Comparison of clothing purchase behaviour between US and Japanese female university students

Abstract

The clothing purchase behaviour of US and Japanese female university students was compared. Evaluative criteria when buying clothing, an interest in clothing and fashion and source of fashion information were studied. Relationships between variables were investigated and the difference and similarity between the two countries were discussed. For evaluative criteria, fit and style/design were ranked the most important in both countries. US students tended to give higher scores for fit, quality, fashion and brand/designer name than Japanese students. Japanese students were more economical, and colour and style/design were important. We found differences in the meaning of fashion between the two countries by cluster analysis. Interest in clothing was almost at the same level in the two countries. But interest in fashion was different; Japanese students were more interested in fashion when they spent more money on clothing. The fashion information sources most frequently used were fashion magazines, store displays, friends and TV. US students were more active in collecting information about fashion and used family members and non‐personal sources, such as catalogues, the cinema, newspapers and electronic sources. Japanese students used more retail‐oriented sources such as store displays and sales people. In both countries, students who were information search oriented tended to rank evaluative criteria highly and to have more interest in clothing/fashion.