Threads of Behaviour: Illustrative exploration of incorporating consumer behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of textile garments
(2025) FMIM01 20251Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
- Abstract
- Global clothing consumption is increasing, with many garments having unnecessarily short lifetimes due to low quality materials and manufacturing, often linked to price pressures. Current European Union strategies focus on improving technical durability, product maintenance, and waste collection, but fail to address the role of the consumer for durable garments. A better understanding of drivers and barriers for sustainable garment usage behaviour could support measures that extend garment lifespans.
This thesis explores how the functional unit in Life Cycle Assessment can better reflect the function of clothing, how consumer behaviour influences the environmental impacts of t-shirts and pants, and how consumer insights can inform policy... (More) - Global clothing consumption is increasing, with many garments having unnecessarily short lifetimes due to low quality materials and manufacturing, often linked to price pressures. Current European Union strategies focus on improving technical durability, product maintenance, and waste collection, but fail to address the role of the consumer for durable garments. A better understanding of drivers and barriers for sustainable garment usage behaviour could support measures that extend garment lifespans.
This thesis explores how the functional unit in Life Cycle Assessment can better reflect the function of clothing, how consumer behaviour influences the environmental impacts of t-shirts and pants, and how consumer insights can inform policy measures on garment longevity. The study develops and tests a method of incorporating consumer behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment of garments, capturing variations in environmental impact driven by different user behaviours. A structured literature review explores various dimensions of consumer intentions, habits, and behaviours, leading to two consumer profiles, a mainstream consumer and a conscious consumer, translated into data parameters and incorporated within a Life Cycle Assessment system.
Findings show that consumer behaviour can be systematically integrated into Life Cycle Assessment, and present a way to expand the current methodology focused on the product. Key impact factors include garment acquisition, frequency of washing, fibre composition, and distribution pathway. The mainstream consumer generally had higher environmental impacts for t-shirts and pants across categories, however, the conscious consumer showed higher water related impacts for pants due to greater cotton content, despite lower overall consumption.
The study demonstrates the value of including consumer profiles in Life Cycle Assessments to capture behavioural differences in environmental pressures. Since behaviours are adaptive, they should be treated as systemic components rather than static values. Combining product and consumer approaches offers a more nuanced understanding of garment impacts and suggests that policy should complement product measures with strategies aimed at extending garment lifespans through consumer behaviour, particularly by addressing emotional durability factors and care habits. However, limited data on consumer motivations and actions remains a major barrier to fully integrating behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment models. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9213469
- author
- Westall Lundqvist, Emelie LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Trådar av beteende: Illustrativ undersökning av att integrera konsumentbeteende i livscykelanalys (LCA) av textilplagg
- course
- FMIM01 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Life Cycle Assessment, Textile garments, Consumer behaviour, Functional unit, Garment lifetime, Consumer profiles, Environmental impact of textiles
- report number
- LUTFD2/TFEM-25/5241-SE-1-76
- ISSN
- 1102-3651
- language
- English
- id
- 9213469
- date added to LUP
- 2025-10-21 10:58:45
- date last changed
- 2025-10-21 10:58:45
@misc{9213469,
abstract = {{Global clothing consumption is increasing, with many garments having unnecessarily short lifetimes due to low quality materials and manufacturing, often linked to price pressures. Current European Union strategies focus on improving technical durability, product maintenance, and waste collection, but fail to address the role of the consumer for durable garments. A better understanding of drivers and barriers for sustainable garment usage behaviour could support measures that extend garment lifespans.
This thesis explores how the functional unit in Life Cycle Assessment can better reflect the function of clothing, how consumer behaviour influences the environmental impacts of t-shirts and pants, and how consumer insights can inform policy measures on garment longevity. The study develops and tests a method of incorporating consumer behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment of garments, capturing variations in environmental impact driven by different user behaviours. A structured literature review explores various dimensions of consumer intentions, habits, and behaviours, leading to two consumer profiles, a mainstream consumer and a conscious consumer, translated into data parameters and incorporated within a Life Cycle Assessment system.
Findings show that consumer behaviour can be systematically integrated into Life Cycle Assessment, and present a way to expand the current methodology focused on the product. Key impact factors include garment acquisition, frequency of washing, fibre composition, and distribution pathway. The mainstream consumer generally had higher environmental impacts for t-shirts and pants across categories, however, the conscious consumer showed higher water related impacts for pants due to greater cotton content, despite lower overall consumption.
The study demonstrates the value of including consumer profiles in Life Cycle Assessments to capture behavioural differences in environmental pressures. Since behaviours are adaptive, they should be treated as systemic components rather than static values. Combining product and consumer approaches offers a more nuanced understanding of garment impacts and suggests that policy should complement product measures with strategies aimed at extending garment lifespans through consumer behaviour, particularly by addressing emotional durability factors and care habits. However, limited data on consumer motivations and actions remains a major barrier to fully integrating behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment models.}},
author = {{Westall Lundqvist, Emelie}},
issn = {{1102-3651}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Threads of Behaviour: Illustrative exploration of incorporating consumer behaviour in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of textile garments}},
year = {{2025}},
}