Colour, Cost, and Cues: How Visual Heuristics and Environmental Concern Shape Sustainable Purchase Decisions

Tanvi Dhingra

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.62671

Colour, Cost, and Cues: How Visual Heuristics and Environmental Concern Shape Sustainable Purchase Decisions

Author(s)	Tanvi Dhingra
Country	India
Abstract	Most of the time, fashion buyers who are inclined to purchase sustainable products rely on both visual and informational cues. However, research has rarely delved into how these cues interact during trade-offs in real purchases. The research focused on how the use of color (earthy vs. neon), price (cheap vs. expensive), and sustainability labels influence consumers' perception of sustainability and their purchase decisions. Besides, the study also investigated whether these effects were moderated by demographic and attitudinal factors. There were eighty-one participants who engaged in an online experimental task that consisted of 40 product-choice trials with randomization. On both perception and choice measures, it was observed that consumers used colour and price as strong heuristics: products that were in earthy colours were always perceived as more sustainable, and participants chose to purchase the cheaper options when there was no information about sustainability. Nevertheless, the presence of a sustainability label on a product made the product preferred even if the product was more expensive, thus giving evidence that informational cues can partially override price-driven tendencies. In contradiction to the hypotheses, labels brought about greater effects on the sustainability perceptions of the earthy products than those of the neon ones, which implied a congruency rather than a compensation effect. Also, the demographic factors which include gender, age, education, and income together with knowledge about sustainability did not turn out to be predictors of sustainable purchasing. On the other hand, environmental concern significantly increased the probability of choosing the option with the label. These outcomes reveal a dual-process decision model for eco-friendly fashion, in which consumers mainly depend on superficial visual cues except when they have a strong intrinsic environmental motivation. The findings have implications for eco-branding and suggest that sustainability communication works best when informational and visual cues are in harmony.
Keywords	sustainable fashion, eco-labels, colour heuristics, price cues, consumer behaviour, environmental concern, purchase intention
Field	Sociology > Philosophy / Psychology / Religion
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 6, November-December 2025
Published On	2025-12-11
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.62671

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Colour, Cost, and Cues: How Visual Heuristics and Environmental Concern Shape Sustainable Purchase Decisions

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