Assessing the Willingness to Pay for Different Types of Multi‐Level Sustainability Labels in the Sports Apparel Industry

ABSTRACT Labels are effective tools for marketing environmentally and socially sustainable goods and can positively affect consumers' willingness to pay. But sustainability labeling is still rather uncommon in the sports sector and there is hardly any pertinent research. This is why this study analyses the impact of two different types of sustainability labels on the willingness to pay of German runners for sports apparel with the following research question: How do a percentage‐based and a graphic label differ in their effect on consumers' willingness to pay for sustainable sports shirts? The data for this study were collected with two panel surveys that each include a choice‐based conjoint analysis to assess the respondents' willingness to pay. In the first data collection, a percentage‐based label is used to communicate environmental and social sustainability, and a graphic one in the second. The results show that the willingness to pay increases with higher levels of environmental and social sustainability in both samples. However, by communicating with graphic labels, lower levels of sustainability are already rewarded with a comparably high willingness to pay. For the percentage‐based labels, the willingness to pay increases more gradually. These insights have many implications for academia, businesses, and political institutions.