Perceived Fashion Risk and Self‐Esteem of Males and Females

Abstract

An instrument was developed to examine a person's perception of fashion risk in clothing, relative to his or her self‐esteem. Fashion risk is the uncertainty a consumer perceives when making a choice involving a fashion good, in addition to the uncertainty perceived when a good is not subject to fashion. Items were written or adapted to represent self‐esteem, self‐ esteem related to clothing, perceived fashion risk, and economic, social, psychological, and performance risks related to clothing. Approximately 400 university students, half males and half females, responded to the instrument. Response patterns of males and females differed; therefore data were factor analyzed separately for each sex. Eleven factors were derived for females, eight for males. Factor content was similar, but fac tor structure was different. For females, factors representing fashion interest formed one cluster and factors representing self‐esteem and social approval a separate cluster, the two clusters being completely uncorrelated. For males, factors did not cluster. Fashion risk seems to be a part of other types of risk rather than a distinct type of risk. Also, perception of fashion risk seems not to be linearly related to self‐esteem.

Fabric Hand as Perceived by U.S. and Korean Males and Females

“…The U. S. females' responses were also more heterogeneous than those of the males. The response pattern of U. S. males and females in this research was similar to those reported by Winakor, Canton, and Wolins ( 1980), Manikowske and Winakor ( 1991), and Home (1991). However, the response pattern of native Korean speakers was different from that of native English speakers.…”

“…Hollies et aL and Kipp observed that women's panels showed greater sensitivity in responses to comfort. Winakor, Canton, and Wolins (1980) found responses of males to affective scales to be more homogeneous and less extreme than those of females. Lubner-Rupert and Winakor ( 1985) reported that although males and females arranged styles in the same order of preference when judging them for their own sex and the other sex, they used aesthetic word pairs differently to describe same-sex and other-sex garments.…”

“…In responses to perceived fashion risk and fashion preferences for clothing, some researchers reported sex differences when males and females evaluated affective stimulL Winakor, Canton, and Wolins (1980) used verbal statements and a 99-point certainty scale to measure male and female perceptions of fashion risk relative to self-esteem. Response patterns of males and females differed: males were more homogeneous in their answers and less extreme in their responses.…”

Consumer attitudes and intentions toward personalization of fair trade apparel

“…In previous research, apparel products were associated with greater risk, due to constant changes in fashion trends, higher social visibility, and inappropriate selection of clothing that may influence a negative self-image (Kwon, Paek, & Arzeni, 1991;Laurent & Kapferer, 1985;Prasad, 1975;Winakor, Canton, & Wolins, 1980). Although this may be true for many customers, the results of this study showed that fair trade customers did not associate perceived social and financial risk with their attitudes toward personalization.…”

“…According to Jacoby and Kaplan (1972), apparel products are perceived to be risky as compared to other products. Due to changes in fashion trends, inappropriate selection of clothing that influences a negative self-image is associated with a high level of perceived social risk (Kwon, Paek, & Arzeni, 1991;Laurent & Kapferer, 1985;Winakor, Canton, & Wolins, 1980). A high level of social visibility of apparel products increases the perceived social value and in turn, the perceived risk associated with purchasing apparel (Prasad, 1975).…”