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.