Apparel Product Quality: Its Nature and Measurement

Abstract

Abstract An important issue of apparel—apparel product quality—has not been significantly addressed in past research, particularly where the pre-purchase perceptions of consumers are concerned. The goal of this study is to identify how consumers define intrinsic apparel product quality. This will be accomplished by 1) examining the issue of quality as applied to products, 2) exploring past research on apparel product quality, 3) constructing a scale (ApparEx) to assess intrinsic apparel product quality, and 4) relating ApparEx with service quality as measured by SERVQUAL. Product quality is the consumer's judgment of the standard of performance for a product. The cues used by consumers to judge quality can be classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic. While the topic of apparel product quality has been examined in the literature, the focus of such efforts has been largely on perceptions of apparel quality resulting from post-use or post-exposure analysis. What has not received significant research atten...