Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

Grete Birtwistle; Linda Shearer

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007275pmid: N/A

Developing a strong, positive image has become essential to the maintenance of sustained competitive advantage. Research into store image has allowed retailers to create positioning strategies and enabled them to differentiate their stores in terms of the products, prices or services on offer. This paper presents the findings of a survey based on responses from 860 customers of multiple retailers selling womenswear fashion clothing. It examined the principal dimensions involved in store image, utilising a multi‐attribute model, and compares results with qualitative store choice statements. The paper concludes by exploring how retailers could manipulate image variables to maintain or defend their market positioning.

Rennae Sletten Daneshvary; R. Keith Schwer

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007276pmid: N/A

Since the early 1980s, many studies have assessed consumers’ preferences for domestic versus imported apparel; a few have addressed the influence of socio‐economic factors on preference. This study provides a profile of the ethnocentric consumer, one who prefers their own goods over goods made in other cultures, by using an array of socio‐economic factors, including an eight‐category occupation variable and a “greatest generation” age variable, regressed on consumers’ perception of the importance of buying a garment made in the USA. Data were obtained from a convenience sample of rodeo attendees. Results from binary logistic regression reveal that younger, college‐educated respondents and those employed in service occupations are less likely to perceive buying US‐produced apparel as important than other groups.

H. Jessie Chen‐Yu; Doris H. Kincade

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007277pmid: N/A

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of product image at three stages of the consumer decision process for apparel products: alternative evaluation, purchase and post‐purchase stages. The three specific objectives of the study were to examine at the alternative evaluation stage the effect of product image on perceived quality and performance expectation, at the purchase stage the effect of product image on purchase intention and the price the consumer was willing to pay, and at the post‐purchase stage the effect of product image on consumer satisfaction and the effect of product image with product consumption performance on consumer satisfaction. The experimental design was used to determine the cause‐and‐effect relationships between the treatment variables (independent variables) and the dependent variables. Sweatshirts were used as the sample product category and 120 university students were recruited as participants. Results showed that at the alternative evaluation stage, product image significantly and positively influenced perceived quality and performance expectation. At the purchase stage, product image was not a determinant of purchase intention, but significantly and positively influenced the price participants were willing to pay for the product. At the post‐purchase stage, product image did not directly influence participants’ satisfaction, but product image with product consumption performance significantly affected satisfaction. When consumption performance was good, product image significantly and positively influenced satisfaction. When consumption performance was poor, product image significantly and negatively influenced satisfaction.

Ian Phau; Gerard Prendergast; Leung Hing Chuen

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007278pmid: N/A

This research profiles consumers of pirated products, specifically pirated brands of clothing. Utilising a structured questionnaire and counter‐biasing statements, results from face‐to‐face street‐intercept interviews showed that low spenders on pirated brands of clothing are mainly people aged 19 to 24 with a blue‐collar occupation, relatively low monthly income, secondary education level, and no children. High spenders on pirated brands are in the age bracket 25‐34 with white‐collar jobs, a monthly income of HK$10,000‐HK$19,999, tertiary or university education, and children. Consumers identify pirated brands of clothing usually by lower price and buying location, but price was not the sole determinant for purchase. Finally, they bought the pirated brands mainly for private use. Based on these results, the paper makes recommendations to original brand manufacturers and policy makers for combating pirated products.

Deborah Fowler; Richard Clodfelter

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007279pmid: N/A

Past research has shown that consumers believe there is a strong relationship between price and quality; they also believe there is a strong relationship between brand and quality. Therefore, when comparing similar pieces of apparel, items with a designer brand or a higher price are perceived, by most customers, to be of higher quality. The purpose of this study was to compare the pricing and quality of identical designer merchandise sold in department stores and manufacturers’ outlet stores. The researchers found no significant differences in the quality of apparel sold in the two retail formats; however, there was a significant difference in the price. The department store merchandise was 31 per cent higher in price than the outlet store merchandise.

Simone Guercini

doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000007280pmid: N/A

Quick fashion formulas can be described as a product/service characterised mainly by its potential to supply retailers with a range renewal service that is produced at short time gaps. The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypothesis that by adopting new quick fashion formulas clothing manufacturers can at least in part integrate the different factors that traditionally contributed to the success of operators in different strategic groups. In the case of the Italian firm analysed here, the range renewal service and consequently the development of a new production management model are integrated with construction of a strong brand identity, which has resulted in increased performance. The development of new quick fashion formulas appears symptomatic of transition from a production‐driven to a market‐driven characterisation of the apparel manufacturing sector. The development and success of quick fashion formulas such as those analysed in this paper may have important implications not only for the evolution of clothing distribution, but indeed for the whole supply chain upstream of the retailer, including textiles manufacturers who produce yarn and fabric.