Consumer Segments and Behavioral Patterns

Based on our survey participant responses, the average consumer possesses 18.6 t-shirts (SD = 12.72) and six pairs of jeans (SD = 4.90) intended for wear at least monthly for 3–4 years. In fact, as Figure 3 shows, Segments 4 and 5 own significantly more than any other segment - about 22.9 and 24.4 t-shirts, and 8.5 and 11 pairs of jeans, respectively - which is not surprising given their high consumption during the purchasing phase. The segments exhibit no differences, however, in the time clothes are kept before being discarded and/or the frequency of wearing each clothing item, which violates our expectations of differences based on different purchasing behaviors (e.g., the likelihood that Segment 5 consumers, having purchased so many clothing items, would wear them less often).

Figure 3. Number of jeans and t-shirts owned by consumer segment. (a) Number of t-shirts processing; (b) Number of jeans processing.

Although the average consumer wears a pair of jeans about 8.2 times and a t-shirt about 2.3 times before washing, we find one significant difference in this number of wears: Segment 1 wears jeans and t-shirts more often (at 8.7 and 2.5 times, respectively) before washing than Segments 4 and 5 (at 7.3 and 2.0 times, and 6.4 and 1.9 times, respectively). All consumer segments, however, exhibit similar washing behavior, using an average temperature of 40 °C, regardless of whether jeans or t-shirt, with a small number (3.2%) using no detergent, the majority (65.4%) using a non-eco detergent, and just under a third (31.3%) using an eco-detergent. Around 50% of the consumers use softener, about 14% of which is eco-softener, but only about 30% use a dryer. No intersegmental differences are observable, however, in washing and drying behavior.