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This study aims to examine the conceptual distinction of two clothing orientations – style orientation and fashion orientation. Style and fashion orientations both express identity and individuality, but the fashion orientation may more strongly reflect materialistic values, which extensive evidence shows are detrimental to well-being. This study investigates how the clothing orientations are associated with materialism and subjective well-being.

The conceptual distinction between style and fashion orientations and their associations with materialism and subjective well-being were investigated via an online survey (N = 4,591) conducted in Germany, Poland, Sweden and the USA. Participants aged 18–65 were recruited based on national representative quotas for age, gender, education and region.

The regression results support a conceptual distinction between the style and fashion orientation. Style orientation was positively associated with subjective well-being compared to fashion orientation. Both the style and fashion orientations were positively correlated with materialism, but the association was much stronger for fashion orientation and materialism exhibited a strong negative association with subjective well-being. Interestingly, materialism moderated the association between fashion orientation and well-being but not between style orientation and well-being.

The four examined countries were Western, and, thus, the findings cannot be generalized to other populations. In addition, this study specifically examined relationships in a clothing context. To enable wider generalization, the relationships tested must be explored in other countries, especially non-Western, and also across other product categories.

The findings of this study can help retailers develop their marketing programs, product and service offerings and specifically their communications more closely targeted to consumers’ clothing orientations.

This study contributes by conceptually distinguishing between clothing style and fashion orientations and investigating their divergent associations to materialism and subjective well-being. This research also raises the question of whether fashion orientation is independent or rather, an aspect of materialism, which has implications for other consumption domains as well.

This research applied Homer and Kahle's (1988) theoretical framework, which describes the hierarchical relations of personal values, attitude and behavior to test the moderated mediation model. The major focus of this study was to evaluate how individual characteristics such as fashion involvement and materialism influenced the formation of socially responsible attitudes and ethical fashion purchasing intentions. By focusing on fashion aficionados and materialists, this research examines each step of the hierarchical model by exploring the relation between values and attitude and evaluating the attitude–behavior gap. The main finding highlights the critical role that attitude plays in ethical fashion consumption.

Different sets of latent models with each ethical quality such as ethical concern and ethical obligation were tested to explore if those consumer characteristics had any moderating effects on both front-end (IV-M) and back-end (M-DV) relations of Homer and Kahle's (1988) hierarchical model.

Both ethical values failed to instill a socially responsible mindset in individuals who were heavily immersed in fashion or materialism. Once such attitudes were formed, however, those who were fashion-conscious or materialistic were more likely to purchase ethical apparel than those who were less interested in fashion or materialism.

Previous research has mainly identified external or situational factors that create the attitude or intention and behavior gap in ethical consumption. Given the lack of understanding about psychological factors in understanding the gap, this study added to the literature by identifying fashion involvement and materialism as critical factors positively influencing attitude and behavioral intention associations.

This study aims to determine the effects of consumers' perceptions of value and environmental concerns toward recycled content clothing on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions toward these products.

The research methodology consisted of consumer survey. Female consumers registered in the labor market in the province of Konya in Turkey constituted the sample of the study. A total of 296 female consumers selected by a simple random sampling method, and taking into account time, cost and accessibility criteria, constituted the sample of the study.

Perceived customer values and environmental concerns were found to be much more effective on purchase intentions, although they were weak in positively affecting customers' attitudes toward recycled content clothing. Findings show that emotional, epistemic and conditional values and environmental concerns positively affect purchase intentions.

The sample in this study consisted of just female consumers with income in the city of Konya, Turkey. The results might be different in different demographic groups and different cities of Turkey.

Consumers have positive attitude toward the idea of using recycled fibers in their clothes.

The literature generally includes research examining consumers' behavior toward sustainable fashion. This research focuses on the value perceptions and attitudes of Turkish consumers toward recycled content clothing – a market and topic that have not been studied much before.

Researchers have paid little attention to elucidating how customer-perceived innovative apparel attributes are linked to brand reputation and consumer buying behaviors. This study intends to bridge that gap by providing empirical evidence on the effects of product novelty, product difference and product inimitability on brand reputation and behavioral intentions in the context of garment purchasing. We also investigate the moderating effects of self-congruity and value consciousness on the attribute‒brand reputation linkages, as well as their immediate influence on the domain variables.

The proposed model was estimated using data from a web-based survey of 299 female apparel customers. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the relationships between variables.

The results indicate that product novelty, product inimitability, self-congruity and value consciousness significantly influence brand reputation. The results also demonstrate that self-congruity, value consciousness and brand reputation have direct effects on behavioral intention, while self-congruity and value consciousness appear to moderate the relationship between innovative product attributes and brand reputation.

This study is the first to present a conceptual model that systematically encompasses product innovation, brand perceptions and behavioral links in the field of women's clothing. The findings have important implications for both academics and practitioners in the field of fashion marketing.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the shift towards a circular economy and marketing strategies on the collaborative purchasing behaviour of consumers in India. The study uses the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the marketing mix to understand the factors affecting a consumer’s intention to participate in collaborative consumption (CC).

A Web-based survey was conducted, and 349 valid responses were analysed using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) structural equation modelling. The study emphasised the impact of price, promotion and perceived behaviour control on CC and provided direction and advice for companies that rent and swap apparel.

According to the study, promotion and perceived behaviour control are the two key characteristics that significantly impact a consumer’s willingness to participate in CC in India. The study also found that perceived behaviour control plays a significant direct role in behavioural usage. These findings emphasise the impact of price, promotion and perceived behaviour control on CC and offer direction and advice for companies that rent and swap apparel.

This article can be used to evaluate the business in different countries and can be developed further. It does, however, have some restrictions. Because most respondents are from northern and central India, in addition, some respondents are from the southwestern and southern regions, especially in the Mumbai and Chennai locales. Hence, the geographical sample was not diverse in terms of demographics. Furthermore, the gender identity of the respondents might essentially affect how the authors interpret customer buying behaviour, but the study missed this. Researchers could enhance this by using various sampling techniques and ensuring that other demographic characteristics are considered in the future. Furthermore, the survey could not distinguish between online and in-person transactions.

The study provides practical advice for companies that rent and swap apparel, emphasising the impact of price, promotion and perceived behaviour control on consumer willingness to participate in CC. The findings suggest that companies can improve consumer participation by focusing on promotion and perceived behaviour control. In addition, the significance of perceived behaviour control on behavioural usage highlights the importance of empowering consumers to control their decisions to participate in CC.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine the factors influencing consumer willingness to participate in CC in the context of the shift towards a circular economy in India. By examining the impact of the TPB and the marketing mix on consumer intention, the study provides valuable insights for companies that rent and swap apparel. The findings highlight the importance of promotion and perceived behaviour control in shaping consumer behaviour and provide practical direction for companies to promote and market their products effectively. The study adds to the existing knowledge on the circular economy and the role of CC in reducing waste and promoting sustainability.

In keeping with recent body image social trends, consumer demand for the adoption of plus-size models is increasing, although the use of thin models remains prevalent. The current study explores how consumers process information about fashion products displayed on different sizes of models in advertisements, focusing on model and consumer body sizes and both genders. As an underlying mechanism explaining how the relationship between model and consumer body sizes shapes consumer purchase intention, this study explores the role of guilt, shame and mental imagery.

The current study uses a text analytics technique to identify female consumers' general opinions of thin models in advertising. Employing a 3 (consumer body size: normal, overweight, obese) × 2 (model body size: thin, plus-size) × 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects online experiment (n = 718), the main study comparatively analyzes the influences of plus-size and thin models on consumer responses.

The results reveal that, despite body positivity movements, thin models still generate negative emotions among female consumers. For obese female consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models produce fewer negative emotions but not more mental imagery than advertisements featuring thin models. Conversely, for obese male consumers, advertisements featuring plus-size models generate more mental imagery but not more negative emotions than advertisements featuring thin models. The results also reveal that the relationship between consumer body size and guilt is moderated by perceived model size, which is also moderated by gender in generating mental imagery. While guilt plays a mediating role in enhancing mental imagery, resulting in purchase intention, shame does not take on this role.

This study is the first to present an integrated model that elucidates how consumers with varying body sizes respond to different sizes of models in advertising and how these responses impact purchase intentions.

Our findings only apply to contexts where consumers purchase fashion clothing in response to advertisements featuring thin versus plus-size models.

Exposing normal-size consumers to plus-size models generates less mental imagery, and thus, practitioners should seek to match the body sizes of the models featured in advertising to the body sizes of their target audience or ad campaigns that include both plus-size and thin models may help improve message persuasiveness in fashion advertising. Moreover, guilt-appeal advertising campaigns using thin models would appeal more to thin consumers of both genders than shame-appeal advertising.

In the channel-mix era, the customer journey involves combining channels during all the stages of the decision-making process, such that creating and maintaining relationships with consumers poses a challenge to retailers. This work aims to explore what role brands play in this issue by analyzing what impact the perceived benefits of brand channel-mix have on consumer self–brand connection (SBC) and what their effect is in enduring consumer–brand relationships (i.e. future channel-mix use and word of mouth [WOM]). This paper also explores the moderating role of product involvement in these relations.

The authors carried out a personal questionnaire with a sample of 288 consumers who were recruited after leaving one of the stores of a clothing brand that is a successful example of distribution channel management.

Insofar as consumers perceive channel-mix benefits, SBC will be higher and (or as a result) their future intentions with the brand will be more intense. In addition, the results show that product involvement moderates the relationship between SBC and channel-mix use intention and WOM.

This work contributes to channel-mix, relationship marketing, brand and product involvement literature by analyzing how customers may be retained in the channel-mix era through brand management and by considering product category involvement. This study merges brand and product variables to explore their impact on relationship marketing within channel-mix behaviors.

Despite significant advances in previous work, there are still gaps in the research on customers' acceptance of virtual fitting rooms (VFRs). This research aims to highlight the effects of the characteristics of VFRs on the intention to use.

Fashionable clothing shoppers in Harmony Shopping Plaza and Ginza Shopping Plaza in Jinan, China, were chosen as the main sample. A total of 304 valid questionnaires were collected using a questionnaire QR code, which was scanned to access the questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relevant hypotheses.

The results showed that customers' usage intention (UI) was positively associated with perceived efficiency, design and perceived security. Furthermore, the mediating effects of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were significant between design, vividness and UI.

In contrast to existing research, which focuses primarily on the posterior effects of psychological perception and behavior, this paper focuses on the antecedents of customer psychological perceptions. This study also examines the moderating effect of fashion consciousness, which also provides reference value for future research. The findings of this paper provide practical guidance for the promotion of VFRs.

The study investigates the factors that influence young consumers (Gen Zs and Ys) in emerging markets to engage fashion ads of non-luxury fashion retail small- to medium-size enterprises (SMEs) on social media. Through a desk assessment of practice and the phenomenon's available evidence in the extant literature, four main drivers were delineated, reviewed and subsequently tested to influence young consumers' behavioural engagements of emerging markets' fashion SMEs' social media contents.

A non-probability sample of 1,150 respondents (Gen Y and Z combined) in Ghana, an emerging market, formed the sample for the study. The respondents assessed four empirically identified antecedents (sales campaigns, relevant sales-related information, catchy and inspiring product/brand photo/video and consumer-generated contents) that are likely to influence their behavioural engagement on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter). SmartPLS (version 3.3.3) was employed to perform partial least square structural equation modelling.

The results showed that to engage fashion-related ads, particularly from non-luxury fashion SMEs, young consumers consider sales campaigns, cues from consumer-generated contents, as well as quality and inspiring videos and photos. Less attention is given to relevant sales-related information.

The three significant drivers of engagement found in the current study provide managerial knowledge for non-luxury fashion SMEs in emerging markets. Videos and still pictures must be of high definition and quality. Short and long promotional campaigns may drive positive behavioural engagements. Interactivity between fashion SMEs and young consumers is encouraged as it precipitates the positive engagement behaviours enabled by social media. The study concludes with actionable recommendations for the non-luxury fashion SME sector in emerging economies.

The study is the first of its kind to ascertain what drives young consumers' engagement with non-luxury fashion SMEs on social media. It provides managerial insights and guidance to SMEs in emerging markets on effective social media fashion retailing targeted mainly at digital natives, the dominant generational cohorts on social media in most emerging economies.

The purpose of this study is to address a significant gap in the understanding of entrepreneurship at the microfoundation level. It focuses on how individual entrepreneurs, specifically Hongbang entrepreneurs in China from 1896 to 1949, shape and transform their contexts. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate entrepreneurial success.

The study adopts a microhistorical approach, investigating the case of Hongbang entrepreneurs in China during 1896-1949. It involves an in-depth examination of historical records to explore the strategic interactions between these entrepreneurs and core stakeholders such as consumers, financial intermediaries, government regulators, and human resources. The research methodology emphasizes a process-oriented view, examining the evolution of personalized networks into extensive connections.

The research reveals that Hongbang entrepreneurs successfully reshaped their unfavorable embedded contexts by strategically collaborating with key stakeholders. They influenced consumer tastes, allied with financial intermediaries, negotiated with governments on regulation policies, and developed human resource stocks. The transformation was facilitated by the evolution of their networks from personalized to extensive connections. These findings highlight the localized strategies such as cronyism in resource acquisition within China’s private property development industry.

This study contributes to the field by offering insights into entrepreneurial contextualization and networking. It sheds light on the complex interplay between entrepreneurs and their contexts, providing a nuanced understanding of localized strategies in the Chinese context. The findings add value to the discourse on entrepreneurship by elucidating the strategic and processual acts through which entrepreneurs engage with stakeholders and reshape their environments.