle/repair/reuse, and age has a negative impact on this initiative, while income has a positive impact on this initiative. No significant impact was observed for the transparency initiative, whereas females were more likely to pay 25% more for a product that is sourced responsibly.

Date of Award	24 Oct 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)