Sustainability in the fashion luxury branding. Using neuroscience to understand consumers’ intentions towards sustainable eco-luxury items

The main aim of the present study was to analyze implicit consumers’ responses to sustainability issues in a luxury fashion context, during the customer exploration of the store (in-store condition) of a well-known British fashion brand. Cortical EEG activity was assessed in 16 fashion-luxury consumers with a different sustainability orientation, in order to obtain insight on implicit dynamic towards eco-luxury products. Functional meaning of difference frequency EEG bands was analyzed to gain an insight on cognitive and emotional neurophysiological responses. Results highlighted an increase of theta band in right temporo-parietal brain regions suggesting an emotional negative impact elicited by sustainability pictures. Specifically, this effect was higher in the group of non-sustainability-oriented people, perhaps depending on the novelty of the stimuli either a lower sensitivity to social and environmental impact of fashion luxury industry. This study provides initial evidence about cortical oscillations and implicit emotional responses in luxury consumers during stimulation with sustainable images.