A greener world through Collaborative Consumption of Apparel: An Exploratory Study of consumers’ perception and preferences

Fast fashion and overconsumption have contributed to the increase in apparel waste, raising concerns for the environment. Collaborative consumption can give the solution to ecological anxiety around apparel manufacturing by encouraging recycling and reuse of existing goods thereby reducing landfill waste. Consumer orientation such as fashion awareness and magnificence realization would be less characterized in second-hand apparel utilization. Companies in the apparel industry trying to find innovative sustainable business models may look around collaborative consumption as a potential path to achieve market competence along with adequacy and sustainability. The review of literature on collaborative consumption along with second-hand apparel use was analyzed to understand the relevant issues for the industry, marketers, and consumers to adopt the consumption of sustainable fashion. The study through a primary survey explores the possibility of adopting collaborative consumption in apparel. The study also provides insight into the perception and preferences of consumers towards the collaborative consumption of apparel.


Introduction
The emerging trends in fashion have made it easy for the consumer to purchase apparel leading to bulk production and rapid consumption. It brings pressure on the manufacturers to rapidly create and produce new products, and on the consumer to replace the old with new styles and to get rid of the fashion product to satisfy their desires (Joy et al., 2012). Countless clothing is disposed of, being considered out of style or trend. Every year, consumers stop wearing garments worth around USD 460 billion, resulting in an estimated 92 million tons of waste annually (Herrmann, 2017;Amed et al., 2020). Continuous and frequent purchase of apparel by consumers merely ensures that they have exceeded their financial competence and satisfied their need to look unique and trendy. The contextualization of environmental responsibility is based on the harmful effect of the current business model and the lack of ethical thoughts, stances, social customs, and individual actions (Dylan, 2012).
Purchasing a sustainable product not only involves sustainable consumption but also post-purchase behavior with the product i.e., reusing and recycling. Collaborative consumption in the form of renting or swapping apparel is pivotal in achieving sustainable consumption practices (WRAP, 2012). This mode of consumption increases the lifespan of apparel as well as improves the demand and supply of used apparel. The concept of collaborative consumption provides several key opportunities for apparel manufacturers and consumers to save money.
This research aims to conduct an empirical study and explore consumer behavior concerning collaborative consumption. The study contributes to the literature on collaborative consumption and provides insights into consumer behavior explaining the consumer's intention toward renting, swapping, and using second-hand apparel. Collaborative consumption brings a vital change in consumer behavior towards buying and utilizing, through online and offline modes. To build a successful collaborative consumption business model, one should aim to target consumers who have the resemblance of preferences and choices with each other. The model should highlight the savings that consumers will obtain from collaborative consumption along with ecological benefits.

Literature Review
According to Felson and Speath (1978), collaborative consumption is "the event in which one or more persons consume economic goods or services in the process of engaging in joint activities with one or more others". Collaborative consumption is a process where the consumer coordinates to acquire and distribute the resource for cost or other reimbursements. The other orientation defines giving and receiving in the form of non-monetary reimbursement (bartering, trading, and swapping). Collaborative consumption is also defined as accessing products and services for a limited period rather than claiming them for a lifetime, and it is ideal for consumer goods with a regular inactive capability. (Botsman & Rogers, 2010., Hamari et al., 2016. According to Botsman & Rogers (2011), collaborative consumption was developed to fit with the concept of "people, planet, and profit": to reduce manufacturing needs (planet), motivate consumers to interact (people), and create new economic opportunities (profit)". Collaborative consumption is the market-mediated access that separates the concept of access-based consumption (Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2012). Consumers have a major concern about the availability of sustainable products but have shown a positive attitude toward sustainable consumption (Bhatia & Jain, 2013). There is an evident need for more focused and analytical emphasis, not just on terminology, but as well as to the wide range of phenomena that come under the umbrella of the collaborative economy (Cheng, 2016).
Collaborative consumption is an innovative theory in the digital world, which is facilitated through the internet that allows customers to join and collaborate with modest operation expenditure. Belk (2014) defines collaborative consumption as "People coordinating the acquisition and distribution of a resource for a cost or other compensation mainly through the digital method." Collaborative consumption describes the rapid spread and appearance of a new arrangement in the usage pattern among consumers (Guttentag, 2015). For several years, the sharing economy and collaborative consumption have been the subject of debate among society and scholars regarding the future of consumption. According to Schor and Fitzmaurice (2015) Collaborative consumption applies to consolidate essentials from the different zones of 'the market' and 'the society', which can attract consumers. The sharing economy can be seen as a subset of socio-digital experiments with the dual potential, that encourages more sustainable consumption and production habits associated with ongoing processes and integrate digital tools into social-economic systems throughout the economy (Martin, 2016). The combination of different market models in collaborative consumption is distinguished by various methods of exchange that will or might not work outside the traditional market (Scaraboto, 2015). Collaborative consumption is a rapidly growing phenomenon, which explores consumer intention and attitude towards the sharing economy (Möhlmann, 2015). Collaborative consumption is expected to increase the social impact in future as it gives consumers the facility to resourcefully modify, manage and additionally decrease their use of products while dropping the environmental effects due to increased life span. (PwC, 2015;Zamani et al., 2017). Collaborative consumption is an innovative mode of utilization, which may promote sustainability. The positive environmental effect of collaborative consumption asks about the possibility of escalating the use-strength and apparel life and reducing the use of recent apparel. Collaborative consumption generates encouragement for green design, and reusability, also because of the opportunities for brand-spanking new specialized and proficient apparel care (Iran & Schrader, 2017). The current platform in collaborative consumption of apparel does not emerge to hold sustainability although various facets in the digital network might surely be utilized to reinforce sustainability pointers. Threepointers that can evaluate the digital platforms and have a focus on collaborative consumption: Resource competence, society, and the nature of the business (Joyner Armstrong . Collaborative consumption features two major aspects of utilization "utility-based non-ownership and redistributed ownership." Utility-based nonownership offers temporary and advance-paid rental, but in the case of redistributed ownership, the consumer can give the goods through renting or swapping frequently. It may also be understood that redistributed ownership is more equivalent to traditional ownership. Consumer behavior regarding these emerging consumption phenomena holds three important relationships: consumer-merchandise, consumer-consumer, and consumer-business . The economic appeal significantly contributes to a more choice-based set while social appeal contributes to social relationships towards the community (Tussyadiah & Pesonen, 2016). Traditional apparel manufacturing is seen as problematic from both aspects of community and ecology. Consumers these days have become more sensitive, and they wish to utilize the goods for a longer period, despite changes in the trends, and seasons. Even though uniqueness is naturally considered as conflicting between durability and adaptability, sustainable apparel is most attractive when all these qualities are incorporated (Tey et al., 2018). Fashion apparel is produced with complex processes, where their fit with a large population remains a major concern (Brownbridge et al., 2018). Collaborative consumption is determined by two factors (hedonic motives and utilitarian needs) and remains a discrete segment concept. The foremost obstacles from the customer's perspective are "health and hygiene worries, the inadequacy of information, disbelief and ownership, utilization practice, and other customer-related obstacles that are complicated to overcome" (Becker-Leifhold, 2018).
Uncertainty could also be the key issue from an organizational perspective. The organization cannot guarantee that buyers will give the same attention to similar apparel on every exchange. This is also associated with the consumer experience, as the availability of quality and proper fit, are often a worry for the organization which can engage individuals. Consumers becoming suppliers is a way of accountability along with ownership of their apparel utilization, thus creating an inclusive society and neutralizing the effect that the apparel industry has created on the environment (Henninger et al., 2019). Collaborative consumption portrays a promising technique to decrease waste through renting and swapping, by increasing the consumption of apparel beyond normal usage. Collaborative consumption in apparel includes modes like renting and swapping where ownership is transferable from one to another (Park & Joyner Armstrong, 2019).
Consumers are socially responsible when it comes to the purchase, use, and disposal of clothing. Environmentally concerned consumers place high importance on community social values as well as the practical worth of recycled clothing (Sung & Kincade, 2010). Renting apparel gives customers fulfillment from the use of goods without the burden of proprietorship (Moeller & Wittkowski, 2010). Botsman (2013) has shown collaborative consumption has three distinctive frameworks: paying to get to the utilization of items rather than possession, relocation of undesirable or underutilized items, and trade & exchange of non-item resources in innovative manners. Renting and swapping are two kinds of collaborative consumption, which have generated curiosity within the apparel industry. The rental organization keeps up the responsibility for items and can lease to numerous shoppers on various occasions, creating benefits (Pedersen & Netter, 2015). Swapping is a component of the sharing economy and can be defined as a specific component of collaborative consumption in the context of fashion. (Iran & Schrader, 2017) Trading garments include an exchange of possession that centers around the redistribution of undesirable or under-used items, expanding the utilization and life expectancy of these goods.  Consumers who have positive behavior toward sustainability or have a cheerful outlook towards collaborative consumption have a stronger inclination to acquire rent or swap in the future. (Lang & Joyner Armstrong, 2018). Organizations targeting the consumer of a similar group (e.g., co-workers, friends) while participating in a commercial sharing system should keep in mind that consumption within similar groups or consumer segments is not always preferable as it may generate competing demands and perceived scarcity. A consumer with higher product usage will face less product scarcity risk during collaborative consumption with dissimilar groups. Business houses should design sharing programs with control mechanisms for such customers, or allow them to rent/swap/share with individuals whose usage is complementary rather than competitive (Lamberton & Rose, 2012).
The utilization of second-hand is contextualized as an extensive consumption theory, which offers a wide scope on "why individuals and societies consume" (McCracken, 1986). The buyers believe that second-hand products are fashionable in the context of fashion. Fashion researchers have used the "vintage" label for secondhand products and have been extensively adopted by the fashion fraternity (Gerval, 2008). Authentic and vintage fashion has a unique characteristic that appeals to the contemporary (Guiot & Roux, 2010). Developing enthusiasm for maintainable utilization has prompted the development of second-hand shopping. (Sung & Kincade, 2010). Second-hand shops can be classified into three categories: thrift shops that sell utilized things primarily depending on neighborhood gifts, transfer stores that are ordinarily revenue-driven organizations, and online transfer stores. Buyer directions can be utilized as the premise of the division for recycled garments for the customer. The prices of these products are often high, as they are valuable and unique (Cervellon et al., 2012).
According to Weinstein (2014), the utilization of second-hand products has shown progressive growth over the years "came into highlight and expansion during the 18th & 19th century period; during the 20th century it was disapproved and faced downswing; was again approved and recognized in the 21st century". Second-hand apparel has for some time been related to being exhausted, ruined, and smelly, but now shoppers accept that used items have quality identical to or even better than unworn (Fitzgerald, 2015). Consumers sell this merchandise to second-hand stores and become a part of the supply chain. To retain existing customers and increase profits second-hand sellers offer rewards and loyalty programs to influence the customer to return to the store (Gopalakrishnan & Matthews, 2018).
Second-hand shopping is a developing phenomenon worldwide where diversity of culture or relationship is present in purchasing behavior. Due to environmental awareness, online second-hand apparel stores can encourage the use of less wasteful products (Zaman et al., 2019). Consumer beliefs towards second-hand stores are certainly associated with the consumer's approach towards purchasing second-hand apparel. Buying second-hand merchandise is not purely a utilization of resources or avoiding the wastage of money, but a practice of humanity for sustaining society and serving the poor. Second-hand shopping makes an exclusive consumption condition that creates an approachable surrounding for the consumer (Seo & Kim, 2019). Changing consumer attitudes and perceptions toward second-hand apparel can motivate them to change their behavior toward collaborative consumption. Consumers prefer direct practices for obtaining second-hand apparel (direct exchange, buying from second-hand stores, and interchange through swapping). Consumer knowledge about the product helps in developing the trust and intention to adopt sustainability (Sharma & Kushwaha, 2019). Consumers, moreover, like to accept their second-hand apparel from their relatives and friends in comparison to others, trusting someone they are familiar with makes it easier for them to simply accept second-hand apparel (Iran et al., 2019). Buying designer apparel second-hand was noticed as a method to reinforce social persona, fashion self-concept and style identity. The young consumer is concerned with social norms about their fashion consumption and spoke completely about the capability of the apparel rental model to decrease the apparent peril in fashion expressiveness. Community implications were frequently the foremost expected to motivate the consumer towards collaborative consumption (McNeill & Venter, 2019).

Objectives
• To analyze consumer willingness & behavior to adopt the Collaborative consumption of apparel.
• To determine consumer preferences regarding the type of apparel, mode of consumption and available platforms for the collaborative consumption of apparel.

Method
A self-administered questionnaire was developed to collect the responses. A questionnaire was circulated among residents of Jaipur and Delhi cities of India. The snowball sampling method was used to contact the respondents. In total, data were collected from 375 respondents through online mode. Out of a total of 375 filled online responses, only 324 were used for analysis since fifty-one were incomplete. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 18 questions with responses to 14 questions scaled on a 5-point Likert scale ("1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree"),1 question scaled on a 5-point Intention scale ("1= Definitely wouldn't use, 5= Definitely would use") and 3 questions provided the respondents preference about the mode, type, and platform for collaborative consumption. The study was undertaken to understand awareness, attitude, and concern towards the collaborative consumption of apparel.
IBM-SPSS 24 was used to conduct descriptive and variance analysis. The nonparametric tests are appropriate for the evaluation or testing hypothesis when the distribution of the population cannot be defined in general terms. Test for normality of data is preferred before using the nonparametric tests. After checking the normality of data, the nonparametric test "the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test" were applied. The variation in median values was analyzed with the Kruskal-Wallis test for the comparison of the age groups (3) and the Mann-Whitney test for the comparison of gender (2). To analyze the statistical distribution of ranks is significant, the Mann-Whitney test was used. The test defines the difference between the ranks for males and females which we are expecting under the null hypothesis, by using a significance level (0.05). The nonparametric alternative to one-way ANOVA is the Kruskal-Wallis test. The Kruskal-Wallis test is used for the data that does not have normality or is in the presence of outliers, by using the 5% significance level like the one-way ANOVA, where the data are normally distributed (Ramachandran & Tsokos, 2020). The results of the analysis supported and indicated an encouraging approach and higher intention to adopt collaborative consumption in India in the coming future.
As shown in Table 1 To assess the impact of the age groups on the collaborative consumption of apparel in India, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. The result of the analysis falls in the accepted region for age groups, so the null hypothesis is accepted, and it can be concluded that there is no impact of age groups on the collaborative consumption of apparel in India.
To check the difference between males and females toward collaborative consumption of apparel in India, the Mann-Whitney test was used. Since the shapes of distribution are equivalent across categories of gender, so null hypothesis is accepted except for Past environmentally responsible consumption behavior which influenced the adoption of Collaborative consumption for females (mean rank =172.62) and males (mean rank= 151.49) was statistically significantly different, U = 11390.500, Z = -2.387, p = 0.017 (<0.05), so null hypothesis was rejected for this statement.  Luxury  31  18  8  7  10  21  20  9  11  9  Official  8  1  4  2  1  0  1  2  2  3  Formal  9  0  2  0  1  2  1  2  0  3  Casual  28  22  4  3  4  13  17  10  7  12  Sports  2  3  0  1  0  3  1  0  3  3  Table 3 The data revealed that the luxury segment (144) is the highest choice of the segment that respondents like to utilize followed by causal (120). As shown in table 3, Females in the 18-25 age group (31) and males in the 26-30 age group (20) prefer the luxury segment the most. The study also suggests that respondents would prefer retail stores (121) as a platform for buying collaborative consumption in apparel. The traditional stores as well as the multi-brand store can have a separate section for preused apparel. The results also signify that renting (110) of apparel is a preferred mode of collaborative consumption.

Discussion
Sustainable fashion is a more talked about but less researched concept. The findings of the study suggest that attitude toward collaborative consumption in the apparel industry is determined by the general level of concern for the environment and community, belief towards sustainable fashion, and prior socially responsible consumption behavior. Respondents also consider that past consumption of sustainable products will easily influence their approach towards collaborative consumption. The result suggests that respondents believe that green values affect the decision in the adoption of collaborative consumption. Thus, for developing any business model, the green values of consumers will be an important factor in the adoption of such products. Collaborative consumption encourages second-hand apparel users and the utilization of second-hand apparel. However, consumers are cautious regarding the emerging concept and would like the model, products, and platforms to develop for collaborative consumption. Sproles & Burns (1994) refer to fashion as "a style of customer item that is incidentally received by a perceivable extent of individuals". The role of fashion models/celebrities might be instrumental in changing consumer behavior and the acceptability of products marketed through collaborative consumption. The reuse of apparel is one significant approach to diminish the natural effect of apparel utilization (Koo, 2000). Literature reliably recommends that the reuse of apparel is driven by the shopper's awareness of the biological condition (Cervellon et al., 2012;Xu et al., 2014;Yan et al., 2015). Respondents have shown concern about the use of secondhand apparel which can possess hygiene risks to human use. The health factor is one of the significant factors that may hamper the adoption and use of such consumer behavior and signifies the role of consumer trust in such consumption. Undoubtedly, the outcome shows that hygiene is one of the significant demotivators for the purchasing of second-hand apparel. Along these lines, individuals who are cognizant of their health might not want to participate in second-hand apparel if the service providers or sellers do not maintain hygiene standards.
The study suggests that collaborative consumption will provide an opportunity for carrying out a variety of innovations in design and patterns to meet the desires of the varied tastes of consumers. The result of this research reveals the importance of "fit Satisfaction" to assess the apparel on the body before using it but it also highlights consumers' thoughts concerning the fit of the garment and their expectations from the apparel before using it.
Purchasing second-hand apparel will not only help in saving money but also inculcate a practice of humanity like supporting society and serving the poor. In the adoption of collaborative consumption, trust towards the service provider will play a key role. Ownership represents the endowment impact that proposes the individual's value to the objects they own more than the objects they do not. Consumer sagacity of ownership and self-possession links influence their acknowledged risk in specific collaborative consumption. Although collaborative consumption rests on giving away the ownership and belongingness of the apparel, past consumption and past ownership may have an impact on future consumption. The relevant variables could be the duration of past consumption and the characteristics of past owners. The collaborative consumption model is springing up everywhere throughout the world. Consumers of different age groups will have different responses to this type of consumption. The outcome recommends that collaborative consumption can be a promising business model and second-hand apparel could be an important apparel category as respondents would like to use collaborative Consumption in apparel if such a facility is available. The author gathered data using demographic factors from various age groups (18-45) and genders, but culture, income, education, and geographic location can also influence the collaborative consumption of apparel. Further, the authors feel that these variables could be examined as the next step before generalizing the results, and it opens the door for further research.

Conclusion
Collaborative consumption may provide an answer to natural concerns encompassing the fashion business by advancing the reuse of items and decreasing new buys. This paper intended to investigate the shopper's eagerness along with conduct towards collaborative consumption with help of an exploratory study on the collaborative consumption of apparel. The findings have revealed a positive reaction from respondents and like conventional apparel consumption, collaborative consumption of apparel could be another market segment in India. The findings of the research prove collaborative consumption of apparel is a feasible business model that gives a suitable plan of action and encourages sustainability by increasing the product lifespan and lessening the post-purchase material waste. Finally, this investigation adds to the collaborative consumption literature by highlighting consumer behavior towards different modes of collaborative consumption of apparel.
Regarding the existing research, some limitations need to be answered. In-depth dialogues with consumers who have familiarity with the collaborative consumption of apparel could produce a more detailed explanation for user willingness and behavior with regards to collaborative consumption and a more profound comprehension of buyer behavior who are taking part in the collaborative consumption of apparel. Future research can develop a business model with the background of collaborative consumption in India for the clothing segment. The findings suggest that consumer beliefs underlie collaborative consumption in apparel renting/swapping/sharing of the Luxury segment. Future studies should examine consumer decision-making for the renting/swapping/sharing of the formal or casual segment. This study is among the pioneering work to explore the possibilities of collaborative consumption of apparel in India.

Contribution
Studies on consumers' opinions on collaborative consumption within India are yet inadequate. Increasing concern towards ecological sustainability has encouraged the evolution of collaborative consumption within the Indian market. Research provides insight into the consumer's perspective on collaborative consumption. Consumers may like to adopt collaborative consumption in the future not only in Luxury but also in other segments of apparel. This research paves way for a larger and more in-depth study on the theme.