In 2013, SAPIENS Network Ethics, Open Science and Equal Opportunity Champion Małgorzata Koszewska published the article “A typology of Polish consumers and their behaviours in the market for sustainable textiles and clothing” in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, Volume 37 Issue 5. The International Journal of Consumer Studies, “…provides an international forum for academic and research papers relating to all areas of consumer research. IJCS is ranked as an A grade journal by Australian Business Deans Council. It publishes articles of interest to an international audience and at the leading edge of consumer research throughout the world. “

Article Abstract

The paper discusses Polish consumers’ behaviours in the market for sustainable textiles and clothing. The analysis presented in this article was undertaken because of:

1. the scarcity of studies on socially responsible consumption in so-called new consumer countries characterized by slowly developing ethical consumer movement;

2. few studies analysing consumer behaviour compared with the volume of literature exploring sustainable development and corporate social responsibility of textile and cloth- ing manufacturers.

The typology of Polish consumers presented in this article was developed based on consumers’ buying habits and general apparel selection criteria, and also on ecological and social criteria that other typologies and clothing market segmentations omit. The six types of consumers that emerged from the analysis were described with respect to their specific attitudes to sustainable textiles and clothing. In analysing the consumers’ behaviours, the following aspects were addressed: communication between customers and producers, product differentiation and actual purchases made by consumers.

The full article is now available on the Lodz University of Technology Repository.