The drive and appeal of luxury designer products has fuelled consumer desire for luxury designer brands and their counterfeit versions. Some women value luxury designer handbags just the way men value their cars. The luxury designer handbag market has witnessed a surge of counterfeit handbag versions. The study focused on women in London, which has been ranked at number one in relation to demand levels of fashion handbags. Several antecedents were investigated for the purpose of this research, which are as follows: •Social consumption factors which incorporates an investigation into brand meaning and social meaning; •Attitudinal factors; •Individual factors which looks at the BLI (brand luxury index) and materialism; and •Post consumption emotions; Several research gaps were identified: firstly, there are no studies available on investigating identical antecedents in both luxury designer and counterfeit commodities, or even to a specific product category. Secondly, a number of researchers have examined consumers’ evaluative criteria in clothing, yet few have focused on the mentioned antecedents as part of the evaluative criteria of luxury designer handbags and counterfeit handbag versions. The investigation was carried out via quantitative data collection and was cross-analysed. The highlighted antecedents are important domains in the discipline of consumer choice behaviour. The research included two phases; a pilot survey study which pre-tested the acknowledged scales and a main survey incorporating the most important adapted constructs influencing consumer choice behaviours. The main analysis was based on data collected from a sample of 353 respondents in London. The conceptual model is unique in its specifications presenting a new behaviour orientated model which highlights integral factors in consumer behaviour. The research identified contemporary associations and discrepancies among women in London. The result of this research provides general support in understanding consumer decision-making and offers a comprehensive understanding of the effect of consumer evaluation and attitudes towards luxury designer handbags and counterfeit handbag versions. The differences and similarities across the antecedents are used to propose strategies to luxury designer companies thereby improving their marketing activities and achieving a competitive edge.

The tension between fashion and sustainability has been recognized, as it has been argued whether fashion can be sustainable. This is due to the several ethical dilemmas the fashion industry is facing, including not only environmental but also social problems. These issues have gained an increasing amount of consumers' attention during the last years. Even if these problems are recognized, consumers are still having an attitude-behaviour gap towards sustainable consumption, where positive attitude does not reflect on actions. Therefore, this study takes a deeper look into the consumption behaviour of sustainable fashion consumers and aims to clarify, what motivates to purchase sustainable fashion products. With the help of a means-end theory, this exploratory research aims to understand consumers' values behind their purchasing behaviour. The empirical data was collected using an existing sustainable fashion company's customer base in the Netherlands, as their customers have already shown interest towards sustainable fashion. This study is based on nineteen qualitative in-depth laddering interviews, lasting around 25 minutes. The data resulted in several means-end chains that presented which attributes, consequences and values motivate and influence on consumers' purchasing of sustainable fashion. After collecting the data, content analysis was conducted and as a result emerged four dominant motivational themes that motivate consumers to buy sustainable fashion products: self-expression, protect the future, contribution as well as help, care and responsibility. These motivational themes show what consumers value when they make sustainable fashion purchases. In the end, the results of this research are contributing to the holistic understanding of sustainable fashion consumption as well as give insights to the under-researched topic of motivations to purchase sustainable fashion. / <p></p><p></p>

The study examined gender differences in fashion consumption in reflecting to retailing-store characteristics. Observation was conducted in the five different retailing-stores to notice various store displays and consumer behaviors between women and men. Information from various sources including journals, books, stores’ magazines, and stores’ websites were used as additional data in complementing to observation technique. The study found that female were gather shoppers who went shopping for reasons of enjoyment and relaxation. Thus, they like spending time browsing for comparing price, products, and quality. On the other hand, men were hunter shoppers who went shopping for need-driven. As a result, men preferred shop where they can search for their intended items easily. Similarly, shop characteristics were found to reflect and adapt to consumer behavior by gender. / Program: Magisterutbildning i företagsekonomi

Background: The fashion industry today is one of constant and unceasing change. It is a segment of materialism, characterised by fast-paced and outsourced production, cost pressed profit structures, and never ending designs and trends. This framework together with modern day marketing communications that unremittingly stimulate new consumer wants have created a landscape of overconsumption. As a reaction to this hysteria of consumerism is the emergence of a relatively new notion, slow fashion. This ideology places emphasis on decelerating both production and consumption cycles through more conscious purchasing patterns. Previous studies confirm that although consumers are accepting of the slow fashion mind-set, their interest does not necessarily equate to engagement in terms of conscious consumption. Consequently, companies today are seeking alternative modes of communication such as storytelling. Purpose: The objective of this paper is; thus, to investigate how slow fashion is being communicated through storytelling, in better understanding how to engage consumers in more conscious and responsible fashion consumption. Method: The study uses a qualitative method of research with a deductive approach. The research design entails multiple case studies of semi-structured interviews conducted among four slow fashion companies in Sweden. Theoretical data has been collected primarily through peer reviewed literature and other written works in electronic form. The theoretical starting point of the paper begins with concepts such as slow fashion as an ideology and its values, goals and objectives. Thereafter, storytelling, engagement and meaning are each theoretically explained and empirically investigated. Conclusion: The study reveals that slow fashion retailers are using storytelling but to varying degrees in communicating the slow fashion ideology. There is a focus on engaging consumers through education, interaction and activating several human senses. It can be seen that consumers are engaged and interested in the slow fashion mind-set; however, it cannot be confirmed that they are actually behaving or acting as slow fashionists. / Program: Master programme in Fashion Management

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between American consumersand “Environmentally and Ethically Sustainable Fashion” (EESF), with a specific focus on African-American female consumers in order to discover how relevant EESF is in their lifestyles and fashionconsumption practices. Additionally, the study aims to investigate if African-American femaleconsumers are being overlooked in the discourse surrounding EESF.Methodology: The research was qualitative with an inductive approach. A survey was conductedelectronically in order to collect data, and was designed using research collected from literature,scientific articles and online resources. Using the method of snowball sampling, respondents weregathered from a pool of my cohorts, who further distributed the survey on to their contacts.Findings: The findings suggest that African-American female consumers are aware and haveknowledge of EESF, however EESF is not relevant in their lifestyles and fashion consumptionroutines. The literature review which was conducted prior to collecting the data indicates that African-American female consumers are being overlooked in the discourse surrounding EESF and theconcepts surrounding it.Contributions: The findings in this study have managerial implications which will prompt thescientific community, governments, organizations and apparel brands to further study this group ofconsumers in order to assess better ways to reach them in ways that are relevant to their lifestyles andfashion consumption practices. The study also contributes to the existing literature about the consumerbehavior and fashion consumption practices of African-American women.

Background: In the last decade, the world has been facing global challenges of climate change as the climate has worsened significantly. Excessive consumption has been identified as one of the biggest contributors to the climate change where people purchase more products than what meets the basic needs. The excessive consumption of products has been prominent in the fashion industry, where female consumers generally purchase more clothes than men. Today, the fashion industry is dominated by fast fashion, where consumers purchase more clothes with a shorter life span. Thus, the fashion waste increases, leaving serious environmental effects. Sweden is said to be one of the greenest countries in the world but is still one of the countries with the highest levels of consumption globally. The private consumption is high in Sweden and one of the biggest consumer markets that have a negative effect on the environment is the fashion industry. As a result, sustainable fashion consumption is becoming more important.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the sustainable behavior of Swedish female consumers and later understand how different factors is affecting the IB gap in sustainable (secondhand) fashion consumption.   Method: To be able to achieve the purpose of this exploratory study, a qualitative research strategy was applied. The empirical data was collected through in-depth interviews held with Swedish female consumers with intentions to purchase secondhand fashion, which later was interpreted and analyzed through an abductive approach, incorporating a thematic analysis.   Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the behavior of intenders can be characterized by sustainable intentions that do not translate into behavior. Further, the behavior can be characterized by a weak social support system (barrier), poor availability (barrier), low task- and maintenance self-efficacy, high recovery self-efficacy, and no planning. In addition, the results of this study showed that the behavior of actors can be characterized by sustainable intentions and sustainable behavior. Further, the behavior can be characterized by a strong social support system, good availability, high task- and recovery self-efficacy, medium to high maintenance self-efficacy, and planning. The comparison between intenders and actors showed that the perceived barriers for intenders was contributing factors to the IB gap together with their low task- and maintenance self-efficacy through their most likely negative effect on intenders planning. Intenders lack of planning was shown to serve as a negative mediator between intention and behavior, which thereby contributes to the IB gap. While the recovery self-efficacy was high for both intenders and actors, actors has recovery self-efficacy for the desired behavior of purchasing secondhand on a regular basis, while intenders does not.

The overarching purpose of this study is to explore what perceived barriers that prevent Swedish fashion companies from implementing rental services to their current business model. A qualitative approach was adopted, where a single case study on the phenomenon of rental services, in the context of collaborative fashion consumption, CFC, was executed. CFC referrers to an alternative way of consumption where consumers have access to already existing garments. The focus of this study, rental services, is the action of providing and consuming products without any transfer of ownership. Multiple sources of data collection were used, consisting of semi-structured interviews with eight company executives representing Swedish fashion companies in three product segments; everyday fashion, performance wear and outdoor wear. The findings showed that six significant barriers were perceived as preventing implementation of rental services; economic, social, lack of information and technological know-how, supply chain, organizational and environmental impact. Moreover, the findings showed interrelated relationships between barriers. For instance, the perception of the social barrier affected the perception of the economic barrier, and the organizational barrier impacted companies’ perception of the informational and technological barrier. By exploring what perceived implementation barriers prevent Swedish fashion companies from adding rental services to their business model, this paper contributes with relevant knowledge to academia as well as to the fashion industry.

Background: Recently, the fashion industry has demonstrated a strong interest in sustainability and environmental issues. The sustainable fashion industry has enormous potential, and practical products are attracting Generation Z's environmentally conscious buyers. In the meantime, Gen Z customers have intrigued researchers' interest due to their enormous utilization potential.  Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain Gen Z consumers' attitudes toward sustainable fashion consumption and marketing activities in the global market.  Method: This study employed deductive qualitative research. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Gen Z consumers who represented a range of cultural backgrounds. The qualitative data are analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.  Conclusion: The findings indicate that Gen Z consumers prefer products designed by brands with a distinct brand identity and distinctive highlights that are both practical and sustainable. For sustainable fashion brands to reach Gen Z consumers, branded digital marketing and branded content advertising are pivotal.

Amongst production industries, the fashion industry is one of those with the most negative impact on the environment. Globalization has driven consumption of contemporary fashion products, such as clothes, to the highest quantities ever recorded in history. Where, to globally maintain a lifestyle based on the Swedish population alone, at least four earths would have been needed. Post-purchase behaviour is an influencer on future consumer decision-making and therefore a potential driver of collaborative consumption, yet little research has focused on this field in the second-hand clothing setting. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the post-purchase behaviour of the Swedish second-hand clothing consumer. The research extends expectation confirmation theory into the new scope of double hybrid business models, where consumers make second-hand clothing purchases within a mesh of both online and offline services, from a mixture of C2C and B2C transactions. The study utilizes a qualitative method, and the result is collected from eight in-depth one-on-one interviews with Swedish consumers. The findings show that expectations, when purchasing second-hand clothes, may differ between online and offline platforms. Subsequently the concepts of post-purchase behaviour are also experienced differently depending on the purchase having been made in a physical store or from an online seller. Practical implications are connected to the risk minimizing strategies that consumers adopt when trying to avoid disappointing and regretful purchases. The study provides new information about the differences in expectations and post-purchase behaviour between online and in store purchases of second-hand clothing and examines the Swedish consumer from a collaborative fashion consumption perspective.

This study examines whether discounts affect the behavior of fashion consumers during the different parts of the buying decision process and in what ways. It also examines if and how this is different between men and women. The study is of qualitative form and the data collection has been done through semi-structured interviews. The purpose is to increase the understanding of whether discounts have an impact on the consumer behavior of fashion consumers in the different parts of the buying decision process and how this is different between men and women. The analysis is based on previous research on fashion consumption, discounts and male and female consumption, as well as a theoretical framework containing the buying decision process and emotional decision making. The results of the study show that discounts have an impact on the consumer behavior. The results confirm that the effect of discounts varies depending on when in the buying decision process they are offered. The study also identified differences between men and women’s attitudes and behaviors when they are offered discounts during the buying decision process. We can confirm that there are differences and that the differences depend on which part of the buying decision process the consumer is in. This study contributes to increase the understanding of the effects of discounts on male and female fashion consumers and when they are most effective. In future research, it would be appropriate to examine this in another area of consumption. Further on the study will be written in Swedish. / I denna studie undersöks om rabatter påverkar modekonsumenters beteende underköpbeslutsprocessens olika delar och på vilka sätt. Den undersöker också hur detta skiljer sig åt mellan män och kvinnor. Studien är av kvalitativ form och datainsamlingen har skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Syftet är att öka förståelsen kring huruvida rabatter harpåverkan på modekonsumenters konsumentbeteende i köpbeslutsprocessens olika delar samt hur detta skiljer sig åt mellan män och kvinnor. Analysen baseras på tidigare forskning kring modekonsumtion, rabatter och kvinnlig och manlig konsumtion, samt ett teoretiskt ramverk i form av modellen över köpbeslutsprocessen och emotionellt beslutsfattande. Studiens resultat visar att rabatter har påverkan på konsumentbeteende. Genom resultatet bekräftar studien att rabatters påverkan skiljer sig åt beroende på när i köpbeslutsprocessen de erbjuds. Resultatet tar även upp de identifierade skillnader som uppstått mellan män och kvinnors attityder och beteende kopplat till rabatter under köpbeslutsprocessen. Även här kan vi bekräfta att det finns skillnader och att det skiljer sig åt beroende på del avköpbeslutsprocessen. Denna undersökning bidrar till att öka förståelsen kring rabatters påverkan på manliga och kvinnliga modekonsumenter samt hur påverkan skiljer sig i köpbeslutsprocessen. I framtida forskning skulle det vara lämpligt att undersöka detta inom ett annat konsumtionsområde