Willingness to Pay For Sustainable Green Clothing

The study of green sustainable clothing examined willingness to pay for green sustainable clothing. As everything is evolving around us, so does our ecosystem. Our planet earth and climate are disrupted at a very high er rate and their impacts are becoming more serious and harmful with increasing time. The present study was conducted in Punjab Pakistan to determine the willingness to pay for green-sustainable clothing through a questionnaire survey. It was found that the majority of people are showing their willingness to pay for sustainable clothing. According to the questionnaire survey majority of the respondent who belongs to higher income are willing to pay extra Rs 500 for sustainable clothing to improve and promote sustainability. Government must start awareness campaigns for the general public to emphasize the causes and adverse impacts and various impact on socio-economic impacts due to different anthropogenic activities.


INTRODUCTION
The fashion industry is the world's thirdbiggest manufacturing industry after the technology and automotive industries. Each year about 150 billion garments are produced. Green clothing also known as sustainable, organic, or eco-friendly clothing is textile products that deal with fair and incorporate social, and environmental trade practices that promote sweat-shop-free labor conditions which do not harm the environment or the workers. Green clothing is a sustainable practice in which natural processes promote the protection of natural resources. Textile companies contributing to green clothing help in pollution reduction and resource consumption reduction. Fairly in green clothing manufacturing, dangerous harmful chemical products are replaced with environmentally friendly materials. Green clothing helps in reducing waste with apparel recycling and less resource consumption. Purchasing of Green products is a global expression of concern for global pollution levels as well as global warming. Due to environmental concerns, some consumers are more focused and willing to buy eco-friendly products and are even willing to pay extra for green products. People worry that their buying behaviors will have a direct impact on the environment thus they are more inclined toward green clothing and products (Cowan & Kinley, 2014;Kashif & Rani, 2021).
Increasing population and depletion of natural resources enable the sustainability concept to become more important. Textile companies contribute to 3.3 billion tonnes or 10% of the world's carbon emissions and also result in various environmental and social problems. Many companies believe that engaging in environmental and social issues is important these days. Thus green clothing implementation has become popular and is needed on a global scale. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained popularity in many sectors influencing environmentally friendly decisions (Islam, et al., 2021). CSR defines three different aspects; economic, environmental, and social (Male, 2009;Brin & Nehme, 2019). The reason for a company to embrace CSR could be environmental guilt or any other thing but it leads to other significant advantages. Waste produced by textile industries includes dyes, and chemicals, imposes environmental damages, and huge amount of waste is produced Bielawska & Grebosz-Krawczyk, 2021).
On the other hand, sustainable product is a leading challenge for companies wishing full sustainable practices in their business. People are willing to pay more in developed countries to purchase apparel or footwear that is made with ecofriendly materials and fabrics. Consumers are getting more and more ecologically aware and are willing to pay extra for green products compared to alternative products. Green apparel includes using clean materials such as organic fibers, recycling, and natural and implementing an eco-friendly process of production and distribution and green packaging to reduce resource depletion and treat waste. Green apparel or clothing is designed for lifetime use and produced in an ethical production environment with minimum environmental damage. Apparel industries search for greener filaments produced from renewable resources to fulfill the growing demand for green products. Different surveys conclude that people feel better when they buy sustainably produced products also people actively choose products that make their sustainability credentials clear on the package. Huge piles of waste produced from fast fashion led to environmental damages in response to slow fashion or green apparel concept are appraised by consumers which reduce the waste generation and pollution. The slow fashion concept promotes and pays special attention to sustainability in production, consumption, and use.
Pakistan is an inclusive country and the economy plays a very important role in the development of the country. The present study is about the willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing and to increase awareness about the environmental issues that are needed to be taken seriously to avoid the harmful impacts of chemical that is disrupting our environment. Increasing awareness and social consciousness of society play a very important role in the protection of the environment.
This study is important because as we are moving towards more sustainable technology, it's important that we know whether people are even willing to pay for steps taken for this initiative or not. A country can only make progress if its citizens show support. Most people are aware of climate change and the causes behind it so now it's time for implementation therefore this study is important to know people's points of view and their take on this initiative as sustainable green clothing is one the best initiatives a country can take to reduce its carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions that are polluting the environment to such a greater extent. Well-recognized companies like ZARA and H&M have put special attention into sustainable, environment-friendly collections such as H&M launched its "the conscious collection" produced from sustainable material, ZARA also launched its sustainable product line collection of "Join Life" in 2016 (H & M, 2017;Wallwork, 2016).
Textile and garments production processes cause a large amount of energy use and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, toxic dyes released into the environment, and other finishes and auxiliaries to the ecosystem (Niinimäki & Hassi, 2011;Gardetti & Torres, 2017). Consumerrelated factors such as social norms, education on reducing waste, and environmental impact highly affect consumers' adoption of an eco-conscious fashion acquisition. Consumer behavior theory explains how a consumer makes decisions. Economically fast fashion products are valuable therefore the demand for fast fashion products follows basic economic laws (higher price leads to lower price and higher income leads to higher demand). Low prices of clothes contribute to higher consumption and stimulate social and environmental impact (Chris & Elyse, 2013).
Many celebrities stand with a commitment to ethical fashion like Emma Watson, Stella McCartney has publicly mentioned the importance of sustainable apparel and shared that sustainable apparel is closely aligned with their values. Fashion 4 Development is a global platform that supports the principles of educating, empowering, and enhancing and strongly stands with the manufacturing of sustainable clothes. Several studies suggest that "willingness to pay" is motivated by consumers' values that promote paying higher prices for sustainable apparel (Tey, et al., 2018).
Robert E. Pitts et al conducted a study to investigate the willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing linked to festive events. The contingent methodology was adopted to analyze the results of the survey. The survey was conducted at the folk festival of Canada and 427 total respondents fill the survey for this study. The results of the study revealed that consumers show significantly their willingness to pay for sustainable clothing. It was revealed theory of self-determination and pro-environmental behavior was the real motivation behind the consumers to show their willingness to pay for sustainable clothing (Dodds, et al., 2016). Status plays a very important role in adopting a green lifestyle when shopping is done by higher-income consumers. Consumers show a higher preference for green products than non-green products. It was highly influenced by the green-sustainable theme and pro-environmental behavior shown at the site area. The message related to the environment written on the clothing for sustainability also promotes a willingness to pay and positive attitudes were adopted by the brand to produce environmentally friendly products in the market. Ethical values, consumer awareness related to the environment, income level, product design, and fair-trade certification. These factors play a significant role in consumer willingness to pay for environmental-friendly green apparel. Results of the study show that majority of the respondents were not aware of environmentally friendly apparel. Females were more aware of environmentally friendly apparel than men but don't show significant interest in buying sustainable green products and self-motivation behavior was shown by the younger and older generation to buy sustainable products and hypothetical bias like respondents are given the incentive to behave truthfully in the survey.
Another research was conducted in India to investigate the willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing and what are the factors that encourage the trend to pay more. The results of the study revealed that customers show more willingness to pay for sustainable green packaging. that ensure environmental protection and but real motivation behind was not found in this study. Those people who are more environmentally aware of the hazardous effects of various pollutants disrupting our environment show a positive attitude and willingness to pay more for sustainable green clothing but price acts as a barrier to purchasing environmentally friendly apparel by consumers (Dodds, et al., 2016).
An Iranian evaluated the willingness to pay for sustainable green products among consumers and what are the variables that affect consumer purchase behavior. For this purpose, a survey was conducted at a university where students took part in this survey. The results of the study revealed that environmental concerns, ethical values, and awareness about the environment proved as factors among the students that show their willingness to pay for sustainable green products (Dodds, et al., 2016).
The research was conducted in Pakistan and investigated the factors that influence the willingness and intention to buy greener products among Pakistani millennialism. The analysis was done by using a two-stage protocol SEM analysis. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the different participants. The results of the study revealed that environmental awareness and concerns and environmental campaigns play an integral role in people's attitudes to buy more green products. The results of the study showed that green marketing campaigns play a major role in shaping people's attitudes towards buying green products (Salam, et al., 2021).
Another cross-cultural research was conducted in Vietnam and Poland to investigate the consumer's willingness and intention to pay for and purchase green products with different income levels in economic development. Structural equation modeling was conducted to analyze the results. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate consumer willingness to pay for green products. The results of the study revealed that motivation and intention to purchase green products in cultures, environmental knowledge, and cultural dimensions play a very important role in willingness to purchase green products. The willingness and environmental awareness were much higher in Poland than in Vietnam and the cultural dimension plays a significant role in Vietnam in purchasing and willingness to pay for green products. Cultural values and understanding were more significant in Vietnam moreover this kind of correlation was not found in Poland (Cong Doanh, et al., 2021). Wei.S et al. (2018) researched to investigate the willingness to pay more for green products and the participation of consumers. Data was collected from students through an online survey and sociodemographic information was also collected from them as well. The Harman single factor test was checked for common method variance and standardized regression model. The results of the survey indicated that students show less concern towards environmentally friendly products and unwillingness to pay for green products behavioral psychology plays a vital role in willingness to pay and they think that their actions will not play a significant role in the protection of the environment and they show less concern towards significant environmental issues. Literacy and marketing play a significant role in the willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products and they are more aware of issues of the environment and show significant environmentally friendly behavior. Style of marketing and product design plays a significant role in the willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products. It shows a linear relationship with consumers. The people with higher literacy rates are more willing to pay for environmentally friendly products and negative social behavior prohibits the consumers from the willingness to pay for green products. Florian. L et al. (2021) conducted research to investigate the rural and urban young generation's willingness and purchase intentions towards sustainability in France. The basic aim of the study was to differentiate the intention and willingness to pay for green products between the rural and urban populations of France. A quantitative approach was adopted for this study to determine the trends among the French population. It was classified among 3 levels and different age groups and data was collected through an online survey. The results of the research show that attitudes show toward a willingness to pay for green products impact on desire for sustainability. Personal attitudes and values show a significant role in willingness to pay and a combination of awareness and positive and negative social behavior and responsibility of individuals and responsibility and environmental values play important role in this research. Rathnayaka & Gunawardana (2021) researched to investigate the impact of consumer attitude on green purchase intention in Sri Lanka. The data was collected through an online survey via randomly structured questionnaires from green product buyers. The partial least modeling was used to determine the social influence and behavior of consumers, environmental awareness, responsibility, and health consciousness towards the buying of green products. Results of the study indicated that the people with higher income and awareness show willingness and claim responsibility for buying green products for the protection of the environment. A positive and responsible attitude was shown by people with higher education as compared to people with low income. Abbasi, et al. (2013) researched to investigate the green purchase intention of consumers towards the adoption of green products. The basic objective of the study was to investigate the important factors that influence the intention of purchase of people toward green products. The survey was conducted in Pakistan and respondents of the survey were students of Bahawalpur city. The Data was collected via a self-administrated questionnaire using a previously established scale and regression analysis was done for this research. The results of the research showed that behavioral psychology, awareness, knowledge, environmental ethics and values and responsibility, product marketing and design, attitudes, social influence, perception about environmental protection, etc. play a significant role in purchasing green products. The major highlight of the study was that students from different social demographics and income levels show a responsible attitude toward the protection of the environment, and responsible attitudes and concerns were shown by students as well. Consumers show significant purchase intention towards buying green products. Chin, et al. (2020) researched to investigate the social behavior and attitude along with the willingness to pay for green products and the intention to purchase green products. The data was collected by using structured question modeling and data was collected from young and educated women. The research was conducted in Indonesia. The results of the research indicated that environmental attitude, health consciousness, and values play a positive role in purchase intention towards buying green products and in return willingness to pay for green products. The positive behavior toward environmental-friendly products has an impact on consumer willingness to pay price for green products and ultimately intends to buy environmentally friendly products and intentions to buy product that protects the environment also increase.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The major focus of this study was to find out the willingness of people to pay for sustainable green clothing and whether were they actually willing or not to pay for such products that could benefit the environment. A questionnaire survey was conducted for this purpose and it was filled by the general public including students. The questionnaire was circulated in different areas of Lahore and a few other cities i.e. Karachi and Islamabad. The questionnaire survey was held online due to the present situation of Covid-19.

Primary Data Collection
The primary data for this study was collected through a questionnaire survey which was carried out online. The particular questions in the questionnaire included: Can you pay extra for sustainable green clothing that is climate neutral, made up of organic cotton and the least amount of chemicals and water to be used in the manufacturing of such clothes? How important do you think these measures are from 1 -4? What do you think about who's the most affected by the use of these chemicals, consumption of water, and production of greenhouse gases? Other questions were about the damage these chemicals cause to the environment and the health of people and all other living things.

Secondary Data Collection
The secondary data was collected from different journals, articles, and research papers to find the most relevant and authentic information regarding sustainable green clothing and people's willingness to pay for it as some countries including India have shown interest and have taken this initiative to go green with their clothing products to make this environment sustainable.
To collect more relevant and accurate data, professors, teachers, lecturers, unemployed people, and undergraduate and postgraduate students were asked questions and surveyed to know their general opinion and experience regarding this initiative. 103 questionnaires were filled out for this study to know and understand more about people's opinion and their willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing. Questionnaires were filled by undergraduate males and females of different private and government universities. The questionnaire was rotated in different universities in Lahore.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Without a doubt, anthropogenic activities are causing undeniable damage to the environment. The rapid increase in population, urbanization, and industrialization are causing damage to the environment as a whole. The survey was conducted and filled out by students to determine their willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing. The study informed about the degree of awareness and willingness to pay for green-sustainable clothing. The questionnaire was filled by 70% females and 28% males. Education was divided into three main categories such as 52.9% (maximum) who filled the questionnaire were undergraduate, 10% intermediate, and 37.3% postgraduate.
The overall study illustrated that Pakistan is a developing country and more than half of its population lives below the poverty line. Around 65.7% of individuals were willing to pay extra money for sustainable green clothing. The individuals were actually willing to contribute for the sake of a healthier and safer environment. The majority of the people were well aware of climate change as 69.6% knew that the use of chemicals in the cultivation of crops for green clothing has negative consequences on the environment. 76.5% of the people said that the GHG emitted for the production and transport of top/t-shirts has negative consequences on the environment and 53.9% said that an uncontrolled consumption of water in the manufacture of the clothing has negative consequences on the environment and 37.3% said it is more dangerous and alarming for future generations. 68.6% and 76.5% of the people said that the handling of GHG emissions and chemical disposal; respectively, is the responsibility of the manufacturing industry. While 92.1% of the people said that it's the responsibility of the government to give incentives and play its part in the production of green clothing to promote sustainable development. The survey was conducted and filled out by students to determine their willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing. The study informed about the degree of awareness and willingness to pay for green-sustainable clothing. The results of the survey concluded that 70% were female and 28% were male. The age group was categorized into three main categories that included 71.3 % 20-24, 30-45 16.8%, and 8.9% above 50. The income level of these people is divided into different categories such as more than 100,000 47.5%, 23.8% 15k, 19.8% have income above 50k, and 9% (35k), similarly education was divided into three main categories as 52.9% (maximum) who filled the questionnaire were from undergraduate, 10% intermediate,37.3% postgraduate. and occupation was doctor, engineer, businessman, biomedical engineer, banker, biochemistry, biotechnology, mass communication, psychologist, teacher, lawyer, pharmacy, economics, and clinical nutritionist. The survey was to know the awareness level and willingness to pay for green clothing and associated risks and impacts occurring due to different human anthropogenic activities on the environment. The results of the findings as shown in table 2 indicate a moderate level of awareness among the general public. The majority (i.e. 60.8%) were willing to pay Rs. 500 for using a lesser amount of chemicals while 19.6% were confused and the same number of individuals refused to pay extra. The results of the findings have indicated that women were more willing to pay for green sustainable clothing than men and people belonging to higher income. The age group 20-24 and undergraduate level of the study showed more willingness to pay as compared to other age groups.
The majority of the public shows their perception it is the responsibility of the government to promote sustainable development. The people agreed to the fact industry is responsible for the consumption of less water during the manufacturing of clothing and chemical used during the production of cotton produce negative effects on the environment. The industry should be responsible for producing no GHS emissions during manufacturing and 76.5% were aware of the fact that GHG emitted during transportation of clothing would cause more damage to the environment. .104 a. 11 cells (73.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .12.
The values of the Chi-square as described in table 3 indicate that is .126 that is less than 0.05 conclude that values concluding that the data does not follow a distribution with certain proportions. It concludes that the observed data are statistically different from the expected values. It is consistent with the previous studies that research to investigate the willingness to pay more for green products and the participation of consumers. The results of the survey indicate that students show less concern towards environmentally friendly products and unwillingness to pay for green products and behavioral psychology plays a vital role in willingness to pay and they think that their actions will not play a significant role in the protection of the environment. The t value illustrated in table 4 is 11.818 which gave a significant value of .000. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected which shows that there is a significant difference. The T-test value was 0.000 which means that values are statistically significant. and results of Pearson correlation that is -.233 .and 104 between MI= monthly income (and willingness to pay to indicate the weak and negative correlation between them. It indicates that people are not much aware of sustainability and they are not willing to pay more for sustainable clothing. It is consistent with the previous studies that were conducted in Vietnam and Poland to investigate the consumer's willingness and intention to pay and purchase green products with different income levels in economic development. The willingness and environmental awareness were much higher in Poland than in Vietnam and the cultural dimension plays a significant role in Vietnam in purchasing and willingness to pay for green products (Cong Doanh, et al., 2021). Here in this table 5 of Pearson's Correlation, p > 0.5 means that the factors are dependent and strongly correlated which tells us that the people with higher income are more willing to pay for sustainable green clothing than the people with lesser income. The p-value as shown in table 6 is more (.369) than a=.05 so we concluded that there was no statistically significant difference by one-way ANOVA (F(4,45) = 1.098, p = 0.369)between income and willingness to pay for sustainable clothing. The p-value shown in table 6 is more (.077) than a=.05 so we concluded that there was no statistically significant difference by one-way ANOVA (F (2,47) = 2.702, p = 0.077 between education and willingness to pay extra for sustainable clothing. The p-value as shown in table 6 is more (.268) than a=.05 so we concluded that there was no statistically significant difference by one-way ANOVA (F(8,41) = 1.306, p= 0.268 for occupation.
It is consistent with the previous studies Literacy and marketing play a significant role in the willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products and they are more aware of issues of the environment and show significant environmentally friendly behavior. Style of marketing and product design plays a significant role in the willingness to pay for environmentally friendly products. It shows a linear relationship with consumers. The people with higher literacy rates are more willing to pay for environmentally friendly products and negative social behavior prohibits the consumers from the willingness to pay for green products (Wei, et al, 2018). That attitudes show towards willingness to pay for green products and impact on desire for sustainability. Personal attitudes and values show a significant role in willingness to pay and a combination of awareness and positive and negative social behavior and responsibility of individuals and ascription of responsibility and environmental values play important role in willingness to pay for sustainable clothing (Florian, 2021). The values of Cramer V as shown in table 7were 0.355 which is less than 0.05. It shows the significant unwillingness of consumers and the public to pay for sustainable clothing. The significance for Crammer's V as shown in table 7 is p=.502 and the value or impact size between two associated variables that are monthly income and willingness to pay is 0.126 which shows that the two factors are independent and not correlated with each other.

CONCLUSION
The results concluded that there is a moderate level of willingness to pay for sustainable clothing. The study informed about the degree of awareness and willingness to pay for green-sustainable clothing. The majority of questionnaires were filled by students for the willingness to pay for sustainable green clothing. Results indicate that degree of awareness related to sustainable clothing was more in females 70% than men 28% in males. The students from the undergraduate level 52.9% filled the majority of the questionnaires and 10% intermediate, 37.3% postgraduate level. The overall study illustrated that as Pakistan is a developing country and more than half of its population lives below the poverty line. Around 65.7% of individuals were willing to pay extra money for sustainable green clothing. The individuals who were actually willing to contribute for the sake of a healthier and safer environment. From the results, we deducted that 69.6%, 53.9% know about the use of chemicals, and uncontrolled consumption of water in the cultivation of crops for green clothing has negative consequences for the environment. , 92.1% agreed to the fact that it's the responsibility of the government to give incentives and play its part in the production of green clothing to promote sustainable development. And 37.3% said it is more dangerous and alarming for future generations. 68.6% and 76.5% of the people said that the handling of GHG emissions and chemical disposal respectively. In the present conditions, it is needed of the hour that climate-related and sustainabilityrelated awareness should be done to promote sustainability and protect the earth and environment from the harmful effects of chemicals. Government must start awareness campaigns for the general public to emphasize the causes and adverse impacts and various impact on socio-economic impacts due to different anthropogenic activities.