Keyword – community building

Krisztina, Máthé – Anna, Keszeg:

The Influencers of Ethical Fashion Consumption

The crisis of growth-based fashion consumption, previously considered standard, has brought the issues of sustainability and ethical consumption to the forefront, with influencers playing a major role in this shift. These influencers use the same marketing tools as the traditional companies that promote consumption do, yet their message encourages the minimisation of consumption and promotes thoughtful and responsible decisions. This study examines the strategies of influencers promoting ethical fashion consumption and the emotional attitudes associated with them. It identifies four categories of influencers: those promoting handcrafted products, those focusing on sustainability, those encouraging local consumption, and those advocating for non-consumption. It offers a qualitative content analysis of the social media content of active Hungarian influencers in these categories. Its findings highlight the contradictions within their messages and point to the potential emergence of new, alternative, consumption patterns.

Keywords: community building, craftsmanship, ethical consumption, locality, sustainability