Purpose Consumers’ environmental behaviours are not only the result of their positive attitudes towards environments, but also different reasons and motivations exist. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to find out important factors affecting sustainable apparel buying behaviour. Applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study further examines how knowledge about sustainable apparel, perceived money availability, and perceived accessibility to the store influence sustainable apparel consumption. Design/methodology/approach Using a purposive college student sample, 235 usable responses were collected to answer the questions. An exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis was first performed followed by confirmatory factor analysis, and a structural equation modelling analysis. Findings Results revealed that the TPB was successfully applied in the context of sustainable apparel buying behaviour. Furthermore, it was found that consumers’ perceived money availability and perceived store accessibility are important factors that affect control beliefs and sustainable consumption. Research limitations/implications This study found the needs of educating college students for contexts of environmental apparel and textiles issues. Originality/value Even though previous literature often found the gap between the behavioural intentions and the actual behaviour, this study found the respondents of this study walk their talk. This study successfully applied the TPB to explain consumers’ sustainable apparel buying behaviour.

Purpose – Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this study aimed to investigate direct and indirect effects of apparel store environmental characteristics and consumers' positive emotional responses to the environment on impulse buying behavior. Also, this study sought to examine how situational variables interact with consumers' positive emotional responses in influencing impulse buying behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected using a store intercept method from 118 female consumers of an outdoor retail store in the western region of the USA. Findings – The study found direct effects of ambient/design characteristics on consumers' positive emotional responses and direct effects of consumers' positive emotional responses to the retail environment on impulse buying behavior. Money availability and task definition moderated the relationship between consumers' positive emotional responses and impulse buying behavior. Research limitations/implications – The conceptualization of a theoretical framework of impulse buying behavior for apparel resulted from this study. Practical implications – Managing appealing store design characteristics may increase consumers' positive emotions and impulse purchases. Displays designed to attract impulse purchasers should target browsers without restricted budgets. Originality/value – This study expands the application of the S-O-R model in the context of apparel by including situational factors as moderating variables.

Marketers use celebrity endorsements to make advertisements believable and to enhance consumer recognition of the brand name. However, once a direct link has been formed from a celebrity to a brand, the negative information about the celebrity may reflect on to the endorsed brand. Applying the S-O-R model and the balance theory, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of celebrity-brand congruence and publicity on consumers’ attitudes toward the celebrity and brand as well as their buying intention. A survey of a 2 (congruence vs. incongruence) × 2 (positive vs. negative publicity) experimental design was conducted for this study. A total of 120 female Millennial consumers answered the survey and 105 surveys with usable data were collected. The mean age of the participants was 24 years old (SD = 3.28). Results found that the celebrity-brand congruence and publicity play a significant role in consumer behavior related to attitudes toward the celebrity and brand/product, as well as buying intention. Thus, retail marketers need to allocate more investigation into celebrity endorsements that match with brand image that can lead to long-term, positive partnerships.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify selected store attributes of activewear specialty retailers that impact consumers’ satisfaction, which in turn influence word-of-mouth (WOM) and retail patronage behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Using an on-site store intercept, 150 responses were collected to answer hypothesized relationships. An exploratory factor analysis was first performed followed by a confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation analysis. Findings – Results revealed that sales employees and store atmosphere attributes of activewear specialty stores had a positive influence on consumer satisfaction, which in turn had a direct impact on WOM and repatronage intentions for activewear specialty stores. Therefore, in order to satisfy consumers, activewear specialty retailers need to ensure that they provide an attractive and pleasant shopping atmosphere. Furthermore, satisfied consumers are likely to spread positive WOM about the retailer and display their intention to revisit the store in the future. The authors conclude by discussing the results and suggest implications and future research directions. Originality/value – The findings of this research shed light on the managerial implications for activewear specialty retailers with regards to marketing strategies and consumers’ attitudes.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the strategies that fast fashion retailers use to position sustainability by applying the stimulus-organism-response model. Specifically, this study investigated how sustainability positioning strategies influenced perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) effort, price value and brand equity. Design/methodology/approach – A between-subject Web experiment was used to test the research model. Four versions of the questionnaire were developed on a commercial online survey Web site, in which the surveys were randomly distributed to participants and data were collected. Findings – The findings of this study suggest that sustainability positioning strategies can lead to the positive perceived CSR effort, thus giving support to the effectiveness of sustainability marketing for fast fashion retailers. Furthermore, purchase intentions are significantly influenced by perceived CSR effort, price value and brand equity. Originality/value – This study provides important input for practitioners by suggesting that they focus their managerial attention to sustainability and should also promote it through their positioning strategies carefully.