Consumers’ awareness of the ethical issues associated with textile materials in the context of the ecological transition

Abstract

The ecological transition requires the transformation of consumers’ practices. However, for this transformation to occur, consumers must first be aware of the impacts of their practices. This article aims to understand how such awareness is achieved, through the study of textile materials in clothing. The analysis of 21 interviews conducted twice reveals the stages of the awareness process of textile materials. Reflection (moving from lived experience to representations) and then disadaptation (events creating a discrepancy between reality and representations) lead to conceptualization, from which the ethical issues involved gradually emerge. The first level of awareness concerns the impacts of textile materials on the durability of clothing. The second level concerns their impacts on the living world. These results, which fall within the scope of Transformative Consumer Research, provide guidelines to support changes in consumers’ practices toward a more ethical consumption.