Young People's Use and Appraisal of Natural and Competing Fibers in Wearing Apparel

Excerpts from the report Introduction: The rapid expansion in recent years in the use of manmade fibers necessitates up-to-date evaluations of markets for natural fibers as compared with synthetic fibers. Persons interested in improving natural fibers and in increasing their use need information on changing consumer attitudes. The major purpose of this study is to provide the cotton and wool industries with information on the beliefs and attitudes of teenage boys and girls about cotton, wool, and manmade fibers in the clothing they wear, and on their experience with these fibers. Armed with such information, the natural-fiber industries can direct their laboratory research and public information efforts more sharply toward strengthening their position with the teenage population, which constitutes a large market for agricultural products. The members of this group--many of them just starting to do their own shopping--are developing opinions and loyalties toward fibers which may seriously affect, for good or ill, the future of natural fibers. This survey is an extension of research conducted in 1955 on teenage girls' opinions of clothing fibers. The subject areas covered were revised somewhat to reflect current needs for data. The survey was also broadened to include teenage boys’ opinions of clothing fibers. The findings reported here are based on a multistage area probability sample of 1,691 girls and 1,648 boys. The sample was designed to represent all persons between the ages of 14 and 17 in the contiguous United States. Interviews were made in person at the homes of the teenagers in June and early July 1963.