The study examined the frequency use of media by younger (college students) and older consumers (65 and over) for both sexes. The Total Design Method (TDM) of Dillman (1978) was used to conduct the research. Nine hundred and fifty older adults and 750 younger consumers participated in the study. Samples were selected from the list of registered voters and the residence hall directory, respectively. Adoption and diffusion of innovations guided the theoretical framework. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and t-tests were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that younger consumers used media more frequently than older consumers and that females used media more often than did their male counterparts. Most commonly used sources of fashion information were identified for both younger and older consumers. Future implications for retailers and consumers were discussed.

Seventy-one large-size women (Size 16 and over) participated in an assessment of their clothing interest, satisfactions, and dissatisfactions with ready-to-wear apparel for six types of apparel and seven factors such as color, fabric, fashion, fit, selection, size, and style. Analysis showed that the respondents were satisfied with five of the six apparel categories. However, opinion regarding satisfaction differed by size and age. Fit and size were the most common problem areas. Satisfaction and problems were associated with specific articles of apparel. Several implications were discussed.

The study examined the relationship between the fashionability of the elderly (65 and older) and its correlates. Dillman's Total Design Method approach was executed to conduct the survey. Four hundred and thirty elderly men and women participated in the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and t-tests. The results indicated that significant differences existed between fashionability and media exposure for the female styles. No differences were found between fashionability and age identification and self-esteem for either sex. However, the findings did challenge some of the existing theories, which have been tested on younger populations.

The concept of fashion leadership among college women in India was examined by assessing the attention given to media exposure (fashion information sources) of identified opinion leaders and fashion nonleaders. A survey design with a pre tested questionnaire was used to conduct the research. The final sample con sisted of 509 college women from four universities in northwestern India. Anal ysis of variance and chi square analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that fashion opinion leaders used significantly more sources of fashion information and more often than nonleaders (p < 0.05 to p < 0.01). Fashion magazines were a significantly discriminating fashion information source for the two groups during the awareness, comprehension, and legitimation stages of fashion adoption (p < 0.01). Although most of the findings were consis tent with Western literature regarding the fashion adoption process, the role of parents and family members in legitimating the fashion choices of the respon dents did reflect a cultural difference.

Three denim jeans products from the same manufacturer with differentiated pricing and labels (antiqued, sandblasted, and stonewashed) were used to determine the relationship between price and quality. Both qualitative and quantitative procedures were used to analyse the garments. All three jeans were made of twill weave with 3 × 1 repeat. Both structural and performance characteristics were compared using standardized tests. Analysis of variance was used to compare the selected structural and performance characteristics among the three jeans products. Tukey’s HSD tests were used for post hoc multiple comparisons for three jeans. The findings revealed that despite the fact that all three jeans products were from the same store, and that the fabrics used the same weave, degree and direction of twist, the jeans differed significantly for several structural and performance characteristics. Several possibilities for future research were explored.