GREEN FINANCE STRATEGIES AND SUSTAINABLE FASHION MANUFACTURING AMIDST SECOND-HAND CLOTHING IMPORTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Nigeria's fashion industry confronts significant environmental and social challenges due to overwhelming second-hand clothing imports, undermining local manufacturing and increasing textile waste, exacerbated by a nascent green finance sector. This dissertation investigated green finance's role as a catalyst for sustainable fashion manufacturing and its influence on second-hand clothing imports in Nigeria, examining its effect on green and sustained fashion manufacturing and sustainable fashion manufacturing's mediating role. A quantitative survey gathered primary data from 105 staff across Nigerian fashion manufacturing organizations. Analysis employed descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression models, including a three-condition mediation framework. Findings reveal green finance positively affects green fashion manufacturing (boosting it by 96.3%) and sustained fashion manufacturing (boosting it by 102.6%). Crucially, sustainable fashion manufacturing fully mediates this relationship, demonstrating green finance reduces second-hand clothing imports primarily through fostering local sustainable production. The study recommends enhancing access to green finance, implementing robust incentives for green practices, and leveraging sustainable local production growth to reduce second-hand clothing import dependence.