Shanghai’s development into sustainable consumption : an insight from a retail apparel’s industry on change in consumer behavior

Abstract: The concept of sustainable consumption is today an important area, due to the fact that humans of the world consume goods and services on a regular basis which contributes towards environmental change and deprivation of both renewable as well as nonrenewable resources. One of the areas that this concept can be applied within is the retail apparel industry. The consumption of clothing is an influential cause of the ongoing environmental alteration and the unsustainable consumption of textile and apparel is becoming an increasingly important phenomena. This study investigates how the retail apparel industry in Shanghai perceive consumers behavior towards sustainable consumption. The Chinese middle class is anticipated to increase a certain percentage the upcoming years. As a result it will lead to a heave in the consumption of all resources which will leave a considerable environmental impact. Sweden is considered to be one of the leading countries when it comes to sustainable living. In order to follow Sweden path of success in sustainable consumption a review has been conducted regarding important drivers which Sweden has adapted in order to improve attitudes towards sustainable consumption. These drivers are then later on compared to Shanghai’s current situation to see if they can be used to achieve the same result in Shanghai as they did in Sweden.The primary data consists of semi-structured interviews which have been conducted in Shanghai with established recycling retailers and Nordic retail vendors with a strong base in Sweden that have managed to establish their brand in China. The research findings that were concluded in the theoretical framework and the organizational review positioned three important drivers that can be used when analyzing the concept of sustainable consumption - consumers, businesses and the government. It has also been empirically proven that in comparison to Sweden where consumer’s behavior and attitudes towards sustainability are increasing and socially accepted, Shanghai demonstrates that the concept of sustainable consumer behavior and consumption is not as equally developed and accepted.