The Effect Of The Consumer Decision-Making Process On The Perceived Value Toward Slow Fashion

Slow fashion designates a new paradigm in the clothing industry that promotes the importance of fashion goods realized with natural and durable products, empowering consumers to use the purchased clothes for a longer time, decreasing, in this case, the environmental and societal impact of fashion pieces. Even if it designates the opposite of fast fashion production, the slow fashion notoriety is not remarkably high among consumers. This study proposed to examine the effect of the consumers' decision-making process on the noticed value toward slow fashion. In this regard, we considered multiple decision-making constructs and tested their impact on consumers’ perceived value toward slow fashion. Also, we examined if there are discrepancies in the perceived value toward slow fashion based on gender. A survey was designed and administrated in Romania to a sample of 330 consumers aged between 18-25. We applied to the collected data exploratory analysis to identify the distribution of manifest variables into factors, followed by confirmatory factor analysis to test the performance of the obtained factors. Finally, we tested the proposed hypotheses using the structural equation model procedure. Were identified seven dimensions that compose the decision-making process of the consumers, namely, recreational shopping, perfectionism, brand knowledge, over choice confusion, fashion awareness, impulsive buying, and brand loyalty. Also, were found three dimensions that constitute the consumers' perceived value toward slow fashion, namely, emotional, social, and financial dimensions. The results showed that over choice confusion exhibits a positive effect on the emotional and financial value; fashion awareness manifests a positive effect on the social value, while brand loyalty manifests a positive impact on the financial value. In the case of gender impact on the emotional value, it was identified that, if a respondent is a female, the influence is positive and statistically significant.