Extending the lifecycle of clothes during Covid-19

19 April 2022

Two studies carried out with the Centre for Behaviour Change examined factors affecting the purchase, repair, repurpose and disposal of clothes by people in the UK before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Preserving resources and minimising waste is a key policy commitment set out by the UK Government.听In the UK, although the average lifecycle of clothing items is 2.2 years, approximately 30% of clothes are used for less than a year, leading to an estimated 拢140 million in landfills.听

To better understand the factors which encourage or prevent people in the UK from extending the lifetime of their clothes, two survey studies were carried out with a representative sample of the public:

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Extending Clothing Lifecycle and Enhancing Disposal Methods

Researcher: Shahd听AbdelMohsen

Citation and link to report:听
AbdelMohsen, S. (2022, April 14). Extending clothing lifecycle and enhancing disposal methods for a UK consumer sample. 听

This research investigated what motivates those who are not environmentally conscious to use a clothing item for longer, and sustainably dispose of it, using听the consumer decision process model and dual-systems theory. Participants answered survey items about the attributes of clothing products which they value (such as material quality and trendiness) and a linear mixed modelling approach was used to examine how these predict sustainable clothing consumption, as well as the role of the Covid-19 pandemic in changing habits.听

The study found that听people who highly value material quality are more likely to highly value a long clothing lifecycle, sustainably dispose of their clothes, use clothing听for 听longer听and repair and repurpose 听more frequently.听People in middle income brackets were least likely to repair and repurpose their clothes, while those in the top and bottom income brackets were more likely to.听Participants who valued trendiness were less likely to value a long lifecycle, although this did not necessarily translate into actually disposing of clothes faster. During the Covid-19 pandemic, some participants experienced disruption to their habits around impulsive purchasing, but for people who already had a low level of sustainable behaviour this led to them engaging in even more unsustainable behaviour. The听correspondence between people's actual behaviour and their self-perception of behaving sustainably varied between men and women.

Policy implications:听

Labelling clothes could听help consumers to identify听the product attributes that matter听to them that also have a听positive听impact听on the sustainability of product life cycle听and disposal method.
Future interventions on extending lifecycle and enhancing disposal shoulddivide consumer segments based on gender.
As for interventions targeting repairing and repurposing, consumer segments arebetter divided by income.

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Barriers and Enablers to Clothing Repair and Repurpose

Researcher: Lisa Zhang

Citation and link to report:听
Zhang, L., & Hale, J. (2022, April 15). Barriers and Enablers to Clothing Repair and Repurpose in UK Citizens.

This study听investigated听barriers and enablers to clothing repair and repurpose, defined as 听mending 听damaged 听clothes, 听altering 听poorly 听fitting 听clothes, 听and 听upcycling 听or refashioning 听unwanted 听clothes. The research applied听 an 听interdisciplinary 听framework known as the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW), which provides a structured approach to achieving behaviour change in support of policy objectives. Given the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this study also investigated whether COVID-19 has acted as a 鈥榤oment of change鈥� in encouraging clothing repair and repurpose.

Repair and repurpose was found to be relatively infrequent among UK citizens, withthe majority engaging in the behaviour every six months or less often. COVID-19 had no significant impact on this. The main barriers to repair and repurpose concerned skills (lack 听of 听skills), 听environmental 听context 听and 听resources (poor 听product 听design, competing 听influence 听of 听fast 听fashion, 听unaffordability 听of 听repair 听services), 听and 听identity (lack 听of 听identity). 听The 听key enablers 听concerned 听knowledge (awareness of fashion鈥檚 environmental 听impact), 听memory, 听attention 听and 听decision 听processes (ability 听to 听focus during 听DIY 听tasks), social 听influences 听(dynamic 听norms), beliefs 听about 听consequences (beliefs about benefits of repair and repurpose), emotion (attachment to clothing), and reinforcement (routine and habit).

Policy implications:

Awareness campaigns will continue to be an important part of any intervention for听repair听and repurpose, but greater active participation and collaboration听is needed from听businesses,听retailers,听and local 听and national authorities.
Awareness campaigns must be combined with environmental restructuring and enablement to increase opportunity.
Examples of environmental restructuring could include offering free services and kits, and extending 'right to repair' laws or the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.
Examples of enablement could include supporting community initiatives, such as repair cafes, which may also strengthen social norms around repairing and repurposing clothes.

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This research was supervised by Dr Jo Hale at the Centre for Behaviour Change through the UCL Behavioural Insights Exchange.

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