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The project, funded as part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food LINK scheme, has been carried out as a joint venture between Vision Dynamics Ltd, an Industrial partner RHM Research and Engineering Ltd and the University of Wales, College of Cardiff.

A new private British company has entered the arena to provide software and hardware for industrial firms seeking to apply vision.

Image analysis once thought of as an ivory tower activity is being exploited by some of the commercial software houses. Ata recent SERC seminar two companies, Logica and SPL International, talked about their own development systems.

Drawing from two years of multi-sited fieldwork about international backpacking in Central America, I make important connections between the backpacking escape motive, the backpacker hostel, and tourism. I explain how backpackers experience the hostel as their “home base” and “home away from home” to escape into local cultures and natural environments that exist outside of it and an international community of travelers that convenes inside of it. I refer to theories on modern tourism, the backpacking escape motive, and the concept of community. I also theorize how the global spread of modern amenities and tourism shapes backpackers' escape experiences.

This paper aims to investigate consumers' perspectives on sustainable clothing consumption and to examine ways in which this information could influence retailers' policies.

Qualitative research was conducted using focus groups, home tasks and workshops with 99 participants. The sample represented different groups of consumers in relation to their sustainability behaviour.

Focus group participants had a limited awareness of the sustainability impacts of clothing. Where participants displayed pro‐environmental behaviour, this was not necessarily intentional, but was largely a response to other influences. The respondents' maintenance and disposal of clothes were found to be influenced mainly by existing habits and routines, which usually take precedence over awareness of sustainable practice. The research indicated that consumers could be persuaded to change their behaviour in relation to sustainability by being encouraged and enabled to reflect more on their behaviour.

This study uses qualitative research and is limited to UK consumers. Future research in this field could incorporate quantitative methods or in‐depth interviews. Academics could conduct further research and generate theories which apply to the sustainable consumption of clothing.

The findings have implications for retailers, academics and society. Retailers can develop and implement more sustainable policies and practices in relation to clothing production and consumption. There are wider implications for society and the environment in that retailers' practices can impact greatly on the sustainability of the planet's resources.

This paper's originality lies in its assessment of the implications for retailers of consumers' views on the sustainable consumption of clothing.