“Where my Girls at?” : Exploring the relationship between African-American femaleconsumers and Sustainable Fashion

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between American consumersand “Environmentally and Ethically Sustainable Fashion” (EESF), with a specific focus on African-American female consumers in order to discover how relevant EESF is in their lifestyles and fashionconsumption practices. Additionally, the study aims to investigate if African-American femaleconsumers are being overlooked in the discourse surrounding EESF.Methodology: The research was qualitative with an inductive approach. A survey was conductedelectronically in order to collect data, and was designed using research collected from literature,scientific articles and online resources. Using the method of snowball sampling, respondents weregathered from a pool of my cohorts, who further distributed the survey on to their contacts.Findings: The findings suggest that African-American female consumers are aware and haveknowledge of EESF, however EESF is not relevant in their lifestyles and fashion consumptionroutines. The literature review which was conducted prior to collecting the data indicates that African-American female consumers are being overlooked in the discourse surrounding EESF and theconcepts surrounding it.Contributions: The findings in this study have managerial implications which will prompt thescientific community, governments, organizations and apparel brands to further study this group ofconsumers in order to assess better ways to reach them in ways that are relevant to their lifestyles andfashion consumption practices. The study also contributes to the existing literature about the consumerbehavior and fashion consumption practices of African-American women.