No. SI2 (2026): Special Issue RHITA Reshaping Italian Fashion
Essays

Understanding fashion consumption between sustainable intentions and actual behaviour

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  • Gabriela Fabro Cardoso,
  • Valeria Iannilli
Gabriela Fabro Cardoso
Politecnico di Milano
Valeria Iannilli
Politecnico di Milano
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3926

Published 09-03-2026

Keywords

  • fashion consumption,
  • co-design,
  • sustainability,
  • intention–action gap,
  • user insights

How to Cite

Fabro Cardoso, G., & Iannilli , V. (2026). Understanding fashion consumption between sustainable intentions and actual behaviour. Fashion Highlight, (SI2). https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3926

Copyright (c) 2026 Gabriela Fabro Cardoso, Valeria Iannilli

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article explores and discusses how fashion consumers interpret sustainability today, highlighting the gap that often exists between stated intentions and actual purchasing behaviour. Through a participatory workshop, the research reconstructs the attitudes, motivations, and obstacles that influence daily choices regarding fashion products. The activities carried out (based on scenarios, narratives, and visual tools) made it possible to outline a series of archetypes that represent both current practices and aspirations towards more responsible models, focused on transparency, quality, and circularity. The results offer useful insights for small and medium-sized enterprises to better understand new consumer profiles and orient strategies, communication and services towards greater sustainability and inclusion.

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