The GEN Z movement
Fashion is much beyond what you wear, it is what you represent and most importantly who you are. Gen Z stands tall with this belief and is promoting sustainable fashion by redefining the fashion space and rewriting the rules. For them fashion means to express and create, to go beyond flashy fleeting trends. They have turned to activism to ensure values in fashion becoming the voice for change and using their wardrobe to question the status quo.
The consumer market which harbours gen z as a major proportion of their customer base is turning to sustainable practices since 62% of shoppers have shown a preference towards environment friendly labels (firstinsight,2025). There is a surge in generating transparency between brands and consumers enhancing the quality of how consumerism should look like. It is about sourcing information and engaging in conversations about operations, labour behaviour and production ethics. For them ethical fashion is not just about the final product but more about the process.
Through the routes of social, economic, ecological and political engagement Gen Z is choosing beyond mass produced clothes. They are choosing thrifting over throwing away and above all active fashion over passive consumption. For them each item in their wardrobe is a message, is an expression, is a value to be upheld and not be discarded.
They are not just promoting sustainable clothes, they are promoting a lifestyle – one where mindful choices replaces impulse trend purchases, where creativity and thrifting takes the lead and every outfit is an expression of who you stand for. They have created social spaces like instagram, snapchat and tik tok which are flooded with hashtags like #gogreen, #handmade, #zerowaste and many more. These hashtags and “OOTD” (outfit of the day)videos which promote ecofriendly brands have taken the social space by a whirlwind where carbon footprints need to be recognised and replaced with conscious fashion choices.
This shift is not just another fleeting trend, it’s a pivotal movement in the fashion space where sustainability extends beyond clothing, it extends to packaging, marketing and transportation. Their wallets decide which brand gets their vote, and in a competitive market like the fashion industry everyone wants to be the chosen and favourable one– but only those who walk the road of sustainability make the cut.
For Gen z you cannot sway them with catchy slogans, they are woke and well informed. They do not just conform to buzzwords like sustainability, they make it non negotiable.
For Gen Z purchasing votes and sustainability decides the winner.
