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The purpose of this study is to determine if brand passion shapes attitudinal brand loyalty while driving a series of important brand-related outcomes (i.e. brand advocacy, social media following, sense of community, willingness to pay a premium price and alternative devaluation). These aspects are explored for sports apparel brands after considering the perceptions of Iranian consumers.

This study is based on the analysis of survey data gathered online and face-to-face from a sample of Iranian consumers of sports apparel brands that were analysed using partial least square path modelling.

The key empirical findings obtained confirm that brand passion underpins attitudinal brand loyalty and several important brand-related outcomes. Furthermore, the findings show that attitudinal brand loyalty explains the impact of brand passion on most of the outcomes considered, except for social media following.

This study advances knowledge of brand passion by illustrating its “power” as a strong nuance of relationships between consumers and brands. In particular, this study highlights the importance of brand passion in shaping attitudinal brand loyalty, as well as a driver of several outcomes of theoretical and managerial relevance.

By establishing strategies aimed at enhancing brand passion, brand managers can increase attitudinal brand loyalty, attain important goals such as brand advocacy, premium price and social media following, as well as the devaluation of competing brands.

This study uses a unidimensional theorisation of brand passion to increase the understanding of its role as predictor of attitudinal brand loyalty and driver of relevant outcomes. It also examines the mediating effect of attitudinal brand loyalty, thus illustrating important conceptual links between brand passion and brand loyalty in the context of sports apparel brands in a growing economy (Iran).

Due in large part to the proprietary nature of costs, there is a dearth of academic literature investigating the factors influencing the costs for sport marketing investments, such as sponsorship. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical framework for market intelligence that enables managers to better predict and forecast costs in today’s ever-changing sport marketing environment.

Given the dynamic and ultra-competitive nature of the athletic apparel industry, this context was chosen to investigate the influence of four distinct factors on sponsorship costs, including property-specific factors, on-field performance, and market-specific factors. A systematic, hierarchical procedure was utilized in the development of a predictive empirical model, which was then utilized to generate predicted values on a per property basis.

Results demonstrated that both property-specific and performance-related factors were significant predictors of costs, while variables reflecting the attractiveness of the property’s home market were non-significant. Further analysis revealed the potential for agency conflicts in the allocation of resources toward properties near the corporate headquarters of sponsors, as well as evidence of overspending by challenger brands (Adidas, Under Armour) in their quest to topple industry leader Nike.

Though the context of apparel sponsorships of US-based intercollegiate athletic programs limits the generalizability of the results, this study represents one of the few in the literature to empirically investigate the determinants of sponsorship costs, providing much-needed guidance to aid decision making in a highly volatile, unpredictable industry.

This article reports the results of an experimental study in which four factors were manipulated in the context of an evaluation of two sports garments by 172 consumers: t-shirts and athletic shoes. These factors were intended usage situation (sport versus pleasure), brand name (national versus private brand), price (discount versus no discount), and store name (sports shop versus department store). Some significant interactions were obtained between some of the manipulated factors suggesting the necessity of qualifying the brand name, store name, and price discount effects on consumer perceptions. The results of the study are discussed in light of the existing marketing literature and the implications for sports marketing practice.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore male and female sports fandom through examining the prototype of a loyal National Football League (NFL) fan.

Eighteen in-depth interviews were conducted with male and female participants who self-identified as NFL fans from the Midwest and Northeast regions of the US. Data were analyzed using open coding.

Both female and male participants identified three common criteria for being a prototypical NFL fan: loyalty, knowledge and wearing of team apparel. The findings also demonstrated gender differences in both how a fan identifies a prototypical fan and how that dictates fan identity, attitudes and behavior. Additionally, prototypical fandom might need to be defined differently for males and females.

This study contributes to the literature by exploring the perspectives of both genders of NFL fans and by providing a more balanced perspective of how males and females define prototypical fans and how each gender perceives the fan behavior of the opposite sex.

Branded merchandise and licensed apparel comprise a substantial portion of revenue for many organizations and public figures that choose to employ such an endeavor. Endorsement deals with apparel manufacturers have historically been utilized for athletes looking to supplement their salaries and establish greater brand awareness. However, as some athletes establish ownership of their logo and become less reliant on companies such as Nike and Adidas for merchandise distribution, assessing the influence of various entity's logos on the athlete brand has become worthy of analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence that cobranded merchandise has on consumers when the athlete logo is displayed next to another team or manufacturer logo.

Using an online panel and survey, a final sample of 127 participants completed a questionnaire to examine their attitudes towards various athlete brand elements. ANCOVA's and MANCOVA's were utilized to assess significant findings, holding the variable of identification constant.

The results revealed that only the perceptions of merchandise quality significantly varied between an athlete brand and an apparel manufacturer (i.e. Nike) co-brand. The findings indicate that athletes should look to co-brand with high brand awareness manufacturers, and that there is no significant difference between consumers' perceptions of athlete brands when co-branding with team brands.

This is one of the first studies to evaluate the relationship between the athlete brand and external entities from a consumer perspective.

The activewear industry would benefit from an evidence-based understanding of how activewear is incorporated into women’s lives and their changing participation in physical activity. Activewear brands may be missing the trend of women moving from organised sport to non-organised and individualised sport and recreation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the degree to which academic and industry research understood patterns and influences on female’s activewear consumption and identified what significant gaps are evident in understanding the drivers and industry trends that pertain to female consumers of activewear.

The systematic literature review sought academic and industry research papers. Articles were selected if they included female participants; and/or addressed consumer related information; and focussed on active wear. Article findings were thematically analysed.

Most literature exploring activewear consumption fails to take gender into consideration or explore unique female consumer profiles. Females are bringing activewear into other parts of their wardrobe and place more value on fashion, even for sports attire. Research identified the need for activewear brands to consider lifestyle, emotional and personality elements of consumer behaviour. However a specific focus on women’s branding was absent. Women’s age and generation influenced their activewear consumption. Although some industry reports discussed the shift in use of activewear, no studies explored the impact of the critical shift in women’s physical activity patterns on the activewear industry.

This review identifies the gap in knowledge regarding women’s activewear consumption patterns and needs, and the importance of reflecting the changes in female physical activity participation. It also links marketing and design of women’s activewear to the needs of female consumers based on their actual patterns and trends in physical activity. The findings are relevant to activewear researchers, brands, marketers and producers.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of cognitive‐ versus chronological‐age factors in activewear apparel advertisements targeting female baby boomers in the USA.

A total of 50 female participants aged 41‐65 were asked to view two print advertisements: one showing activewear apparel worn by a cognitive‐age model and the other by a chronological‐age model. Participants then responded to a four‐part questionnaire that included a measurement of cognitive age, physical activity, response to the advertisements, and purchase intent.

The responses indicated that the participants view themselves as younger than their chronological age and were more inclined to respond favorably toward the advertisement using the cognitive age model.

Although this study focuses on only one consumer group – US baby boomers – it reveals their current attitudes toward advertisements of activewear apparel as well as their motivations for purchasing activewear apparel. More research on this age demographic and the impact of cognitive age vs. chronological age on their perceptions of advertising is needed.

Currently one of the largest age demographics in the USA, baby boomers are known for having higher amounts of disposable income as compared to other age cohorts and for their interest in physical fitness and leading active lifestyles. The results of this study point to the need to understand the age‐related perceptions of this consumer group in order to successfully market activewear apparel products directly to them.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the purchase intention of counterfeit sporting goods between Singaporean and Taiwanese students using the Theory of Planned Behavior.

A quantitative approach was taken, collecting data from Singaporean and Taiwanese students studying in tertiary institutions. In total, 295 valid questionnaires were included in the data analysis.

The results showed that consumers’ attitude, subjective norm, and brand consciousness were predictive of purchase intention for both countries, whereas perceived behavioral control had an effect only among Taiwanese students. Further analysis showed that Singapore students had significantly higher positive attitudes toward the purchase of counterfeit sporting goods and higher levels of acceptance from peers in purchasing counterfeits.

A limitation of this study was that respondents were selected from the undergraduate population and as such were relatively younger than the general population.

The findings of this study provides a better understanding on how these factors affect purchase intention of counterfeit sporting goods across countries.

Based on cue utilization theory, this study aims to examine effects of the style (fashion vs basic) and licensing status (licensed vs nonlicensed) of university-related apparel products (URAPs) as intrinsic and extrinsic cues, respectively, impacting university fans’ responses (i.e. attitudes, purchase intentions and purchase behaviors) and the moderating roles of personal factors (i.e. perceived university prestige, quality consciousness and uniqueness seeking).

Data were collected via an online quasi-experiment employing a 2 (licensing status: licensed vs nonlicensed) × 2 (style: basic vs fashion) within-subjects design with a purposeful sample of 1,126 students and alumni of a Southeastern American university.

Results show that consumers generally responded more favorably to licensed (vs nonlicensed) URAPs, especially for basic styles, whereas their responses to fashionable URAPs were more favorable for nonlicensed (vs licensed) URAPs. Furthermore, the positive effects of licensing status were stronger for consumers with high (vs low) perceived university prestige or quality consciousness. Consumers generally more favorably responded to basic (vs fashion) URAPs, but this style effect was weaker among those with a high (vs low) uniqueness seeking tendency.

Theoretical explanations on URAP consumption have been scant in the product and brand management literature. This study fills this literature gap by conceptualizing extrinsic (i.e. licensing status) and intrinsic (i.e. style) cues crucial in URAP consumption from a cue utilization theory lens and demonstrating empirical evidence for the intricate interplays among the two cues and diverse personal characteristics.

This study was conducted to examine the effect of co-branding, a brand partnership tactic involving two or more brands, on consumer behavior within the sport industry. As such, the primary aim was to examine differences regarding consumers' perceptions of self-image congruence and perceived product quality when considering solo-branding and co-branding conditions. Further, under the co-branding condition, relationships among consumers' self-image congruence, perceived product quality, image fit, product evaluation and purchase intention were investigated.

A scenario-based quasi-experiment consisting of hypothetical co-branding initiatives between existing brands was conducted.

Results from a repeated multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that consumers' symbolic and functional perceptions of co-branding as well as evaluations were statistically higher than in the solo-branding condition. Additionally, structural equation modeling indicated positive relationships between consumers' symbolic and functional perceptions, image fit, evaluation and behavior intention.

This study is one of the first papers to investigate the impact of co-branding on consumers within the sport industry and provides evidence of the positive impact of co-branding strategies on consumer behavior within the sport industry.