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The fashion industry generates substantial economic activity and employs over 1.7 million people in Europe (Nikolina, 2019). From a sustainability perspective its importance is relevant as up to 10% of the EU’s environmental impact from consumption happens due to the fashion industry (Nikolina, 2019). Style, price, culture, personal attitudes towards sustainability, and other factors are contributing toward a rapid growth in the European second-hand apparel market (Woo & Kim, 2020).
The paper explores the second-hand clothing category and consumer attitudes through the lens of the Bulgarian current and prospective buyers. The study contains an overview of three established second-hand outlets, and a newly minted online platform - Unboxd. An overview of the selected businesses features their main product offering attributes, portfolio, and marketing activities.
An anonymous, voluntary, online quantitative survey was conducted in Bulgaria with a total of 300 respondents, of which 220 completed the survey to its entirety. The respondent split is 65% female and 35% male. The most common age group was between 18 and 26 years of age with 46%. 83% of the respondents have purchased clothing online and over 72% have already bought-second hand clothes. The research captures the attitudes of Bulgarians towards the second-hand (2H) fashion industry and its connection with sustainability. It tests three hypotheses about (1) which aspects Bulgarian consumers find to be most essential for 2H clothing, (2) attitudes for buying 2H clothes, and (3) most trustworthy message sources. It further tests the motivation of Bulgarian consumers to purchase 2H clothes, based on aspects, which can be linked to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
52% of the participants considered the lower prices of high-quality clothing as a very relevant factor for buying 2H clothes. In contrast, only 15% found the environmental benefit of saving up to 3 liters of water to be a highly compelling reason for purchasing 2H apparel. “Respected friends” are the most trusted sources for 2H clothing with 56% of answers being “I trust the source” and 21% are “I fully trust the source”. On the other end of the spectrum, only 1% of respondents entirely trust models and less than 2% answered “I fully trust the source” for company representatives.
The research concludes that affordability is still one of the most important aspects for Bulgarians purchasing 2H clothing, that the experiential hierarchy of attitude is most commonly applied for clothing. Referent power is claimed as one of the most compelling message sources for apparel. Although the message related to self-actualization was the most well-received, no definitive category of Maslow's hierarchy of needs was identified as a strong motivator for purchasing second-hand clothes.
Keywords: sustainable fashion, second hand clothing, consumer attitudes towards second-hand clothing in Bulgaria, fashion industry in Bulgaria, online clothing retailing, motivation for purchasing second hand clothing, attitude hierarchy in second hand clothing
