1. Consumers, Consumption, and Well-Being
Chapter 2 Review
Kunz, G., & Garner, M. (2007). Going Global: The Textile and Apparel Industry, 2nd ed. New York, NY: Fairchild Publications.
Ryan Burns and Sara Stevens
9/1/15

2. Exploring the foundations of apparel choices
Consumer use of some type of textiles and apparel is universal for:
Adornment
Protection
Non-verbal communication
The mystery component of clothing selection is fashion:
Fashion is defined as the style of dress accepted by the majority of a group at a given time.
Textile and apparel products differ from other products due to the perishable desirability:
Fashion makes the textile and apparel business more unpredictable than trade in other consumer products

3. Exploring the foundations of apparel choices
There are two types of apparel categories
Basic: stabilized, utilitarian, and have infrequent demand for change
Inventories are steady, predictable, and refillable
Fashion: individualized, differentiated by style and color
Demand peaks followed by obsolescence
Consumer obsolescence is a factor in most economies

4. Examining the concepts of levels and standards of consumption and living…
Four terms Stancliffe Davis (1945) used to understand consumption patterns:
Consumption-commodities (goods and services)
Living-consumption and other dimensions of life
Level-implies that which is actually experienced/enjoyed/suffered
Standard-what is “urgently desired and striven for…” (Davis, 1945)
Level of Consumption includes:
The overall amount of food, fuel and other non-measurable goods consumed
The use of house, car, clothing
The use of services
Standard of Living is:
The level of consumption urgently desired and strived for
inherently human to want more, but what “more” looks like varies based on age, gender, culture, income, etc.
Typically the standard is higher than the level

5. …and their relationships to apparel consumption patterns
Developed and Developing Countries:
In poorer countries, the fashion cycle is slow due to lack of purchasing power
Fashions available in developed countries are known to consumers around the world due to increased communication technology
The desire for fashion appears to be universal
Gap between rich and poor widening:
Levels and standards of consumption and living are commonly used measures of well-being (a good or satisfactory condition of existence)
Sustainability of supply chains:
Skewed distribution of economic development among participating nations
Deterioration of the environment
Decline of nonrenewable natural resources

6. Examining theories of income-consumption relationships
Many definitions for income! Most important for fashion purchases is discretionary income (disposable – consumption expenditure)
Income elasticity of demand:
Related to consumer
Superior goods
(economic luxury)
Example?
Normal goods
(economic necessity)
Inferior goods
(inadequate income)
What does income elasticity look like?
Price elasticity of clothing expenditure
Important to understand for profitability of business
Does the demand for the good change according to price?
Positive yet non-elastic
Indicates normal good
% change in clothing expenditure /% change in price
What does price elasticity of demand look like?

7. How do we measure consumption (really)?
Evaluating the meaning of consumption expenditure data representing developed and developing countries
How do we measure consumption (really)?
Expenditure patterns (China vs. U.S.)
Food vs. Apparel
Rural vs. Urban
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Inflation
High cost of other expenses vs. apparel
Progressive vs. Regressive Taxes

8. Exploring the clothing consumption process
Acquisition
Inventory
Use (Substitutes and Complements)
Renovation
Discard
What factors speed up this cycle?
What factors slow it down?

9. What is the most relevant information you learned in this chapter
What is the most relevant information you learned in this chapter? Why is it relevant to you?
what do you think?