Consumer Level of Fashion Consciousness

Morganosky (1987) found household income to be important for evaluation of fashionability or aesthetic aspects of clothing. Consumer level of fashion consciousness is highly influenced by their income levels as consumers are usually budget constrained. With the introduction of new technologies and constantly changing fashion statements, the amount of products and services being offered in the market for consumers' expenditure has grown ever wider. Some clothing items today have a cycle that is approximately seven years long, whereas, in the past, the general cycle was about thirty years (Daneshvary and Schwer, 2000). As a result, the spending on gaining fashion consciousness and keeping up with the latest fashion updates has increased. Weekes (2004) suggested in her findings that men spent 62% of their discretionary income on clothing and gaining awareness regarding latest fashion updates.

Fashion innovation is difficult to study. Anspach stated that once a fashion has been identified it begins to fade and it is no longer fashion. This is why consumers need to spend a lot of time and money to be conscious about the latest fashion trends. Customers with low incomes are more budget constrained and want to limit the risk of overspending in a budget category (Pennings, van Ittersum, & Wansink, 2005). In the low income areas clothing is a necessity item. Which implies that even with changes in income the spending in this category will not raise much. But when we take a look at the middle class and the upper class over time clothing has changed from being a necessity to a luxury good, where the focus is on higher quality goods and more expensive brands. It implies that clothing purchases are becoming wants driven rather than needs driven (Jones, Hayes, 2002). That is why people spend a lot to keep fashion awareness about the latest fashion trends.

Income is important to fashion consciousness in the sense that the amount of exposure consumers