Apparel Brands’ Corporate Social Responsibility: Influences of Consumers’ Cultural Values and Impacts on Brand Loyalty

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations (Carroll, 1979). Although the apparel industry gained a heavy attention of CSR due to its labor-intensive production and global sourcing from the third world, still very few studies unveiled the consumer evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR and its benefit for brands, such as brand loyalty. Even though CSR literatures emphasized the influences of cultural values on different managerial perception of CSR, a lack of study exists identifying the effect of cultural values on consumers’ evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR. Addressing these gaps, this study aimed to examine the effects of two cultural value dimensions (collectivism/individualism and long-term/short-term orientation) on consumer evaluations of apparel brands’ CSR activities, and the effects of these evaluations on enhancing brand loyalty

Single Brand with Multiple Country Images: The Effects of M&A and Offshoring on Apparel Brand Credibility and Prestige across Brand Tiers

Increasingly common practices in the global apparel industry are Cross-border Merger and Acquisition (M&A) and offshoring. When an apparel brand\u27s country of ownership or made-in country is an unexpected country and mismatches with the brand image, what psychological reactions would occur in consumers\u27 minds, and how would those reactions change brand credibility and prestige? Is consumers\u27 reaction to the country image changes more severe to luxury brands than to mass market brands? Built on cognitive dissonance theory and social exchange theory, this experimental study examined how country image changes resulted from M&A and offshoring influence on consumers\u27 perceived brand credibility and prestige, and to compare those effects by two brand tiers (i.e., luxury brands vs. mass market brands)

Who Seeks a Surprise Box? Predictors of Consumers\u27 Fashion and Beauty Subscription-Based Online Services (SOS)

Subscription-based online services (SOS) refers to an e-business that provides periodic delivery of a customized box of merchandise directly to the consumer\u27s home for a weekly/monthly subscription fee. What makes consumers use SOSs? As an initial attempt, this study investigated American consumers\u27 current usage of fashion and beauty SOS, and examined the relationships between five predictors—consumers\u27 age, gender, e-trust, fashion consciousness, exploratory product acquisition—and their usage of those SOSs

Apparel Products from a Country Not Known for Apparel: The Halo Effects of Country Image and Well-known Product Category

The purpose of this study is to examine the two levels of halo effect (i.e., country image as halo, and a well-known product category as halo) in the context of apparel products and their influence on purchase intention. A country that is less-known for apparel but is well-known for another product category will be selected for empirical testing

An Investigation of Socially Responsible Consumers’ Behavior in Thrift Stores

The annual revenue of U.S. thrift stores is estimated to be $12 billion (First Research, 2014). Apparel products represent the majority of the products sold in these stores (Shim, 2010). While sales of apparel at thrift stores increased steadily during the economic downturn that began in 2008 (Tully, 2012), sales are expected to decrease as the economy improves (IBISWorld, 2012). To remain viable, thrift store managers need to have a solid understanding of their core apparel consumers in order to satisfy their needs (Carrigan & De Pelsmacker, 2009)

The Effects of Design Piracy on Consumer Perception: When Large Fashion Corporates Pirate Small Independent Fashion Designers

Fashion design piracy has the potential to highly impact small designers through a combination of limited legal fashion rights and the proliferation of online exposure to their work. The purpose of this study was to examine effects of a revelation of fashion design piracy cases on consumers\u27 perceptions about small designers and their designs, particularly when these designers were purportedly pirated by large fashion corporations. Through an online experiment of 260 college students, we examined perceptions of two designers and their designs narrowed from a pretest of purported piracy cases. Designers\u27 value and uniqueness of designs, as well as brand attitude and brand creativity upon participants\u27 revelation of their piracy by a corporation were examined through two-way multivariate analysis of variance. Findings revealed a significant interaction effect for revelation condition and piracy case designer. Further, significant main effects were found for perceived designer brand creativity and perceived value of designs

The Effects of Fashion Brands\u27 Negative Publicity Recovery Strategies on Anti-Brand Behavioral Intentions According to Consumers\u27 Proactive Personality

The Effects of Fashion Brands\u27 Negative Publicity Recovery Strategies on Anti-Brand Behavioral Intentions According to Consumers\u27 Proactive Personalit

How Far Can Brands Go To Defend Themselves?: The Extent of Fashion Brand Negative Publicity Impact on Brand Equity

How Far Can Brands Go To Defend Themselves?: The Extent of Fashion Brand Negative Publicity Impact on Brand Equit

Do consumers want a "good" apparel brand? the effects of apparel brands' Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on brand equity moderated by culture

Do consumers want a `good' apparel brand? Although Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a crucial issue for the apparel industry, there was a lack of evidence showing how consumer perceptions of apparel brands' CSR affect brand equity, compared to apparel product attributes cross-culturally. This study aimed to unveil the comparable effects of CSR and apparel product attributes on apparel brands' brand equity among U.S. and Korean consumers.Total 447 survey questionnaires were collected from U.S. and Korean college students. The results found that both intrinsic and extrinsic apparel product attributes enhance brand equity, supporting H1. As only product responsibility, economics, and environment-related CSR dimensions significantly enhance brand equity, H2 was partially supported. There was no moderating effect of culture thereby H3 was rejected. However, additional analyses revealed that U.S. consumers more positively evaluate CSR and are more affected by CSR in improving brand equity than Korean consumers. In conclusion, in enhancing brand equity, consumers wanted a "good" apparel brand that is responsible for product, economics, and environments-related CSR issues in business practices, along with intrinsic and extrinsic apparel product attributes. And U.S. consumers more wanted responsible apparel brands than Korean consumers. The findings of this study give useful information of "what product attributes brands need to focus on," "what kinds of CSR dimensions they need to focus on," and "what they need to do for different consumers across countries.