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Online fashion retailers offer body measurement guidance, alongside their target consumer body size charts and fit information, to help consumers select the right size garment as the garment cannot be tried on. Its use by retailers suggests it can act as a means of mitigating garment returns as there has been a noted increase in returns due to incorrect size selection even though body measurement instructions are provided online. The purpose of this research is to determine how consumers interact with body measurement guidance, how they interpret it and use it, thereby interrogating its efficacy.

An exploratory investigation was undertaken. Thirty participants were recruited and given a choice of fashion retailers' body measurement guidance and a tape measure. They took their body measurements over their clothes. A technician repeated the task, thereby providing two sets of body measurements. A paired t-test determined if there was a significant difference in both values in terms of their mean. Technicians also documented their observations of how the participants interacted with the task. The content of the fashion retailer measurement guidance was then compared to that of published anthropometric guidance for surveys.

Participants were familiar with the guidance and tape-measure; they were able to self-measure. The fashion retailer measurement guidance, however, lacked detail/clarity in visuals and written content when compared to anthropometric guidance. Interpretation of the guidance differed between participant and technician. This resulted in a significant difference in circumference measurements for the bust/chest and hips, yet no significant difference in waist and inside-leg measurements. For measurements that were difficult to take unaided, participants devised novel practices which resulted in little divergence from the technician taken body measurements. The results question the guidance efficacy in its current form.

There has been no study which addresses how consumers interpret and interact with fashion retailers' online measurement guidance. This is important as this can mitigate garment returns. This research provides insight to influence fashion retailers' measurement guidance policy. It also adds to the existing body of knowledge surrounding anthropometric practice for clothing.

The findings indicated that fashion retailers need to revise their body measurement guidance content. The content needs to be more comprehensive but still use accessible language and visuals. The broader implications of this study highlight that traditional anthropometrics for self-taken body measurement needs developing as an emerging concept through clothing-related academic study.

Fashion retailers' measurement guidance needs to be more comprehensive but still use accessible language and visuals. The broader implications of this study highlight that traditional anthropometrics for self-taken body measurement needs further investigation and documentation as an emerging concept through clothing-related academic study.

The paper seeks to identify ethical issues arising from body cathexis research and analyse categories for attention. To also highlight methodological considerations in generating body size data through measurement for fashion products.

This study presents instrumental activities and strategies for conducting and implementing focus groups for investigating body cathexis and related body measurements for fashion products. Five homogenous groups of 30 females aged 19‐44 years, were employed. Purposive and proportionate sampling procedures involving both qualitative and quantitative methods were applied and analysed by triangulation. Aspects of the methodology of measurement are presented in this paper but analysis of measurement data is presented in a subsequent paper. Key ethical principles by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK have been also evaluated in relation to the integrity of such a study.

The study found that deciding on procedures regarding collating data on psychological issues related to garment fit is an obscure process that is not clearly documented in literature. It raised significant issues relating to sensitivity to respondents' concerns when conducting an investigation into body cathexis for fashion products. A framework for ethical and methodological practice in researching body cathexis and ethical deliberation in generating body measurement data has therefore been presented.

This study presents guidelines for ethical practice and develops an ethical framework for research and professional practice.

Three theoretical constructs that appear in many models of consumer behaviour and are of central importance to fashion marketing and management are enduring product involvement, opinion seeking and subjective product knowledge. Both basic and applied market research, however, have lacked valid, reliable and standardised measures of these variables. Recent published studies have presented multi‐item scales that fill this gap in fashion research methodology. All three scales, however, were developed using US data, chiefly students. This paper presents the results of three surveys of Korean adult (n = 479) and student (n = 387) consumers as well as US adult consumers (n = 318) that support the reliability and validity of all three scales and show their applicability for cross‐cultural fashion research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interrelationships among fashion lifestyle of social-local-mobile (SoLoMo) consumers as individual characteristics, perceptions of the value of showrooming and webrooming and omnichannel shopping intention as choice/purchase behavior, and product review sharing intention as a post-purchase behavior.

Participants were 601 SoLoMo consumers who were drawn from a US consumer panel. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model.

This study found that SoLoMo consumers’ perceptions of the value of showrooming and webrooming were antecedents of their omnichannel shopping intention, which had an influence on their intention to share product reviews. SoLoMo consumers’ brand prestige-based fashion lifestyle did not affect the perceived value of webrooming and had a negative influence on perceived value of showrooming. SoLoMo consumers’ information-based and practicality-based fashion lifestyles affected the perceived value of showrooming and webrooming. Interestingly, SoLoMo consumers’ personality-based fashion lifestyle did not have an influence on the perceived value of showrooming and webrooming.

This study provides the theoretical understanding of the interrelationships among SoLoMo consumers’ fashion lifestyle, perceived value, omnichannel shopping intention and product review sharing intention. This proposed model offers fashion retailers useful insights regarding the development of efficient omnichannel strategies based on SoLoMo consumers’ individual characteristics and perceptions. Finally, the results of this study engender important literature and knowledge related to omnichannel retailing and marketing.

As an effort to identify the underlying determinants of compulsive buying, this study seeks to examine fashion orientation, a fashion‐related variable, as a direct antecedent of compulsive buying and as an indirect antecedent of compulsive buying through credit card use.

Using a convenient sampling method, women aged over 20 years living in the Seoul metropolitan area were selected as the sample. Out of 380 distributed, 267 useful questionnaires were returned. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were conducted using structural equation modeling.

The results of this study showed that fashion interest significantly influenced compulsive buying directly and also indirectly by influencing credit card use.

This study has significance in terms of being the first one to explore the relationship between fashion orientation variables and compulsive buying, offering a new perspective on compulsive buying.

The purpose of this research is to develop a multidimensional measurement of fashion domain entrepreneurial self-efficacy (FDESE) based on which fashion entrepreneurs will be able to better develop strategies to gain and sustain success in their business development. The research is crucial to advocate fashion entrepreneurship and will provide direction for fashion business incubation services.

This research included three stages with mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches: conceptualizing construct definition and specifying domain(s) to generate initial items, scale purification and scale validation. This study started with reviewing the literature and individual interviews among 19 fashion entrepreneurs, which generated 72 initial items. An online survey was then conducted with individuals who are running or have the intention to run fashion businesses, yielding 249 useable samples for scale purification, which generated 21 items for the validation phase. Lastly, another online survey was administered to individuals who are currently running fashion businesses which resulted in 258 valid responses included for scale validation.

A measure of FDESE that is both reliable and valid was developed, including 21 items across four distinct dimensions: passion for fashion business (five items), marketing and branding (seven items), financial management (five items) and creativity (four items).

This study is the first attempt to develop practical scales measuring self-efficacy that focus on fashion domain entrepreneurship. The newly developed FDESE scale indicates that entrepreneurship not only involves marketing skills, financial knowledge, creativity, leadership, and proactivity but also requires passion and persistence.

This paper addresses the fact that many companies lack insight into the uses of utility theory in HR. Most utility research has been conducted with a view to developing measurement systems rather than measurement effects. Some selected theories of information effects are presented, together with their implications for the application of HR measurement systems. These theories relate to information receivers and goals , HR measurement as decions support as well as decision theory and bias. Special attention is devoted to HR measurements as persuasion , with reference to transmission, receiver and organisation characteristics. Other factors of importance are the selfinterest of senders and the role of “fashion setting” for innovation. One conclusion is that the study of the effects of HR measurements on their receivers provides a fruitful field for empirical research.

This study aims to probe customers’ expectations and explore discrepancies across various domestic kids’ ready to wear (RTW) apparel brands for measurements, fit, shape and labelling/nomenclature.

Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews were held with the consumers to understand their perceptions and expectations with the kids’ wear brands for measurements, fit and labelling. The approach had a twofolded purpose of addressing the consumers’ dissatisfaction and the apparel manufacturer’s perspective.

The results indicated that 87% of consumers gave importance to well-fitted apparel. The apparel brands considered for the study showed inconsistency and discrepancies in the measurements, leading to consumer dissatisfaction and frustrations.

The findings of the study may be useful for fashion academia, kids RTW apparel manufacturers and designers who can relate to the role of standard measurements and the varying body shapes in RTW apparel. They can work closer to develop innovative practices focusing on the fit challenges in kids RTW apparel.

The implication of the lack of any standard measurement for Indian kids for apparel is well-established in the study.

The clothing industry is one of the earmarked industries in many countries following the rising demand and consumption of clothing products among millennials. Malaysia and Thailand are known to be promising markets for this industry in the South East Asia region. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of psychological and marketing factors on clothing interest among Generation Y consumers, as well as the interrelationships between self-confidence, product attitude and purchase intention. The impact of nationality was also examined as a moderator on the investigated relationships.

The data was collected among Generation Y consumers using a survey questionnaire, which had successfully gathered a total of 388 usable cases from the capital cities of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and Thailand (Bangkok). These cities were selected for being the largest cities in its country which contain the highest number of shopping malls, offices and Generation Y population. Data analysis was then performed using both the SPSS and AMOS software.

Findings obtained acknowledged the importance of both psychological (i.e. fashion innovativeness, self-concept, fashion consciousness and need for uniqueness) and marketing (i.e. social media marketing and fashion advertisement) factors towards the clothing interest among Generation Y consumers. Consequently, clothing interest would influence their product attitude, self-confidence and purchase intention, with product attitude and self-confidence as the mediators between clothing interest and purchase intention. Multigroup analysis confirmed that there are differences between Generation Y consumers in both Malaysia and Thailand, where Thai consumers hold a stricter emphasis concerning the influence of social media marketing on clothing interest and self-confidence on purchase intention.

This study is one of the very few studies that explored the minimally investigated territory on the consequential importance of clothing interest within the clothing industry, specifically, through extending the literature on the influence of psychological and marketing factors towards the individuals’ clothing interest. Moreover, this study also successfully highlighted the mediation role of product attitude and self-confidence in the relationship between clothing interest and purchase intention.

A survey of 100 young women's body measurements was undertaken during 1992/93. The findings are the basis of Part 3, which aims to explain how size charts are developed for garments; to evaluate the measuring equipment used and to compare the size chart body measurements with those proportionally derived by traditional formulae. A size chart is the artificial dividing of a range of measurements which are concise and consistent. There are different types of size charts. Some are of body measurement for specific proportion and shape. Others are for garments including ease allowances which vary according to the garment style and type of fabric. Size charts can be developed in three stages commencing with the raw survey data, which is then rounded to the nearest 1.0 cm or 0.5 cm and finally ease allowance is added for the finished garment. During the survey some measurements were repeated using different measuring equipment so that a comparison could be made to select the most suitable for pattern construction. The use of the anthropometer is limited as it can only take linear measurements. However, it is helpful when analysing body proportion, whereas the tape measures attached to the harness and a metal tape measure can record the contour surface of the body, which is more appropriate for clothing. The adjustable square and angle were a little difficult to position correctly but were useful to check the formulae used for pattern construction. A comparison is made between the survey body measurements and traditional formula to derive body measurements which are difficult to take. The dividing of the height by eight heads is useful for length proportions. The derived neck shape and survey measurements were comparable. Head measurements suitable for hoods were similar for all bust and neck sizes. Only the height showed any progression in size. This concludes the three articles which explain the taking of body measurements, methods of analysing the data and applying it to clothing pattern construction. It is hoped that this will aid those in industry and education who wish to undertake research and to develop new technology.