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@article{205876,
        author = {Shweta Pere and Dr. Garima Bhalla},
        title = {Thrift Culture and Sustainable Fashion: Awareness, Perceptions and Behaviour Among Young Women in Pune},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {1},
        pages = {8385-8392},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=205876},
        abstract = {Thrift culture, the buying and selling of second-hand clothing, is growing among young consumers as worries about the environmental cost of fast fashion increase. This paper looks at how young women aged 15 to 24 in Pune, India, understand and engage with thrift shopping, and reads those findings against the wider literature on sustainable fashion. The study uses a mixed-method design: a structured survey of 53 respondents in April 2025, semi-structured interviews, and a review of academic and industry sources. Awareness of thrifting was high (87%), and most respondents agreed it supports sustainability (68%). Even so, affordability (53%) rather than sustainability (7%) was their main reason for thrifting, and Instagram thrift stores (34%) were the most common place to buy. The result is a clear attitude–behaviour gap, where positive views about sustainable fashion do not turn into sustainability-driven choices. The paper argues that affordability and social media, more than environmental concern, currently drive youth thrift behaviour in urban India, and that focused education and circular-economy efforts are needed to turn awareness into action. By putting a number on this gap in a young, urban Indian sample, the study adds primary evidence to a literature still dominated by Western and largely theoretical work.},
        keywords = {Affordability, circular economy, second-hand clothing, sustainable fashion, thrift culture, youth consumer behaviour.},
        month = {June},
        }