The Connective Thread: Exploring Chinese Gen Z early fashion adopters’ Value and Motivations Towards Upcycled Fashion with Means-End Theory

The circular economy becomes increasingly commonplace and is seen as a counterforce to the dominating fast fashion paradigm. Upcycling, understood here as a design strategy to create new items out of old ones, is one circular strategy that seeks to reduce textile waste. Although a relative niche concept, it increasingly gains popularity, with (luxury) fashion brands promoting upcycled fashion lines. This qualitative inquiry draws on 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore Chinese Gen Z early fashion adopters’ values and motivations towards upcycled fashion.
This study adopts means-end theory thereby linking product attributes to consequences and perceived values. This study contributes to knowledge by demonstrating how different values can be activated under different situation, which has not been fully explored under means-end theory. Here, different situation link to various levels and dimensions (e.g., new and past) of consumer knowledge. The findings outline that participants’ different perceived values were activated under different decision situation, linking to various knowledge levels and product attributes. This study contributes to the understanding of upcycled fashion products consumption and gives insights into purchasing criteria and behavioural choices from Chinese GenZ consumer’s perspective. Moreover, terminology on upcycled fashion raw materials can influence value perceptions, which provides practical recommendations through developing clear messaging strategies.