Clothing and Textiles Research Journal

There has been increasing interest in the relationships among country of origin and the price and quality of apparel items. The purpose of this study was to investigate price and quality differences from one category of domestic and imported apparel-women's blazers. The perfect information frontier framework provided a theoretical context for this research. Empirically, t-tests were used to determine whether statistically significant differences exist between the mean price and quality of domestic and imported jackets, while Spearman rank correlations were used in describing the relationship between retail price and quality for these samples. Regression analysis was used to investigatefurther the effect of additional variables on the relationship between price and quality. The results indicated no significant difference between imported and domestic jackets with respect to price and quality and a weak significant difference between the price-quality correlations. Jacket quality, fiber content, store type, and store location were found to influence significantly price.

These results imply that country-of-origin labeling may not be an accurate signal of quality or "best value "for consumers to use when shopping for women'sjackets. Additionally, the results suggest that neither retailers nor manufacturers may be on strong grounds in arguing that country of origin makes a difference in the retail prices consumers pay or in the "value" that consumers obtain. Further research could improve upon the limitations of this study by examining additional categories of apparel in a variety of markets during other times of the year. A comparison of quality scores with and without subjective criteria would also be of interest.

The purchase of apparel items is classified as a high involvement activity. A majority of the involvement research deals with product-specific measures of involvement. Recently, a general measure of involvement, the Personal Involvement Inventory (PII), was developed to be used across a wide variety of product categories (Zaichkowsky, 1985). One objective of this study was to use the PII to determine women's fashion apparel involvement across two fashion-oriented groups. In addition, the measure's convergent validity was investigated by comparing its performance with two product-specific involvement measures. The sample consisted of two groups, women's specialty store customers (n=220), aged 30-50, and female home economics students (n=103), aged 18-20. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to both groups. Both groups were more highly involved with apparel than the Zaichkowsky groups were with most other products, cars being the lone exception. Despite its more general form, the PII demonstrated convergent validity in that the intercorrelations between the three involvement measures were signiricant (p < .01). Results indicated that the PII is both a reliable and valid measure of the involvement construct.

The effects of brand labeling and store image on perceptions of clothing characteristics were investigated using a 3X3 completefactorial between-subjects experimental design. Ninety women individually examined and rated a knit shirt on status, utility, styling, and purchase evaluation characteristics. The shirt had either a designer, private, or no label attached to it and was associated with either a high image store, a low image store, or no store. Both brand label and store image affected ratings of status characteristics of the shirt. Store image affected the ratings of styling characteristics of the private label shirts but not of the designer label shirts. The results are discussed in terms of Congruity Theory.

Traditional female dress and clothing market sources in Saudi Arabia were explored in relation to demographic variables. Data were gathered by interviews of 60 female nationals in Saudi Arabia. Demographic variables of age, education, marital status, socio-economic status, work, and travel were investigated as independent variables. Dependent variables included traditional clothing worn in public and private situations and the use of clothing market information and acquisition sources. Also descriptive information on traditional dress was obtained. Analyses included correlations and t-tests. Results indicated that traditional female outer dress is strongly prevalent in Saudi Arabia and was reflected in most situations investigated. Women who traveled, worked, and had a higher socio-economic status wore less traditional dress. Travel, work, education, age, and socio-economic status affected market information sought and market acquisition sources utilized regarding clothing.

This discussion paper summarizes recent literature and concepts concerning the career development of women, relates this material to careers in merchandising, examines somepreliminary data provided by 115 graduates of a four-year baccalaureate program in fashion merchandising, and raises some issues that require further investigation by educators and researchers in the discipline. The author concludes that fashion merchandising appears to provide a viable basis for a career in retailing but emphasized the need for comparative and longitudinal research designs to track the career development of women in this field. Educators are encouraged to emphasize the increasing need for career preparation for women, to teach transferable skills, to investigate the role of continuing study in meeting the labor market needs of retailers, and to prepare women to compete for upper and middle management positions in retailing.

This paper is designed to synthesize two theories of consumer information search process and to extend recent research by the authors on information search strategies used by employed women for the purchase of employment apparel. The main objective is to offer an integrated explanation for the processes which produce dfferent search patterns used by employed women for the purchase of employment apparel. While speculative, it provides one possible schematic that captures the interaction of consumers, product, and situational characteristics and information search patterns by utilizing systematic/heuristic theory and active/passive search theory within an integrative explanatory framework. This information contributes to theory development about search strategies among consumers.

This study was designed to investigate computer technology use by Louisiana apparel manufacturers. The project stemmed from a growing supply of package software programs for apparel design and related apparel development/production functions intended for use with personal computers. Apparel manufacturers operating within the state were identified using a telephone survey to obtain information regarding current use of computer technology. Results indicated that, of the 43 companies identified, six of the firms operate under parent companies, while the remaining 37 are independently owned. Products made form a large array including sportswear, uniforms, dresses, and jeans in men's, women's, and children's sizes. The small to mid-sized companies, individually owned and still accomplishing many of their design/production functions manually, cannot afford to invest millions of dollars in mainframe or minicomputer systems. These companies are primary targets for assistance with computer technology transfer. Higher education can assist such firms to become more responsive to merchandisers with quick response.

Shear stiffness values for sample fabrics representing a range of weights and yarn types were determined on the Kawabata Tensile and Shear Tester and correlated with drape values measured on a specially designed drape tester. Shear behavior was also determined after application of fusible and nonfusible woven and nonwoven interfacings to the sample fabrics. Interfacing type signif cantly affected the shear stiffness of the composites. The nonwoven interfacings, because of their high shearing resistance, contributed to composite shear stiffness in an additive fashion. The nonwoven character was more important than the presence offusible resins in determining composite behavior. For woven interfacings, however, fusible resins significantly affected shear behavior by increasing the stiffness of the interfacing as well as of the face fabric. For both fusible and nonfusible woven interfacings, large differences in the shear stiffness of the componentfabrics also influenced the composite shear behavior.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a female teacher's clothing style on student perceptions of teacher characteristics, including approachability, knowledge, respect, and overall acceptability. High school students were provided with photographs of a teacher model dressed in four clothing styles and were asked to select one of the photos for each of 20 statements designed to reflect teacher characteristics. Chi square results revealed differences between the clothing styles on 19 of the 20 statements.

Although fiber content is one of the most important factors influencing consumers' clothing purchase decisions, little research has been conducted to substantiate a preference for natural, synthetic, or blended fiber contents or to link perceptions offibers with any particular market segment. For this study a sample was taken of 177 female apparel shoppers from three regional malls in a southeastern state. The objectives were to examine fiber content preferences and perceptions among female apparel consumers and the relationship between fiber content preference and perceptions and demographic variables. Findings confirmed that the female apparel shoppers studied had definite fiber content preferences for various items of apparel; however, these preferences were not generally related to demographic characteristics. The respondents had well defined perceptions of the fiber contents studied and, with the exception of the polyester/cotton blend, these perceptions seemed to be consistent across demographic variables.