Exploring Indian millennials’ sustainable clothing purchase decisions: a qualitative study

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the motivators and demotivators influencing millennials’ purchase of sustainable clothing, providing insights into their consumer behavior. The burgeoning sustainable clothing market promises to address sustainability challenges within the fashion industry, making a nuanced understanding of these factors crucial. Design/methodology/approach This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) based on a sample size of 17 millennials in India. It is a qualitative approach that delves into consumers’ personal experiences. By focusing on individual perspectives, this technique enables researchers to extract common themes from the data, providing profound insights. Findings Millennials are driven to purchase sustainable clothing by moral responsibility, environmental concern, biodiversity conservation, pricing, brand appeal, social recognition, self-satisfaction, comfort, quality, durability, well-being, timeless designs and waste reduction. However, limited variety, color options and awareness hinder their adoption. Practical implications Fashion brands must expand variety, provide clear sustainability labels, educate consumers, leverage social influencers and align marketing with consumers’ ethical values to boost sustainable fashion adoption. Moreover, educators should embed sustainability in interdisciplinary learning to build environmental awareness and ethical responsibility. Originality/value This study provides pioneering insights into the purchasing decisions of millennials, framed within the value–belief–norm theory. This is a novel study to examine motivators and demotivators related to sustainable clothing and suggest solutions to encourage the purchase of sustainable clothing to attain sustainable development goal 12. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is also one of the first studies on sustainable clothing, using IPA as the research methodology.