Semester of Graduation

Spring, 2023

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Digital fashion might bring an innovative and revolutionary answer to address environmental and social issues in the textile and apparel industry because it could simultaneously deliver sustainability and fashionability. To stay in the lead in the fashion kingdom and maintain innovativeness, luxury fashion brands are embracing digital fashion. Instead of constantly balancing or trading off between exclusive values and accessibility, luxury brands could enhance both through digital fashion items. As such, investigating consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of digital fashion in general and luxury brands’ digital fashion in specific is critical to fueling digital fashion. Accordingly, the current research has twofold purposes: one is to empirically investigate how consumers perceive and evaluate digital fashion in general, and the other is to specifically examine consumers’ assessment and acceptance of luxury fashion brands’ digital fashion. To this end, a conceptual model and nine hypotheses were proposed in the current study, and a correlational research strategy was employed to examine the proposed model and hypotheses. Data were collected from a sample of 160 college students in the United States of America and were analyzed through a series of factor analyses and the approach of multiple regression analysis. The results reveal that the general attitude toward digital fashion is significantly and positively influenced by five key predictors, namely, the attitude toward dressing avatars, the attitude toward dressing on-screen physical bodies, fashion self-congruity, perceived social value, and consumer environmental involvement. These predictors were found to have a positive and indirect effect on the purchase intention of luxury brands’ digital fashion products through the mediating factor of the general attitude toward digital fashion. Furthermore, this study found that three prominent determinants, namely, the general attitude toward digital fashion, perceived social value, and attitudinal beliefs of luxury brands, significantly, positively, and directly influence the purchase intention of luxury brands’ digital fashion products. This research contributes to the literature by empirically validating existing theories in the digital fashion context and provides valuable marketing and managerial suggestions for digital fashion marketers, particularly for luxury fashion brands.

Date

3-27-2023

Committee Chair

Liu, Chuanlan

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.5710

Available for download on Thursday, March 26, 2026

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