Personalization of Fair Trade Apparel

The purpose of this study was to understand the potential for product personalization to meet fair trade customers' apparel needs. The researchers tested a model that integrated customers' need for self-uniqueness, level of apparel involvement, perceived social and financial risks, and body size with customers' attitudes toward personalized apparel and intention to purchase personalized fair trade apparel. An online survey was used to collect data from 246 customers of a fair trade business. Results showed that consumers with greater need for self-uniqueness had a positive attitude toward personalization and were not concerned with social and financial risks. Consumers' involvement and social and financial risks were not related to their attitudes toward personalization. However, there was a positive relationship between body size and attitude toward personalized apparel. Overall, attitude toward personalization of apparel was positively related to intention to purchase personalized fair trade apparel. Implications for fair trade businesses are discussed.

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