Abstract
This study examines fashion clothing involvement among gay men, who are an emerging segment in the fashion industry. Data was gathered via an online self-administered survey, resulting in 150 responses. SEM using the Smart PLS software, version 3, was used to test the hypotheses. The findings uncovered that fashion consciousness and consumer conformity significantly influence fashion clothing involvement, while social comparison, purchase involvement and social consciousness insignificantly influence fashion clothing involvement. In addition, the results revealed that fashion clothing involvement influences both consumer confidence and fashion opinion leadership. Fashion clothing involvement proved to be a positive and a significant mediator between fashion consciousness, social comparison, consumer conformity, purchase involvement, social consciousness, consumer confidence and fashion opinion leadership. This study stands to add new knowledge to the present body of fashion clothing involvement and consumer behaviour literature in Africa—a context that is often ignored by academics in developing countries.
Highlights
The global clothing market is valued at 3 USD trillion dollars, accounting for 2% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (Kumar, 2018)
Due to limited availability of clear empirically demonstrated findings, it is considered appropriate to propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 8 (H8): Fashion clothing involvement positively mediates the relationship between fashion consciousness and consumer confidence
The findings indicate that there is no relationship between social comparison and fashion clothing involvement among gay men
Summary
The global clothing market is valued at 3 USD trillion dollars, accounting for 2% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (Kumar, 2018). With the growing disposable consumer income, there has been a growing demand for fashion clothing among consumers worldwide (Molla-Descals et al, 2012). The term “fashion” is difficult to define; it generally refers to trending clothing. Fashion is a form of art dedicated to the design of clothing and other trending lifestyle accessories and is divided into two broad categories: haute couture and ready-to-wear (Fibre2Fashion.Com, 2018). Haute couture is defined as a collection devoted to particular customers and customised to the exact specifications of the customer (Gilvin, 2014). Ready-to-wear collections are not customised to individual specifications and they tend to be standardised and appropriate for mass production (Fibre2Fashion.Com, 2018)
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