Clothes aren't going to change the world. The women who wear them will.

Anne Klein

How do Swedish female intenders and actors differ with respect to the purchase of second-hand clothes?

Overconsumption exists in diverse product categories where consumers purchase products they do not really need, thereby impacting the environment. To reduce this impact, strategies have been proposed to limit the environmental damage including changing customer behaviour. One consumer-based strategy is to encourage consumers to purchase second-hand clothes. However, while customers are open to implementing this strategy, some consumers (intenders) state they intend to purchase them, but do not always translate this intention into action, suggesting an intention-behaviour gap. Other consumer groups (actors) translate their intentions into action. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that differentiate these two consumer groups with respect to bridging the intention-behaviour gap, specifically among Swedish women. This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews using a questionnaire guide. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis. The results of this study showed that the behaviour of intenders tends to have a weak social support system (family and friends) (barrier), poor availability of products (barrier), low task- and maintenance of self-efficacy, high recovery self-efficacy, and no planning. In contrast, the behaviour of actors can be characterised by strong social support system, good availability, high task- and recovery self-efficacy, medium to high maintenance self-efficacy, and planning. By focusing on the behaviour of these two groups, recommendations are made to enable intenders to become actors, i.e. by implementing sustainable behaviours, we provide suggestions of how marketers can encourage sustainable behaviours.