Conflicting accounts of environmentally-friendly motives exist (see Chan, 2001; Hartmann & Apaolaza-Ibanez, 2012; Haws et al., 2014; Johnstone & Tan, 2015; Rashid, 2009; Royne et al., 2013). Recent research has turned to identity-society explanations (see Park & Lee, 2016). This research furthers this inquiry and narrows the gap. To understand environmentally-friendly clothing options (EFCO) motives better, this study uses uniqueness theory, which posits that consumers adopt dress different from mass fashion simply because it is unpopular (Snyder & Fromkin, 1977; Tian et al., 2001). Accordingly, environmentally-friendly attitudes should have nothing to do with the environment, but with norms, conformity, pressure (Law et al., 2004), and uniqueness. Thus, the research questions consist of: 1) is need for uniqueness in dress related to EFCO purchase intentions? 2) If so, does uniqueness relate to other EFCO motives? A survey was administered (n=220), using existing scales, to an online consumer panel All scales exhibited sufficient reliability. Pearson-Product Moment Scores and ANOVAs were used to assess variable relationships. As predicted, concern for the environment and perceived individual impact on the environment were unrelated to need for uniqueness. There was a significant and positive relationship between need for uniqueness and each of: attitudes toward EFCO and social pressure to act green. This indicates that individuals feel social pressure from important others to adapt to consumer trends. However, the manner in which they adopt mass consumer movements, such as sustainability, may be in more unique ways and via unpopular choice, such as EFCO. Finally, an ANOVA indicated that those high in uniqueness were willing to pay substantially more for EFCO.

• Kirsten Cowan(NEOMA Business School, France)
• Tammy Kinley(University of North Texas, USA)