US Consumers’ Perceptions of Garments Inspired by Indonesian Culture

It is evident that there has been increase in integration of global economies as trade barriers were lifted in 2005 resulting in free trade. After agriculture, marketing of hand-produced, cultural products constitutes the second most important source of income in less developed countries of the world. The objectives of this study were to examine US consumers’ perceptions of garments that were culturally inspired by a specific sending culture to better understand the following: (1) perceptions of garment familiarity and garment complexity; (2) the relationship between perceived familiarity and garment adoption/acceptance; (3) the relationship between perceived familiarity and garment adoption/acceptance; (4) acceptance for garments culturally inspired by consumers’ cultural setting or geographic location; (5) acceptance for garments culturally inspired among the different age groups; and (6) delineation of US consumers’ cultural creativity. To accomplish this endeavor an instrument, developed for measuring consumers’ responses to design characteristics, was tested on US female consumers from five areas of the country and in two age categories. The instrument developed integrated visual stimuli of garments with Likert-type scales and provided consumer data for conducting basic research. Garment attributes included three styles, two color ways, and two fabric print (3 x 2 x 2) =12 garments. The analyses were exploratory in that concepts and relationships were evaluated in a non-causal approach to provide a basis for further research. Generalizatibility was addressed through analysis of multiple consumer groups; however the fashion aspects of the stimuli prevent broad-spectrum application. This study focuses on garments that are culturally inspired by Indonesia as the sending culture. Indonesia is a country with strong textile dyeing and printing traditions. Indonesia is open to westernized silhouettes and it is also an important global source for textiles and clothing production. The Indonesian textile and clothing industry is vertically integrated, encompassing almost every stage of production and contributes significantly to the country’s economy. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory provides a foundation for examining issues that inhibit or encourage the adoption of ideas, products, or technologies as they are introduced to individuals or groups of people. Within Roger’s model is a five stage innovation-decision process. This research is concerned with the persuasion stage where the individual forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the innovation. The persuasion stage provided a foundation for examining relationships between familiarity, complexity, and acceptance of Indonesian inspired garments. The two persuasion characteristics of interest were compatibility and complexity of Indonesian inspired products for US consumers. Compatibility reflects how well an innovation is perceived to match existing social norms, needs, and expectations. Complexity concerns how difficult the innovation is perceived as to understand. Diffusion of Innovation is a generic adoption model for innovative ideas and products and was therefore somewhat restrictive for applications to fashion product adoption. Sproles’ Fashion Adoption Theory was thus also employed to understand the concepts of familiarity, complexity and acceptance in the context of women’s apparel attitudes of garment color, fabric print, and style. Also examined in this research were the differences in US consumer responses based on geographic location, age, and cultural creativity. Social influences, socioeconomic characteristics and behavioral norms fluctuate across the North American continent. Subnations are said to exist that define eight differing regions of the US and hold distinguishable characteristics. This research examined the following five subnations and their general US region: Breadbasket (middle), Dixie (southeast), Foundry (northeast), Ecotopia (northwest), and MexAmerica (southwest). In addition to geographic location, two age groups of US female consumers were examined: 19 to 25 years of age and 35 to 55 years of age. Additionally, consumers’ level of cultural creativity was measured. In the US the categories of Moderns and Traditionals are more readily recognized consumer groups than the Cultural Creative group. Cultural Creative, are distinguished by values such as engaged action, altruism, self-actualization, spirituality and ecological sustainability. Variation in Cultural Creative qualities and levels were expected to contribute a greater understanding of product acceptance. Pearson correlation coefficients, univariate analysis of variance with least significance difference post hoc analysis, and forward multiple regressions were run to address the research objectives. Based on the findings, the following recommendations are offered to the manufacturers of Indonesian inspired garments. To successfully cross market their products to countries like US, manufacturers can retain the color ways culturally inspired by Indonesia as the participants found them to be familiar and highly acceptable. Recommendations for fabric print and styles would suggest lower levels of cultural inspiration for US consumer acceptance. Retailers and manufacturers would also be wise to market their products with strategies and priorities based on the climatic and demographic characteristics of the nine sub-nations, and to consider age categories particularly women between the ages of 35–55 years. It is clear the textile and apparel industry in Indonesia has a number of strengths that have enabled the country to expand its share of international markets. The US importation numbers largely reflect production of US designed apparel with an absence of Indonesian cultural traditions. The potential for designing and marketing Indonesian inspired garments will be enhanced through dissemination of research-based information regarding US female consumer preferences.