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Purpose – Promotional media and gender have been shown to influence purchase and shopping channel choice. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the role of media influence, fashion consciousness, and fashion leadership on shopping channel choice in regard to gender. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was administered using a convenience sample of male and female students at a Southwestern University in the USA. A total of 408 surveys were used for analysis. The data were factor analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software and a structural equation model was developed to test the hypotheses. Findings – The results indicate that while the media influence factor of mass media positively influences fashion consciousness for both males and females, personalized media only indicated significant influence on male fashion leaders. In addition, both male and female consumers indicated that fashion leadership influenced non-traditional over traditional retail channels. Originality/value – This research uses social cognitive theory and the theory of symbolic interaction to better understand the impact of media and fashion on shopping behavior. This paper addresses the changing media types and how they impact behavior for both men and women.

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