How to wear happiness: Impact of wearing clothing labelled sustainable or fast fashion on subjective well-being

Abstract

This experiment aims to measure the psychological impact of wearing (un)sustainable clothing on emotions. Baseline levels of subjective well-being in a sample (N = 39) were used to allocate participants to conditions: Group 1: wearing plain T-shirts; Group 2: wearing ‘sustainable’ T-shirts and Group 3: wearing ‘unsustainable’ T-shirts. Analysis showed statistically significant differences in positive (H(2) = 11.600, p = 0.003) and negative (H(2) = 20.046, p < 0.001) feelings. Participants wearing sustainable clothing felt more positive (Median [Mdn] = 26) than participants wearing unsustainable clothing (Mdn = 20, p = 0.002). Participants wearing unsustainable clothing felt more negative (Mdn = 15) than participants wearing sustainable clothing (Mdn = 7, p < 0.001) and participants wearing a plain T-shirt (Mdn = 8, p = 0.004). This study highlights the existence of a relationship between what we wear and how we feel, reinforcing the importance of knowing the source of our clothing.