Forming Sustainable Attachments to Clothes

This paper presents a study of how people form attachments to clothing. The aesthetic dimension is a fundamental attribute when consumers are forming product attachment. Yet the concept of

beauty in clothing can be approached through a social, cultural and temporal context and in a multi- sensorial way. Furthermore positive experiences, memories, family ties, expressions of self, promises of future experiences, and emotions are essential characteristics that allow consumers to construct an attachment to clothes. In addition certain design styles, colors and materials enable sustainable attachments to form. The notion of sustainable attachment includes reflective dimensions, which can lead to a more discursive engagement with clothing. The study explores these issues and creates arguments for sustainable attachments based on an online consumer questionnaire conducted in Finland in 2009. In this study a table has been constructed which summarizes sustainable product attachments to clothing.