Gröna barn? : En studie kring skolbarns och deras föräldrars attityder gentemot ekorättvisa kläder

Sammanfattning: The discussion about organic and fair trade products has been a big issue during the last few years. Despite an extensive knowledge about the environmental problems and a willingness to do something about it, the consumers are not always acting that way. Children do imitate their parents and other adults at an early age, so if the role models do not begin to act, think and dress ethically correct, neither will the children. Three problems have been identified out of the discussion. They relate to the questions of how older school children and parents of younger school children are taking sides regarding the organic/fair trade clothes and how existing trends in the society as well as those in fashion contexts influence their attitudes and consumer behaviour. Finally, we have a question regarding how the school children and their parents prioritize and evaluate various factors when purchasing clothes. The purpose of the study was to find out how school children along with their parents are behaving concerning organic/fair trade clothes and what is affecting their purchases. By analyzing their thoughts and opinions regarding the subject, the aim was to describe the consumer behaviour in the different age groups and find answers to the problem formulations. Initially, the purpose is explorative and then it exceeds to become describing. The study integrates research about school children’s general consumer behaviour with research about their consumer behaviour regarding organic and fair trade garments and creates new conclusions and theories out of the gathered empirics and earlier theories. Thus, the study explores a new area while it describes how the consumer behaviour looks like. The study is hermeneutical with a qualitative approach. In the theoretical reference frame the model of the consumer buying decision-making process and its influencing factors (Jobber 2008), the push and pull strategies (Doole & Lowe 2004), the model of the different buying roles and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Kotler & Armstrong 2008) have been used in order to interpret the collected empirics. The empirics consist of surveys with the school children and their parents and interviews with employees in different kinds of organic/fair trade shops. The analysis in the study is a comparison and linking of the selected theory and the gathered empirics. The survey responses have been interpreted and analysed the parts into a whole. The main results show that school children and their parents generally have relatively poor knowledge of organic/fair trade products, which is shown in their choice when purchasing clothing. Due to lack of marketing, the consumers are not convinced to visit organic/fair trade shops but mainly choose the familiar brands. High prices and low supply appears to be the main reason to why school children and their parents do not buy organic/fair trade garments.