Fashion consumption using minimalism: Exploring the relationship of consumer well-being and social connectedness

The dominance of minimalism as a lifestyle among individuals and its influence on sustainable consumption has increased significantly; still, the concept within academic literature is conjecture in nature and exploratory to date. Also, a concrete definition of the concept and empirical evidence is lacking in academic literature and hence needs to be systemically established. In this context, minimalism has been proposed as a deliberate paradigm shift in consumer behavior grounded on the sustainable lifestyle principle. The data were collected using a highly structured questionnaire from 436 consumers and analyzed using process macros analysis techniques. The study indicates that minimalism is a sustainable lifestyle choice and helps people in achieving consumer well-being and life satisfaction focus on what matters the most in life and where to devote their energies. As a result, people with greater life satisfaction and consumer well-being are likely to experience more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, eventually leading to an overall state of positive emotional well-being. Moreover, minimalists with high control over their consumption desire further strengthen this relationship. This research deepens the understanding of minimalism in an Asian context by opening a future research avenue and exploring the additional contributions minimalism can make. Moreover this study offers a clear rationale to understand why it is valuable for customers to incorporate minimalism into their lifestyles, which has the potential to motivate the manufacturer to seek more significant production modes which accord with the minimalistic lifestyle.