Fast Fashion and Its Environmental, Economic, and Social Impacts: Consumer Awareness, Attitudes, and Perceptions

Fast fashion is increasingly associated with significant environmental, economic, and social consequences. This article examines consumer awareness of fast fashion, purchasing behavior, attitudes towards this model, and perceptions of its selected negative impacts. The study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted on a sample of 577 respondents. Descriptive analysis was complemented by inferential testing using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test. The results suggest that respondents were generally familiar with the concept of fast fashion and perceived its environmental impacts more strongly than its economic or cultural dimensions. Textile waste, water pollution, water and energy consumption, and excessive use of natural resources were among the most strongly perceived issues. In the social dimension, respondents reported relatively strong perceptions of child labor, human rights violations, health risks, and employee exploitation. Inferential analysis showed that respondents familiar with the concept of fast fashion perceived the environmental burden of textile waste more strongly than those unfamiliar with it. At the same time, respondents who reported purchasing fast fashion expressed a less negative attitude towards it than non-buyers. These findings point to a possible gap between awareness and actual consumer behavior in the field of sustainable fashion consumption.