Second-hand apparel shopping has been increasingly popular, and the industry is one of the fastest growing retail sectors. It is also considered as one of the eco-friendly consumption choices. The importance to investigate the sector to promote consumer ethics prompts in-depth understanding about the ethical traits and decision-making processes of second-hand consumers. The purpose of the study is to compare consumer ethics between shoppers and non-shoppers of second-hand apparel products. This study specifically focuses on finding differences in ethical traits such as altruism, ethical concerns, and ethical obligation; attitudes toward social responsibility in the apparel and textile industry; and ethical purchase and post-purchase returning intentions between the two consumer groups. An independent samples t-test was used to compare the groups on the means of individual ethical variables listed above. The analyses identified that second-hand shoppers were higher than non-shoppers on most of the variables examined.

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