Voices of the Future: Exploring University Students’ Perceptions of Sustainable Fashion Consumption and Environmental Footprint

Background: Despite growing environmental awareness, young adults often show limited engagement in practical sustainability initiatives. This study explored university students’ perceptions, reported practices, barriers, and facilitators across the clothing lifecycle to examine the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the attitude–behavior gap. Methods: Two complementary focus groups were conducted with 7 and 10 students, aged 18–25 years, at a Portuguese private university. Focus group interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, respecting emerging themes to achieve exploratory data sufficiency. Results: Participants expressed positive attitudes toward sustainability, despite their practices being constrained by informational, economic, and contextual barriers. Sustainability was valued but often perceived as ambiguous and difficult to apply. Across the lifecycle, decisions were primarily driven by price, aesthetics, and convenience, with sustainability emerging as secondary. Participants also reported limited knowledge regarding care, repair, and disposal practices, alongside restricted access to sustainable alternatives. Conclusions: Findings from this specific sample suggest that the attitude–behavior gap is sustained by phase-specific constraints, such as information, affordability, and disposal infrastructures. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how structural and social in-group barriers override environmental intentions, underscoring the need for collective, capability-building interventions.