Academics, educationalists and parents have all expressed increasing concern about targeting and marketing towards children, particularly to those within the age group of eight to thirteen, and identified as tweenagers. Through an analysis of the literature it is established that inconsistencies exist on the influence of socialization agents on the reactions of young male consumers. Review of the literature also identifies that much is understood about female tweenagers but little is yet known about male tweenagers. The interpretive approach adopted explores the associations and reactions of male tweenagers to agents of consumer socialization, with a focus on mother versus peers. The study demonstrates how these agents affect the decisions of eight to eleven year old males, in the final years of the Scottish primary school system, within the sportswear sector. A two-stage research design combined a group based data procedure, supported by a projective comic strip scenario. Themes were identified from the analysis of friendship group discussions supported by the identification of phenomena emerging from projective data. An interpretivist epistemology supported an iterative, grounded process of data analysis, leading to the development of frameworks of consumer behaviour for male tweenagers within the product sector. The findings offer a different understanding from studies on female tweenagers in relation to parental involvement and influence, pester power and peer pressure. Four assertions emerged from the findings. Firstly, mum is identified as the gateway to brand information and in a positive attachment agent, evidenced through the exertion of positive reactions towards ‘mum’. Pester power was not in evidence, and instead supports the views on joint action between parent and child when participating in the consumer socialization game. Peer pressure is low, as these children demonstrate negative responses to peer socialization agents. And more importantly, these boys are identified as being different to girls in their socialization relationships. This thesis focuses on the voice of males tweenagers and reveals them to be embedded within social networks where they do not yet feel ‘compelled’ to follow the directives of peers when making sportswear choices. The findings contribute to the literature by proposing that marketers and consumer researchers need to review the assumptions that what is known about children, and in particular girl tweenagers, can be transferred to male tweenagers. This exploratory study questions the usefulness of these assumptions as an appropriate basis for practitioner and researcher decisions, and underlines the need to study males tweenagers as a separate consumer social group.

This project explores design considerations and processes involved in the development of sports performance clothing specifically aimed at city cycling commuters. Research with a focus on smart clothing and electronic integration was used to form a technical framework in which the requirements of the end user were addressed. The result being the creation of a wearable electronic jacket containing a lighting system aimed at improving safety and comfort aspects affecting cycle commuters. The project methodology was essentially practice based with a strong experimental approach linked to the physical testing and refinement of electronic and clothing integration. Design aesthetics were equally important and are presented as a visual record linked to the use of computer related technologies which have influenced the design planning and processes of the project.

This project explores design considerations and processes involved in the development of sports performance clothing specifically aimed at city cycling commuters. Research with a focus on smart clothing and electronic integration was used to form a technical framework in which the requirements of the end user were addressed. The result being the creation of a wearable electronic jacket containing a lighting system aimed at improving safety and comfort aspects affecting cycle commuters. The project methodology was essentially practice based with a strong experimental approach linked to the physical testing and refinement of electronic and clothing integration. Design aesthetics were equally important and are presented as a visual record linked to the use of computer related technologies which have influenced the design planning and processes of the project.

Background: The sportswear industry has grown rapidly in the past years, with sportswear becoming a popular choice for everyday wear and sports activities. However, concerns about sustainability have emerged, prompting consumers to think about their purchasing habits. As a result, sustainable branding has become an integral part of the business of sportswear brands. Purpose: This study examines how women’s attitudes toward sustainable branding influence their purchase decisions in the sportswear industry. By focusing on women aged 20-50, the research seeks to understand the attitudes of female consumers and help sportswear brands adapt their sustainability strategies to meet consumer demand. Method: This study follows a qualitative research method with an interpretive research paradigm and an inductive research approach. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews to better understand the underlying motivations and factors that influence female attitudes. Conclusion: The study findings revealed that female consumers had negative or neutral attitudes toward the sportswear industry. However, they indicated a positive attitude towards sustainability, suggesting that the brand’s social and environmental practices can influence female consumer attitudes. The study showed a clear gap between female consumer attitudes and actual behavior, with financial constraints and other purchase criteria as barriers to purchasing sustainable sportswear.

M. Tech. (Marketing, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Research on apparel store choice and patronage has been widely studied locally and internationally. However, it is still important to understand consumers’ purchase behaviour and to develop appropriate retailing strategy. South Africa is currently experiencing a substantial growth in retail infrastructure especially in townships. Formal retailers are now expanding into township markets. Most of those retailers differentiated themselves from their competitors by developing a corporate identity, inter-alia through their store image. The purpose of the research was to examine apparel store selection criteria amongst black consumers in Soweto. In addition, this research examined the relationship between store satisfaction and loyalty. The literature review focuses on consumer behaviour variables and store image variables influential in store selection. The review was necessary to provide an overview of how consumers decide where, how and when to shop. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 489 respondents who were selected using non-probability convenience sampling. The sample size comprised sportswear apparel shoppers (blacks), both male and female, 18 years and older who patronised three shopping malls, namely Protea Gardens, Southgate, and Jabulani Mall. Data were analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), mean rankings, the Mann Whitney U test, correlation analysis and regression. Six factors were found to be appropriate to capture the dimensions of store selection. These factors were labelled sales assistant, store atmospherics, store appeal (interior/exterior), in-store induced appeals, promotion/brand availability and store accessibility. Furthermore, the data obtained revealed a strong linear relationship between satisfaction and loyalty as well as significant relationship amongst the dimensions of store selection. Regression analysis revealed that promotion/brand availability and store satisfaction are strong predictors of loyalty. The Mann Whitney U test revealed no significant difference in the store choice dimensions between female and male respondents. The recommendations arising from the current study could help retailers understand what motivates shoppers to select one store amongst other stores. The identification of in-store and out-of-store activities that encourage consumers to stay store loyal, are critical to the success of retail businesses. Future studies may be extended on the purchase of other products apart from sportswear items.

This research aims to describe and analysis consumer behaviour and engagement on Social Media regarding the three following categories: sportswear products, sportswear brands, and lifestyle related to sports, in three different markets: Brazil, China and Sweden. This research has conducted a quantitative approach through an online survey with 363 valid responses. This research contributes to previous studies of consumer engagement on Social Media, with a highlight of how the engagement is performed differently regarding products, brands and lifestyle and how it varies among markets. It also helps the sportswear industry to develop marketing strategies on Social Media according to consumer engagement patterns in different markets. / Program: Textile Management, Fashion Management

The report is an attempt to incorporate consumer insight in the female sportswear segment to figureout how it can be used in the clothing industry. The consumer insight methods are performed on anexperimental basis to get a perception of how it can be done and figure out how it differs fromtraditional market research. The research aims to clarify the important parameters on which buyingdecisions are made. The parameters will be based on price, function, fit, brand, design etc. Thereport is made in cooperation with the company Röhnisch sportswear.The consumer insight concept is a part of a consumer driven or consumer oriented businessapproach. The concept strives to find unconscious needs, the driving forces behind them and furtherput them in a context to solve a problem for the consumer. The aim is to satisfy consumers and atthe same time develop a competitive and successful business model. While traditional marketingresearch usually describe what is, a consumer insight approach aim to understand why.The methods used in this research are participative observations, in-depth interviews, gymobservations and market survey. The qualitative and quantitative methods have been compared anddiscussed. The relevance and the importance of the methods used are highlighted and prioritizinglists are estimated. The result shows a wide variety of shopping behaviours. Varied shoppingbehaviour can be seen depending on products. Essential parameters for an exercising garment are fitand design. The importance of other parameters is also discussed in the report. On one hand aselective, focused and deterministic approach is seen and on the other hand a more passive andopen attitude is observed. Feeling comfortable in terms of aesthetical aspects is essential to motivatethe exercising activity. / Program: Magisterutbildning i Applied Textile Management

In recent decades, the growth of international trade and delocalisation been increasing with the advent of globalisation and nationalisation. Consequently, a proliferation of hybrid or bi-national products has emerged in the research of international marketing. A large body of studies agree that country of origin (COO) plays an important role on product evaluation, since a product consists of an array of information cues, and intrinsic (physical appearance) and extrinsic (price, brand or COO) compositions. There is a strong evidence that consumers usually use COO as one of the most important cues when making a judgement about a product. However, bi-national products raise a particular issue because they are associated to both country of manufacture (COM) and country of design (COD) constructs. The interaction effects between both cues are found to have a more powerlful effect than when only cue is presented (Bertoli and Resciniti, 2012). This study intends to decompose the COO construct into COM and COD constructs. Moreover, the roles of COM and COD on customers’ purchase intentions are investigated in order to provides practical implications for the sportswear industry, as well as consumption insights relating to the emerging market, Thailand. This research provides an in-depth examination of COM, COD and product involvement on consumers’ purchase intentions and customer perceived value (CPV). Thus, the research measures the effects of product familiarity in order to infer how consumers use country-related information in purchase decision-making. In addition, the research clarifies the role of CPV, which remains unclear regarding how consumers develop a product’s value through informational cues (COM and COD). Moreover, the previous research have only examined the outcomes of perceived quality as influenced by COO. Hence, this research intends to bring all dimensions of CPV to investigate whether the combined effects of COM and COD can have either a positive or a negative impact on customer’s value. A model of CPV is developed by Sweeney and Soutat (2001), which consists of quality, social, price and emotional values. A quantitative approach using experimental research design was conducted in Bangkok, Thailand for the purposes of this study, with a pilot test to ascertain the variables used in the main experiment: product involvement, favourable/least favourable COM and COD images. The experiment was designed to measure the relationship between constructs, of a high involvement product, namely sports trainers, and a low involvement product, namely sports t-shirt. The US and China were selected as the most and the least favourite COD, resepectively. Meanwhile, Japan and China were selected as the most and least favourite COM, respectively. Data analysis techniques such as analysis of varaince (ANOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and t-test were employed for hypothesis testing. The results of this research demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the interaction effects of country image and product involvement. The study confirms that COD is the salient cue for the evaluation of sportswear products in emerging countries. However, the level of product involvement does not influence the consumer’s decisions when COD and COM are both presented. Thus, the roles of COM, COD and product invovlement play an important role in evaluating overall CPV. The key contribution of this research is in its practical, theoretical and methodological implications to international marketing communications toward the sportswear industry. It offers the insights of two informational cues (COM and COD) to explain the phenomenon of bi-national products for unknown or new products.

This project investigates the merging of performance apparel from mountain biking and ski touring, based on the emerging trend in combining mountain biking and ski touring as sports. Designing apparel for a combination of sports could contribute to a sustainable change in the outdoor industry by affecting the design thinking, demand and consumerism. All the garments are developed based on the female body and needs. This is shown through both commercial pieces and experimental pieces, with garment shapes that are both similar and not so similar to existing garments. Material placement is based on movement and thermoregulatory responses of the female athlete and plays an important part to achieve both expression and function in the garments. The methodology is explained through five parts; field testing, sketching, prototyping, experimenting and evaluation, which are used both numerical and independently of each other. This resulted in a collection of seven outfits where three of these are produced and the remaining four are illustrated through development, sketches and technical descriptions. Results show suggestions of how a combination between sports could be developed and used. It also shows potential to be developed even further into other various directions.

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