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1 – 10 of over 2000Addie Martindale and Ellen McKinney
The purpose of this paper is to explore garment consumption decision processes of female consumers when they have the option to sew or purchase their clothing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore garment consumption decision processes of female consumers when they have the option to sew or purchase their clothing.
Design/methodology/approach
This research study presents a segment of the findings from a larger qualitative grounded theory study on women who choose to sew clothing for themselves (Martindale, 2017). This research analyzed the interview data pertaining to the unique sew or purchase decision-making process in which these consumers undertake as well as the related control over ready-to-wear consumption that sewing provides them.
Findings
The ability to sew resulted in a unique consumer decision-making process in regard to the clothing purchases due to the control it provided them over their ready-to-wear consumption. The women developed factors that they used to make the decision to sew or purchase. Over all the ability to sew provided them the option to sew or purchase clothing, allowing the women more control over their clothing selection specifically in regard to the garments body fit.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited to English-speaking women living in the North America. The qualitative data collected are specific to this sample which cannot be generalized to all female home sewers. Research involving a larger population of women from a larger geographic area is needed.
Practical implications
The newly developed sew or purchase model provides an understanding of the control that having the option to sew or purchase provides female consumers. The findings offer apparel industry professionals a new perspective on ready-to-wear consumer dissatisfaction. The investment that is made when a garment is sewn instead of purchased has the potential to increase wardrobe sustainability as the consumer experiences more attachment to the clothing they have made. The model serves a starting point for further exploration into other craft-related consumer decision behaviors.
Originality/value
Purchasing decisions of this nature have yet to be considered in published research. Exploring these womenās decisions who operate outside of typical consumer culture and developing a model for this consumer behavior explains a phenomenon not yet addressed by existing consumer consumption research.
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Organizational literatures stress the empowering effects of worker participation programs. The case of a Mexican garment factory is used to examine the contradictory location of…
Abstract
Organizational literatures stress the empowering effects of worker participation programs. The case of a Mexican garment factory is used to examine the contradictory location of women in self-managed teams. While self-managed teams require independent and assertive workers, women workers are hired specifically for their docility. I argue that managers provide the tools and mechanisms for workers to be autonomous decision-makers, while at the same time they gender teams in ways that assure continued female disadvantage. Placed in this contradictory location, women workers both reproduce and resist gender subordination by carving out spaces of independent action, using the language of traditional womanhood.
This chapter concerns itself with a garment factory in Trinidad, West Indies, producing brand-name clothing for the Eastern Caribbean market. Workers in this factory not only…
Abstract
This chapter concerns itself with a garment factory in Trinidad, West Indies, producing brand-name clothing for the Eastern Caribbean market. Workers in this factory not only stitch garments for an hourly wage; but also stealthily operate a secondary assembly line, creating precise duplicates of the factory's products for themselves to take home and wear. Manufactured on the shop-floor alongside ālegitimateā production, the copied garments are identical in every way to the genuine ones they mimic. In this chapter, I argue that workers have created a āloopā in the value chain: a simultaneous moment in which they are both producers and consumers of the factory's products. While āgenuineā garments circulate through market-capitalist networks of exchange, copied garments only circulate through social networks ā thereby accruing and representing forms of āvalueā that are distinct from market value. By looping the value chain, factory workers create non-market values alongside market-oriented ones, showing both sets of values to be interdependent. Workersā own commentary on these processes offers a unique window onto contested meanings of āvalueā at work on the shop-floor.
This chapter explores how challenges potentially encourage refugees to engage in entrepreneurial activities and which adaptive mechanisms they employ in order to overcome the…
Abstract
This chapter explores how challenges potentially encourage refugees to engage in entrepreneurial activities and which adaptive mechanisms they employ in order to overcome the challenges. Semi-structured interviews with 12 refugee entrepreneurs were conducted in order to understand the underlying processes of the dynamics of challenges and adaptive mechanism within which the entrepreneurial outcomes emerged. The empirical findings of the study are evaluated in line with the parameters of the challenge-based model of entrepreneurship. A more nuanced picture of underdog entrepreneurs emerges along with a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial activities of refugees.
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Nonāstore retailing in Japan mostly takes one of three forms: mailorder, doorātoādoor selling and onāline shopping. There is still muchscope for development in all these areas in…
Abstract
Nonāstore retailing in Japan mostly takes one of three forms: mail order, doorātoādoor selling and onāline shopping. There is still much scope for development in all these areas in Japan. However, there are many factors to take into consideration before achieving success in these areas. Two particular areas are distribution and marketing skills.
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Karen LaBat, Carol Salusso and Jongeun Rhee
The paper seeks to explore home sewers' satisfaction with the fit of garments made from home sewing patterns and to provide useful information to the home sewing industry to…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to explore home sewers' satisfaction with the fit of garments made from home sewing patterns and to provide useful information to the home sewing industry to improve products and services for the target consumer.
Design/methodology/approach
Home sewers attending home sewing expos in the states of Minnesota and Washington were surveyed to determine satisfaction with fit of home sewing patterns and to determine factors that may affect satisfaction with the patterns.
Findings
The results clearly indicate that these respondents were frustrated with the fit of home sewing patterns and that their efforts to adjust patterns for better fit were typically not successful.
Research limitations/implications
The limited sample does not allow generalization, but may lend some insight into problems the home sewing pattern industry may have in attracting and maintaining customer loyalty.
Originality/value
Although there are many studies demonstrating consumer dissatisfaction with the fit of readyātoāwear apparel, few studies have focused specifically on the home sewing pattern industry. This industry could benefit from further understanding of its customer base.
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In my article, I put forward the thesis that today's consumer attitudes promoted and practiced as the pursuit of sustainable development have their genealogy in the everyday life…
Abstract
In my article, I put forward the thesis that today's consumer attitudes promoted and practiced as the pursuit of sustainable development have their genealogy in the everyday life of Polish women and their savings and inventiveness resulting from living conditions in a socialist state. Polish women's life stories under communism, which I conducted as a part of international research project, contain a kind of instructions on how to use modest resources frugally, inventively, and creatively to ensure a decent life for yourself and your family. What's more, many resource-saving practices developed by our generational grandmothers and mothers are experiencing a renaissance, such as the production of organic food at home or the re-circulation and remaking of second-hand clothes. So, when it comes to sustainable development, old everyday practices of saving resources through their ingenious and creative use are returning to favor. With the awareness of contemporary civilization threats, their usefulness may once again turn out to be salutary for humanity.
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The purpose of this research is to study the effect of softener treatment on plain jersey fabrics with properties made of cotton and spandex yarn.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to study the effect of softener treatment on plain jersey fabrics with properties made of cotton and spandex yarn.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples with 100 percent cotton yarns, spandex yarns in alternating courses (half plating) and spandex yarns in every courses (full plating) were produced on a circular knitting machine where the two latter cases were produced at five different levels of spandex extension. After the dyeing process, fabrics were treated with fabric softener using two softener types (cationic and silicon) and all type two concentrations (3 percent, 6 percent) to evaluate the most appropriate softener type and concentration on fabric friction force, sewing needle penetration force and weight loss percent under different levels of spandex extension.
Findings
Results showed that silicon softener treatment results in high decreases in fabric sewing needle penetrating force, friction force and while treatment with cationic softener results in high decreases in weight loss percent for 100 percent cotton, half and full plating fabrics.
Originality/value
There is a growing need to study the effect of softeners when spandex yarns are used in the production of knitted fabric which results in high increase of stitch density. This research compares the effects of two different softener types at different concentrations on the properties of both plain jersey fabric produced from 100 percent cotton yarns and from cotton/spandex yarns with different stitch density.
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Isao Ajiki and Ron Postle
The viscoelastic properties of the sewing thread before and after loading in the sewing process were investigated. Sewing threads are subjected to dynamic tension and friction in…
Abstract
The viscoelastic properties of the sewing thread before and after loading in the sewing process were investigated. Sewing threads are subjected to dynamic tension and friction in the sewing process. In order to compare polyester, cotton and silk sewing threads, the fineness of the threads were selected to be almost equal. There are some differences between the stress extension curves of the parent thread and the sewn thread except for the polyester sewing thread. The phenomenon of inverse relaxation occurs for high levels of retraction. The stressāinverse relaxation index for the polyester sewing thread is larger than for other threads and the inverse relaxation for silk thread is small. From the creep curves, the sewn threads show higher secondary creep and lower instantaneous recovery than the parent threads.
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Pamela Norum and Marjorie Norton
The purpose of this paper is to explore factors affecting secondhand clothing acquisition among a sample of US female consumers based on an economic perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore factors affecting secondhand clothing acquisition among a sample of US female consumers based on an economic perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is descriptive in nature, utilizing a survey of 500 US female consumers to explore relationships between five modes of secondhand clothing acquisition and selected consumer characteristics. Logistic regression was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The significant variables were income, age, number of toddlers and children ages 6-17 present in households, and sewing and repair skills. Income was found to be negatively related to purchasing secondhand clothing, suggesting that consumers view used clothing as an inferior good. Consumers in Gen Y were more likely to be involved in various means of secondhand clothing acquisition, holding income constant, than Baby Boomers.
Practical implications
Overcoming the stigma of inferiority associated with secondhand clothing, encouraging repair skills, and the repair of clothing, reaching out to consumers to build on their interest in DIY projects, and utilizing new technology (e.g. apps for sharing clothes) are practical implications.
Originality/value
The paper examined multiple modes of clothing acquisition rather than a single mode, and contributes insight regarding the economic concept of secondhand clothing as an inferior good.
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