Consumers' Conceptualization of Apparel Attributes

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to a) generate a composite list of apparel attributes, b) arrange the attributes in conceptual categories and dimensional levels, and c) examine the attributes in ways that are useful to different types of retailers. Five focus group interviews were conducted with 31 female consumers in four midwestern towns. The focus groups were designed in a three part format to parallel some of the evaluation processes in different types of retail settings. Four conceptual themes and 79 attributes emerged based on the content of the data. The themes were physical appearance, physical performance, expressive, and extrinsic. Themes varied in the unidimensional and multidimensional nature of their attributes. Saliency of the attributes varied in the three parts of discussion which has implications for different types of retailers. Participants were concerned about physical appearance and expressive response when viewing catalog photographs and narrative copy. Concern heightened for physical appearance and diminished for expressive attributes when actual garments were examined. Recommendations and hypotheses for future research are provided.

How does visual merchandising in fashion retail stores affect consumers’ brand attitude and purchase intention?

“…The measure of brand salience was adopted from previous research studies (e.g., Abraham-Murali and Littrell 1995;Eckman, Damhorst, and Kadolph 1990).…”

Making sense of consumers’ wool apparel preferences

“…In summary, the 3 themes and 46 attributes that emerged from the focus group discussions reflect many of the wool apparel attributes identified and used in the previous garment evaluation research (see Abraham-Murali & Littrell, 1995;Eckman, et al, 1990;Fiore & Damhorst, 1992). The detailed list of attributes described in Table 3 will be useful for future studies of consumer evaluation of wool apparel, as these attributes are grounded in consumers' vocabulary, rather than imposed by researchers.…”

“…Abraham-Murali & Littrell, 1995;DeLong, Marshall, & Larntz, 1986;Dew & Kwon, 2010;Eckman, Damhorst, & Kadolph, 1990). According to DeLong et al (1986, p. 17) "consumers automatically categorize products as they experience them" and use these categories or mental schema to structure their expectations of similar products.…”

Why we buy? Modeling consumer selection of referents

“…perceptions, personality, esthetics, emotions, values, and goals). Previous research regarding the evaluation of apparel clothes was made on the distinction between two bipolar modes: data-driven and concept-driven perceptual modes (Holbrook andHirschman, 1982, Hirschman, 1985;Abraham-Murali and Littrell, 1995). Data-driven mode includes the evaluation of abstract product attributes that result from the acquisition of available information.…”

“…Thus they seek to capture and identify different external cues that help them to structure their preferences. Similarly, the existing literature suggests that extrinsic cues can be further sub-categorized and analyzed from the domain of cognition (Abraham-Murali and Littrell, 1995). However, little research has been done to examine more salient attributes, such as the impact of esthetics and the role of hedonics in the context of the apparel decision-making process.…”