Preferences on transformable dresses for sustainability

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate users’ expectations and preferences for transformable design functions of transformable party dresses to extend the life cycle of the clothing. With transformable design elements added to a party dress, a user can wear her one-event dress more than once, encouraging sustainable consumption. Rather than looking for a new dress, users can wear their party dress with one or even several new looks. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through purposive sampling from female college students who had purchased at least one party dress. The survey questionnaire was self-developed based on the literature review and consisted of items that measured fashion behavior in relation to party dresses; shopping orientations, focusing on confident/appearance and fashion-consciousness, economic/price consciousness and convenience/time-consciousness; perceived importance of design and functional elements in party dresses; perceived reasons for the limited use of party dresses; perceived importance of design elements of transformable dresses; purchase intention for transformable dresses; and demographic characteristics. Findings As consumer groups of diverse shopping orientations demonstrated purchase intentions for transformable party dresses, transformable features may become an important component of party dresses. Considering the main reasons for users’ limited use of party dresses, designers need to improve the versatility of the dresses’ design and functional elements, focusing on style and occasion, dress length, size/fit, silhouette and color/pattern, so that users can wear their party dresses more than once and ultimately enhance their sustainable apparel consumption practices. Originality/value The findings regarding users’ expectations and preferences for transformable party dresses can help apparel designers and fashion businesses understand potential users when developing transformable dresses and develop strategies to help with sustainable apparel consumption.

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