Exploring the Sustainability Concepts Regarding Leather Apparel in China and South Korea

Sustainability in business and personal life has increased over the past few years and is continuing to develop. Consumption in the clothing and textiles industry causes a significant impact on the environment and utilizes unsustainable practices, from clothing production to use and disposal. With shifts toward a more sustainable future within the government, businesses, and society, the apparel industry and consumers must prepare for a sustainable future. This study examines the determinants of sustainable apparel consumption behavior in China and South Korea. Theoretical and practical evidence from the literature on sustainable consumption is applied to develop a model for investigating the consumers’ behavioral intentions to buy, use, and recommend sustainable leather apparel products. Environmental knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, sustainable consumption beliefs, and self-enhancement are proposed as key determinants of behavioral intention to buy, use, and recommend eco-friendly faux leather apparel (E-FLA). The hypothesized antecedents of these concepts are part of the model, as modified by the theory of planned behavior, and the model is examined using structural equation modeling on data from a sample of 450 respondents collected in China and South Korea. An analysis of data is carried out to identify the underlying dimensions of sustainable consumption beliefs and behaviors including pro-environmentalism, social responsibility, and animal conservation. The results show that the key determinants of behavioral intentions to buy, use, and recommend E-FLA are pro-environmentalism and social responsibility, which are related to sustainable consumption belief dimensions and consumers’ self-enhancement. The positive determinants of sustainable consumption beliefs are found to be both environmental knowledge and perceived consumer effectiveness. These results suggest the need for greater environmental knowledge and perceived consumer efficiency in the effort to achieve more sustainable clothing consumption. The implications of the findings for public policy and recommendations for further studies are outlined and discussed.