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The purpose of the study is to examine the experiences of emerging adults transitioning from college to career and the implications of this transition on clothing choice and identity formation.

This study utilized a phenomenological approach to address how appearances are used by emerging adults during the transition from college to the workplace and how those appearances help form identity.

The study found that participants have a desire for high-status consumption, primarily fueled by social comparison and the desire to keep up with colleagues, a desire to express identity through clothing, even if they are working from home, and the tendency to convey maturity during this transitory time by dressing the part.

The main limitation of this study is the homogenous nature of participants. Most are white females in their 20s who work in the fashion industry. It would be fruitful to consider a more representative population of emerging adults to examine the role of clothing choice on identity formation during this critical time.

This study highlights the need for change in the retail sector, regarding which garments create a professional wardrobe. Since the pandemic, many companies have shifted to a casual dress code, thus rendering the historically professional wardrobe of business attire obsolete.

Examining what it means to be an emerging adult joining the workforce in today's post-pandemic world is a complex and ongoing process. This study provides insight into how this experience is navigated via clothing and how identities are shaped during this transition in a person's life.

Appearance has two meanings. On the one hand, appearance is about the physical qualities of a person being of certain height, weight, complexion and having a particular hair, eye and skin colour as well as choice and style of dress and attire. On the other hand, appearance has a social dimension, as those physical qualities of a person are interpreted, rated and judged, and attributed varied meanings and values across different settings. Appearances can influence the experiences of individuals in the workplace in both positive and negative ways: Positive, when they are mobilised as a resource that increases the influence and advantage of individuals on others; and negative, when individuals are discriminated or disadvantaged on the basis of their appearance. Drawing on a Bourdieusian conceptual repertoire, this chapter delves into this duality of appearance and frames appearance both as a resource (a form of carnal capital) and a source of symbolic violence. As appearance is an aspect of an individual's self-identity in the workplace, this chapter explores appearance and intersectionality across gender, ethnicity, class and sexual orientation at work. Appearance is examined as a cross cutting category of diversity as both privilege (carnal capital) and disadvantage (symbolic violence).

Based on literature providing evidence that Afrocentric hairstyles (e.g. afros, braids, dreadlocks) of Black women working in professional settings are often associated with negative stereotypes and biases regarding competency and professionalism, this chapter examines the extent to which these biases may be influencing the hairstyle choices of Black women employed in higher education. While academic workplaces tend to be more flexible and informal than non-academic settings, we found many Black women in higher education are, nonetheless, choosing to wear Eurocentric hairstyles. However, choice of hairstyle was influenced by academic discipline, type of institution and level in the university hierarchy.

Women's bodies are abject and ‘out of place’ in organisations where (self and other) disciplining of women's bodies serve to regulate and silence women. Yet we know little about how expectations of body and appearance play out in the career decisions and everyday practices of women academic leaders. In this chapter reflexive accounts are used to explore if dress and appearance expectations have implications for women's career development and advancement, specifically in the context of business schools. The literature review and two reflexive autoethnographic accounts provided, illuminate how, through dress and appearance, the pervasiveness of hegemonic masculinity is both sustained and challenged and the potential impacts of this upon women's careers in academia.

This study aims to examine how veganism is “seen” by young adult non-vegan consumers and how prevailing attitudes reinforce or challenge stigmas around veganism.

Photovoice methodology was used to explore young non-vegan consumers’ attitudes and beliefs towards veganism. Data was collected from students studying advertising at a major university in Australia, who produced images and narratives reflective of their own attitudes towards veganism. Polytextual thematic analysis of the resulting visual data was then undertaken to reveal the dominant themes underpinning participants’ attitudes. Participant narratives were then reviewed to confirm whether the ascribed meaning aligned with participants’ intended meaning.

Participant images were reflective of first, how they saw their world and their place within it, which showed the interplay and interconnectedness between humans, animals and nature, and second, how they saw vegans within this world, with both positive and negative attitudes expressed. Interestingly, vegans were simultaneously admired and condemned. By situating these attitudes along a spectrum of moral evaluation, bounded by stigmatisation and moral legitimacy, participants saw vegans as being either Radicals, Pretenders, Virtuous or Pragmatists. For veganism to become more widely accepted by non-vegans, there is an important role to be played by each vegan type.

This study offers a more nuanced understanding of how and why dissociative groups, such as vegans, become stigmatised, which has implications for messaging and marketing practices around veganism and associated products/services. Future research could use a similar methodology to understand why other minority groups in society are stereotyped and stigmatised, which has broader social implications.

Body positivity movement empowered plus-size women globally to speak up boldly about their clothing needs. Retailers cannot satisfy this group with some classic style offerings anymore. By taking clue from existing literature, this study aims to identify clothing preferences and problems related to ready-made plus-size clothing in India. Although many past literature pointed out about poorly fitted and size unavailability issues worldwide, very few of them addressed about clothing style preferences.

A self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used to answer a set of objectives. A pilot study with 40 plus-size women was carried out to check the reliability and validity of the instrument. Four hundred subject's data were gathered from six Indian cities with a purpose of varied geographical importance. Statistical tests like binomial distribution was used to analyze fit-related problems of 12 bodily sites such as shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, bust, waist, stomach, abdomen, hip, thigh, lower leg, armhole and elbow, and frequency charts were used to examine Likert scale data of sizing problems. The choices of 12 clothing styles were mapped through four factors which affect the purchasing decision of a plus-size woman.

Poor-fitted clothes at 10 body sites out of the 12 reflected about the fit aspect of plus-size clothing in India. Findings associated to sizing issues like unavailability of trendy clothes in appropriate sizes, which also adorn Indian curvy figure, shows synonymy to the worldwide researcher's findings related to sizing chaos. Classic silhouettes like Straight Indian kurti, A-line dresses and regular-fit trousers were majorly preferred by women. Hiding body bulges was mostly preferred while purchasing loose-fitted garments, and fitted garments were preferred only if these suits to the curvy body proportion. Appropriate fit and size availability are always a prime requisite for this class of women.

The outcomes of research will help Indian retailers/manufacturers to update their patterns in order to provide desired fit. In this lacuna of standard size chart, the study will add value in the development of Indian plus-size women's size chart. The factor mapping with clothing preferences will be useful to reduce rejections and inventories.

This study proposes a garment modularization model based on an interactive genetic algorithm. The suggested model consists of extraction and identification of parts and the determination and implementation of connections. Rules and corresponding mathematical equations have been formulated for the part's extractions from the discarded products and connections for the redesigned products.

Sustainability entices scholars and practitioners while referring to reducing waste to control environmental degradation. One of the ways to safeguard natural resources is to increase the reuse of old or discarded products. The current study focuses on the redesign process to improve the reuse of products.

The intelligent system proposed based on the modularization techniques is expected to simplify and quantify the redesign process. The model can further help in the minimization of wastage and environmental degradation.

Presently, manual decisions are taken by the designers based on their memory, experience and intuition to extract and join the parts.

This study aims to investigate if engineered compression variations using moisture-responsive knitted fabric design can improve breast support in seamless knitted sports bras.

An experimental approach was used to integrate a novel moisture-responsive fabric panel into a seamless knitted bra, and the resulting compression variability in dry versus wet conditions were compared with those of a control bra. Air permeability and elongation testing of between breasts fabric panels was conducted in dry and wet conditions, followed by three-dimensional body scanning of eight human participants wearing the two bras in similar conditions. Questionnaires were used to evaluate perceived comfort and breast support of both bras in both conditions.

Air permeability test results showed that the novel panel had the highest variance between dry and wet conditions, confirming its moisture-responsive design, and increased its elongation coefficient in both wale and course directions in wet condition. There were significant main effects of bra type and body location on breast compression measurements. Breast circumferences in the novel bra were significantly larger than in the control bra condition. The significant two-way interaction between bra type and moisture condition showed that the control bra lost compressive power in wet condition, whereas the novel bra became more compressive when wet. Changes in compression were confirmed by participants’ perception of tighter straps and drier breast comfort.

These findings add to the limited scientific knowledge of moisture adaptive bra design using engineered knitted fabrics via advanced manufacturing technologies, with possible applications beyond sports bras, such as bras for breast surgery recovering patients.

This study examines the relationship between internal control and corporate environmental responsibility.

Unlike US studies that concentrate solely on internal control over financial reporting, this study uses a comprehensive index that encompasses internal control over financial reporting, operations, and compliance. Corporate environmental responsibility is measured by environmental investments. Our research sample comprises Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2018.

The results demonstrate a positive correlation between internal control and corporate environmental investments. Furthermore, we find that firms with high-quality internal control can improve their financial and environmental performance through environmental investments. After decomposing internal control into its five components, we show that the control environment, control activities, and information and communication components exhibit stronger effects on environmental investments than the risk assessment and monitoring components. Finally, the cross-sectional analyses reveal that the positive effect of internal control is more pronounced in private firms and in firms that are subject to weaker environmental regulation.

By focusing on the effect of a comprehensive internal mechanism on corporate environmental responsibility in China, this study contributes to the literature in developed-country settings that overwhelmingly focuses on the impact of external stakeholders and regulations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of job-hopping executives at their former and subsequent firms.

We conduct regression analyses using a sample of firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2020 to examine whether CSR performance is similar from one firm to the next as executives switch jobs.

We find a positive relationship between the CSR performance of former and subsequent firms under job-hopping executives. This relationship is the strongest in the year of the job switch; it weakens in the second year and eventually disappears in the third year. In addition, we show that this relationship benefits different CSR stakeholder groups and is contingent on executive and subsequent firm attributes and job-hopping characteristics. Furthermore, we demonstrate that firms that hire a new chief executive officer from a firm with a strong track record in CSR, the new firm experiences a significant surge in CSR performance compared with firms that do not experience such a shock.

This study has implications for executive hiring decisions.

This study extends the understanding of CSR determinants through the lens of inter-organisational ties associated with job-hopping executives.