Purchasing Habits
OnePoll conducted an internal research project exploring purchasing habits of clothes to understand more about how these have changed in the past 5-years and if such changes are influenced by the environmental and/or social impacts of textile production. This comes as the fashion industry contributes to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions, and without substantial change it is projected to consume a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050.
March 2025
The Research
2,000 UK individuals who have purchased clothes new or second hand in the past 5 years were interviewed about their purchasing habits. The online survey included 20 questions that covered general habits, motivations behind purchasing changes, individual’s trust with brands and future hopes moving forwards in terms of making sustainable options more readily available.
The Results
The results were collated into an Excel report, with cross breaks for age, gender, generation and region. Results were further visualised in a dashboard, an executive summary as well as a presentation of the findings. The research found over half buy clothes new (55%) over second-hand (40%), spending an average of £95 in the past 3-months. Although 49% say their purchasing habits have changed in some way in the past 5 years, nearly a third (30%) believe it is unlikely they will continue to change in the next year. In terms of environmental and/or social impacts, 3 in 4 respondents rarely or never investigate such topics whilst purchasing their clothes, with over a half (55%) of these respondents believing they could be doing more. Although, the level of accessibility of such information is mixed with 33% finding it difficult to find.
Connection to brands was also mixed amongst the respondent pool, with 24% saying they do not trust that the clothing brands/stores they currently shop at are doing enough to minimize their environmental impact, with 23% believing they do trust them. Moving forward, respondents want to see clearer labels on clothes about how and where they were made, more transparency about sourcing and production from brands and cheaper sustainable fashion options. Just over a third (34%) agree that purchasing clothes can be done sustainably, with little to no environmental and/or social impacts.