Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

Attitudes toward domestic and foreign luxury brand apparel

A comparison between status and non status seeking teenagers

The Authors

Ian Phau, The School of Marketing, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia

Yip Siew Leng, The School of Marketing, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of the current research is to determine if status and non-status seeking Australian teenagers differ in their attitudes toward buying domestic and foreign (i.e. Italy, Japan, China) luxury brand

apparel.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 365 teenagers participated in this study through a self-completed questionnaire. Fishbein's Multi-Attribute Attitude Model was used to measure and compare attitudes toward buying domestic and foreign made apparel. Repeated measure ANOVA and t-tests were utilized to examine

whether the groups differed with regards to their attitudes toward buying luxury brand apparel, using a comparison of apparels “Made in Australia” with those “Made in Italy”, “Made in Japan” and “Made in China”.

Findings – The research findings indicate that status-seeking teenagers have overall, a more positive attitude toward foreign luxury brand apparel as compared to Australian luxury brands, with the exception of Chinese

brands. On the other hand, non-status seeking teenagers reported that they have more positive attitude towards Australian brands than foreign brands, and consider Australian luxury brands superior to all three

foreign brands with regards to ease of care and comfort.

Research limitations/implications – The findings is only limited to Australian teenagers and cannot be generalized to other nationalities or age cohorts.

Practical implications – The study suggests that the Australian apparel industry should concentrate its marketing strategy on enhancing the attributes of “fashionable” and “brand name” of Australian apparel that

both status and non-status seeking teenagers prefer in foreign apparel.

Originality/ value – The paper fills a gap in the literature by validating the study in Australia and focusing on the attitudes of status (and non status) seeking teenagers.

Article Type:

Research paper

Keyword(s):

Country of origin; Attitudes; Young adults; Australia; Premium products; Clothing.

Journal:

Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management

Volume:

12

Number:

1

Year:

2008

pp:

68-89

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

1361-2026

Introduction

Studies have found that younger Australians prefer foreign made clothing to domestic ones (for example, Fischer and Byron, 1997; Patterson and Tai, 1998). In fact, consumers are purchasing more foreign made rather than domestic made clothes (Fischer and Byron, 1997; Patterson and Tai, 1998). As such, imported products have gained significant market share since the 1990s (Wadud and Nair, 2003). This trend can be

attributed to Australia's high labour costs and the opening of Australia's economy to foreign rivals. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004a, b) has indicated that there is a large deficit in the textiles, clothing,

footwear and leather manufacturing trade. Industry data for 2001 to 2002 showed a 24.5 percent decrease from the same period in 1997 to 1998. This was accompanied by a rise in terms of trade, indicating that Australia

could purchase a greater volume of imports with a given volume of exports; and vice versa. In 2004, textile and apparel imports rose to a record $612 million, whereas exports of textiles and apparel fell to $175 million

(Australia Bureau Statistics, 2004). Further inquiry is therefore required to help explain why Australians buy more foreign made garments as opposed to domestically produced ones.

This phenomenon seems to be a global trend whereby foreign products seem to be preferred over domestically manufactured products (Gurhan-Canli and Maheswaran, 2000; Haulb, 1996; Javalgi et al. , 2001 ; Kaynak and Kara, 2002; Laroche et al. , 2002 ; Ahmed and d'Astous, 1993; Ulgado and Lee, 1998). For instance, Beaudoin

et al. (1998) found that overall, fashion leaders in America have had more positive attitudes toward buying imported apparel than domestic apparel. Given that fashion-conscious consumers as well as status seeking

consumers in America have a great impact on the luxury goods sales across the world (The Economist , 2004 ), it is assumed that there is an affiliation between consumers who are fashion-conscious and status conscious. In addition, both fashion leaders (Goldsmith and Stith, 1993) and status seeking consumers purchase apparel to satisfy symbolic needs. This study aims to set a precedent in investigating the attitudes of status and non-

status seeking consumers with regards to apparel purchase.

Previous studies on consumers' attitudes toward purchasing domestic versus foreign apparel were mostly focused on the age of consumers, analysing the range from young to mature aged adults (Beaudoin et al. ,

1998; Kaynak and Kara, 2002; Mohamad et al. , 2000 ; O'Cass and Lim, 2002). There has yet to be a study on the teenagers segment.

The 2001 Census (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001) indicated that teenagers from the age range of 15-19 have increased by 1 percent from 1991 to 2001 to over 1.2 million teenagers. The median income of a

teenager increases with age, from $16 to $162 per week among 15-19 year olds, and that income is essentially derived from part time employment. This age segment is an attractive one due to its growing purchasing power

(Tan, 1999; Tootelian and Gaedeke, 1992; Walker, 1996).

The relevance of using teenagers in this study is further attributed to Piacentini and Mailer's (2004) revelation that teenagers often use clothing, which is a socially consumed product, to symbolize status. Teenagers are

often in stages of uncertainty, where they are more likely to rely on luxury brands to assist them in performing their desired role (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004). They have a valuable impact on the fashion industry (Coelho

and McClure, 1993; O'Cass and Frost, 2002) with regards to their purchase of luxury brand apparel. Thus, their attitudes toward buying foreign luxury brand apparel as compared to Australian luxury brand apparel should be evaluated. Many questions need to be answered. Do young status seeking consumers have a different attitude

towards purchasing foreign and Australian luxury brand apparel? Are there some specific apparel attributes that lead young status seeking consumers to believe that foreign luxury brand apparel represent a better acquisition than their Australian counterparts? With regards to choice of foreign luxury apparel, would the choice vary from one country to another country (i.e. Italy, Japan and China) when compared to domestic

luxury apparel?

In this study, foreign brand apparel is specifically chosen by country namely, Italy, Japan and China instead of listing them as imports in general. Further, Patterson and Tai (1998) and O'Cass and Lim (2001) noted that a

particularly strong bias exists towards brands made in developing countries. Thus, a comparative study on luxury brand apparel from different countries is necessary to explore such bias. It is also important to

understand that the objective of the present study is not to compare preferences among the four countries, but rather to analyse the choice between Australian-made and foreign-made.

This report will be structured as follows. Specifically, the literature review describes how teenagers may relate to status seeking consumption and the effects of culture of brand origin towards status consumption. This will lead to the formulation of the hypotheses. Fishbein's Model is next described in relevance to the methodology

of this study. The results and the analysis will next be presented. Finally, the concluding comments are presented with suggested future research directions radiating from this study.

Literature review

A vast body of knowledge exists with regards to the attitudes involved in the purchase of clothing. The studies comparing consumers' attitudes toward purchasing domestic or foreign apparel have found that most

consumers prefer foreign rather than domestic clothes if it is more expensive (Mohamad et al. , 2000 ), luxury brands (Mohamad et al. , 2000 ; Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ), more fashionable brands (Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ) and favourable country of origin (O'Cass and Lim, 2002). Thus, it is important to examine the fashion context in

relation to status consumption.

Teenagers and status consumption

The teenage market is a vigorous and extremely competitive environment. It represents a broad market that can be generalised (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Tootelian and Gaedeke, 1992). Though it offers plenty of opportunities for new entrants, and great scope for innovations, the target audience is notoriously hard to

please (Taylor and Cosenza, 2002). All facets of the media (i.e. fashion, television, the Internet and music) form significant influences, and make teens savvy towards what they want (Tan, 1999; Tootelian and Gaedeke,

1992; Walker, 1996). Also, many of the researchers have suggested that teenagers are lavish spenders when it comes to branded and luxury products (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Tan, 1999; Taylor and Cosenza, 2002).

Further, O'Cass and Frost (2002) proved that younger consumers are driven by the need to possess and display status brands. Both Piacentini and Mailer (2004) and Wong and Ahuvia (1998) have indicated that

western teenagers are more likely to be involved in luxury consumption.

Many researchers have explored the trend of status, symbolic or prestige consumption for different purposes. For instance, Eastman et al. (1999) ; Deeter-Schmelz et al. (2000) ; and Vigneron and Johnson (1999) were

interested in the development and validation of a consumption scale, whereas O'Cass and Frost (2002) looked to broaden the understanding towards status brands and the behaviours associated with it. On the other hand, Coelho and McClure(1993) focused on the fashion industry by analysing status consumption from an economic perspective. In Piacentini and Mailer's (2004) study, the underlying assumption was that teenagers do engage in status consumption on clothing for different purposes and preferences. This makes its purpose comparable

to that of the present study.

Researchers have defined status consumption as the driving force in enhancing social standing through conspicuous consumption (Eastman et al. , 1999 ; Deeter-Schmelz et al. , 2000 ; O'Cass and Frost, 2002; Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Tanner and Roberts, 2000). Conspicuous consumption involves the public

consumption of luxury products that signal wealth, status and power (Bagwell and Bernheim, 1996; Eastman et al. , 1999 ; O'Cass and Frost, 2002; Vigneron and Johnson, 1999). Consumption of status or symbolic products

also assists in enhancing social recognition and self-concept (Eastman et al. , 1999 ; Deeter-Schmelz et al. , 2000; O'Cass and Frost, 2002; Piacentini and Mailer, 2004). Eastman et al. (1999) and O'Cass and Frost

(2002) pointed out that status-oriented consumers will only purchase products that represent status in the eyes of others whom they feel are significant. At some stage, status consumption is viewed as materialism (Tanner and Roberts, 2000; Wong and Ahuvia, 1998). Thus, it is arguable that status consumers are more likely to buy luxury apparel than non-status seeking consumers, as it satisfies their symbolic needs (Eastman et al. , 1999 ;

Goldsmith and Stith, 1993).

However, Piacentini and Mailer (2004) indicated that teenagers from wealthier families having more disposable money are less likely to be involved in status consumption. On the other hand, teenagers from the lower and middle social classes are more likely to be involved in status consumption to display their “wealth”. Consistent

with studies from Eastman et al. (1999) , Kempen (2003), and O'Cass and Frost (2002), status seeking consumers can come from any income or social class level. On the contrary, Chao and Schor (1998)

demonstrated in a study on cosmetics that the status seeking consumers are mostly Caucasian, higher in education and income, and live in urban communities. Further, Deeter-Schmelz et al. (2000) ascertain that

consumers' income have minimal impact on prestige concept.

The study of apparel is appropriate in this instance, as the act of purchasing apparel satisfies the various needs of the consumer; which signals status (Coelho and McClure, 1993), expression of identity (Piacentini and

Mailer, 2004), self-concept (Deeter-Schmelz et al. , 2000 ; Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Tootelian and Gaedeke, 1992; Wong and Ahuvia, 1998), self-esteem (Taylor and Cosenza, 2002), as well as gives individuals a way to

impress others (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Taylor and Cosenza, 2002). Noble and Walker (1997) and Piacentini and Mailer (2004) observed that teenagers are often in stages of role transitions and uncertainties.

These consumers therefore rely on status consumption and the needs mentioned above to assist them in performing desired roles and showing maturity (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004). Similarly, Belk (1988) suggested

that material possessions such as apparel are seen as an important source of status for teenagers. Thus, the term luxury brand apparel is very applicable to this study.

O'Cass and Frost (2002) indicated that consumers may recognise the brand name and image associated with a status brand. However, these same consumers may not necessarily be familiar with other features of the brand. Grace and O'Cass (2002) determined that a status product possesses good quality and a favourable

brand name. Thus, country of origin image or association impacts on consumers' perceptions or beliefs toward particular brands (Mohamad et al. , 2000 ). Wong and Ahuvia's (1998) study on luxury consumption ascertains

that western consumers are more likely to judge each product independently regardless of the brand, manufacturer, and country of origin as compared to Asian consumers. This finding contradicts many other

studies on country of origin (Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ; Gurhan-Canli and Maheswaran, 2000; Haulb, 1996; Javalgi et al. , 2001 ; Laroche et al. , 2002 ; Ahmed and d'Astous, 1993; Ulgado and Lee, 1998).

Country of origin

According to Morello (as cited in Javalgi et al. , 2001 ), the term country of origin has been widely used for over 100 years. Country of origin, country of manufacture or country of brand origin have been considered as

extrinsic cues of a product, and there has been a large amount of evidence supporting their significant effects on consumers' product evaluation (Gurhan-Canli and Maheswaran, 2000; Ulgado and Lee, 1998; Kaynak and Kara, 2002; O'Cass and Lim, 2001, 2002). Knight and Calantone (2000) and Haulb (1996) have also proved that these cues have a significantly direct effect on attitudes and beliefs towards a product. The goal of these

researchers was to investigate consumer images of countries and brands, and to measure the relative importance of certain attributes when consumers buy these products.

However, these terms are becoming increasingly misleading or confusing in the current market, where hybrid products typically comprise more than one country's contribution towards the completed product (Haulb, 1996;

O'Cass and Lim, 2001, 2002). As a result:

Country of brand origin may be the reason consumers still attach certain cultural characteristics to a brand when specific information about the foreign country is not available (O'Cass and Lim, 2002, p. 763).

Therefore, it is assumed that country of brand origin (O'Cass and Lim, 2002) would be a more appropriate term to use in the examination of consumers' perceptions on brand origins.

Many studies have focused on consumers' perceptions of domestic versus foreign made products or brands in relation to ethnocentrism (Kaynak and Kara, 2002; O'Cass and Lim, 2002; Supphellen and Rittenburg, 2001; Ulgado and Lee, 1998). As previously discussed, although most studies on the fashion industry in Australia

found that the consumers have strong propensities to buy Australian made apparel, more foreign made rather than domestic made apparel is still being purchased. Consumer ethnocentrism is displayed in this instance, where consumers believe that the purchase of foreign-made products is unpatriotic and harmful to the local economy, and imports can result in the loss of local jobs (Durvasula et al. , 1997 ; Kaynak and Kara, 2002;

Supphellen and Rittenburg, 2001). Researchers also found that younger Australians are more likely to purchase foreign made apparel, which means that they have lower consumer ethnocentrism (Fischer and

Byron, 1997; Patterson and Tai, 1998).

Furthermore, ethnocentrism is also a cultural dimension besides country of brand origin. Hence, a product or brand from a highly ethnocentric country with a strong culture can be a more successful global brand than from

a less ethnocentric country. For instance, apparel from Australia, New Zealand and the UK are preferred by Australians than apparel from China and South East Asia on every product attribute except for price (Patterson

and Tai, 1998). This observation is supported by Kaynak and Kara (2002) and O'Cass and Lim (2002), who have indicated that products from developed countries were perceived as expensive luxury items that have a

well known brand name and are technologically superior. This proves that Australians prefer apparel from developed countries, and that bias on apparel from developing countries may be compensated by price

concessions (Mohamad et al. , 2000 ; Patterson and Tai, 1998).

Mohamad et al. (2000) ascertain that consumers' positive attitudes towards more expensive designer products appear to be influenced by country of origin and brand status rather than price and availability. Also, country of

origin has a positive relation with product quality (Mohamad et al. , 2000 ). It is also a vehicle for creating an emotional bond with the consumer. It is therefore necessary to conduct a comparative study to investigate such biases. Hence, for this study, foreign luxury apparel was classified into three countries with different economic backgrounds; with Italy and Japan being considered as the developed countries, and China as the developing

country. This was so as to identify the differences in attitudes towards luxury clothes from these foreign countries as compared to the domestic offerings.

Hypotheses

The purpose of the research is to determine if status and non-status seeking Australian teenagers differ in their attitudes toward buying luxury brand apparel that are Made in Australia, as compared to those:

made in Italy; made in Japan; and

made in China.

The following hypotheses are proposed based on the literature review:

H1. There is no difference in non-status seeking teenagers' attitudes toward buying Australian luxury brand apparel and foreign luxury brand apparel.

H2. Status seeking teenagers have a more positive attitude towards made in Italy rather than made in buying luxury brand apparel that is:(a) made in made in Japan rather than made in Australia; and(c) Australia;(b)

Australia rather than made in China.

H3. There is no difference between status seeking teenagers' attitudes and non-status seeking teenagers' attitudes toward luxury brand apparel that are Made in Australia.

H4. There is no difference between status seeking teenagers' attitudes and non-status seeking teenagers' attitudes toward luxury brand made in China. made in Japan, and(c) made in Italy,(b) apparel that are:(a)

Conceptual framework

Fishbein's (1967) Multi-Attribute Attitude Model was used as the theoretical framework for this study due to its analytical value in clarifying attitudes (Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ). This model is used to measure and compare

attitudes between buying domestic and foreign products. Beaudoin et al. (1998) explained the model with the assumption that, in order to access a person's attitude, the salient beliefs that person has about an object,

people or issue needs to be measured. These salient beliefs are combined to give an overall evaluation about the behaviour under consideration. According to this model, an individual's attitude towards certain behaviour can be predicted by adding all the products that result from the multiplication of the beliefs of that person and

the evaluation of each consequence the person associates with an act. In this context, the term “consequence” refers to any belief about the behaviour, including its perceived consequences, and effort to perform the

behaviour. The following equation describes this integration process: Equation 1 where:

AB =attitude toward the behaviour (Attitudes toward buying foreign or domestic apparel products).

b i =the belief that performing behaviour AB ≈ leads to consequence Ai ≈. In this research, the Abi ≈ refers to the beliefs that a domestic (foreign) apparel product will possess a certain attribute(s).

e i =the evaluation of consequence “i” refers to the importance of the attribute.

n =number of key consequences.

Methodology

Instrument

The first part of the survey instrument measures status consumption through Eastman et al. 's (1999) Status Consumption Scale (SCS). The scale has been evaluated by the authors for its dimensionality, test-retest

reliability, discriminant validity, criterion validity, nomological validity, internal consistency, and freedom from response bias (i.e. social desirability). It has five Likert-type items (one item reverse coded) and is rated on a seven-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. A median split was used to separate

status seeking and non-status seeking teenagers.

In the next section, the attitudes toward buying foreign luxury brand apparel and Australian luxury brand apparel are measured by the Fishbein's (1967) Multi-attribute Attitude Model. Participants in this study were

asked to give their opinions about foreign luxury brands from specific countries chosen namely Italy, Japan and China. They were also asked to give their opinions about foreign and domestic luxury clothing in general, without any type or brand specifics. This is to avoid bias through stereotyping certain brands and types of

apparel. In the context of this research, by replicating Beaudoin et al. 's (1998) method, the variables which are in Fishbein's formula are defined as follow:

AB =attitude toward the purchasing of foreign versus domestic luxury brand apparel.

b i =the belief that purchasing of foreign versus domestic luxury brand apparel will lead to a certain attribute.

e i =the evaluation of the importance of the attribute.

In order to calculate the overall attitude towards foreign (i.e. Italy, Japan, and China) and Australian luxury brands of apparel for each participant, the same methods used by Beaudoin et al. (1998) were utilised. Since

Beaudoin et al. (1998) suggested that the apparel attributes used were ascertained by a review of past research and experts in that field, the 12 attributes were replicated in the present study. These are; good fit; durability; ease of care; good price; comfort; quality; choice of colour; attractiveness fashionableness; brand

name; appropriateness for occasion; and choice of style.

To calculate the “e i ”, participants were asked to specify how important each of the 12 attributes are when they purchase luxury brand apparel (Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ). A seven-point Likert-type scale was utilised in this study from 0=very unimportant to 6=very important. Again, participants were asked how they expected to find each of the same 12 apparel attributes when considering Italy, Japan, China, and Australian luxury brands of apparel to measure the “b i ”. The inclusive attitude toward both Australian and foreign luxury brands was then computed for each participant by multiplying the evaluation score (ei), and the belief score (bi), and summating the scores

of the 12 apparel attributes (Beaudoin et al. , 1998 ).

The final part of the questionnaire includes demographic questions (such as gender, age, ethnicity/race, allowance per week, and postal code). In addition, one open-ended question that related to apparel purchase behaviour was included in this section: “On the average, how much money do you spend each month for your

own clothes?”

Sample

The sample consisted of early and middle teens aged 13 to 17 and the late teens aged 18 to 19. Particular attention was paid to the 15 to 19 year old group due to their desire to fully express themselves, their higher

maturity in the sense of interpretation and knowledge, and their high desirability on maturity transition (Piacentini and Mailer, 2004; Taylor and Cosenza, 2002). High school students were selected for the sample

for several reasons. First, they are (generally) in their teens. Second, they form the bulk of consumers for teen products. Third, high school students in general are Australian citizens even though they may vary in ethnicity.

498 survey forms were distributed through 11 senior high schools, TAFEs and colleges in the City of Perth, Western Australia. The principals of these institutions agreed to grant permission for these surveys to be done

during school hours. A total of 403 questionnaires were returned (81 percent); however, 38 were unusable. In total, 365 were usable, representing over a 70 percent (73 percent) response rate.

Results and discussion

Characteristics of the sample

The participants' ages ranged from 12 to 19 year old. Half of the participants were in the 15 to 17 age group (48.5 percent) and the other 43.6 percent were in the 18 to 19 age group. Of the sample, 84.7 percent were

Australians (non-Aboriginal descent). There was an approximately equal distribution of allowances received per week by participants; 27.7 percent received under $25 per week and 23.8 percent received over $100 per week (Table I). This shows they were not from any distinct social class. Consistently, the results show a fairly equal

spread of postal codes provided by participants.

Determination of status seeking and non-status seeking groups

Status-seeking teenagers and non-status seeking teenagers were separated by the allocation of the Status Consumption Scale (SCS) scores. A total of 178 respondents (48.8 percent), with a scores of 4.3 and above by

the median split on the scale, were designated as status seeking teenagers; whereas 187 (51.2 percent) participants were categorised as non-status seeking teenagers. The median of 4.2 approximately separated the

natural break in the data with a mean of 4.1 (SD=1.32).

Since using the median split of 4.2 to separate the status seeking teenagers and non-status seeking teenagers may seem subjective, an open-ended question related to status-pertinent behaviour was added to the

questionnaire to certify the robustness and the validity of the method of determining status seeking participants. A t-test was used to compare status and non-status seeking teenagers for this variable. As discussed earlier, status seeking consumers tend to spend more money on apparel than non-status seeking consumers. Hence,

status-seeking participants should have a higher mean than non-status seeking participants regarding this fashion behaviour. This was also used as a criterion to ensure that the group chosen was status-seeking

consumers. The test reported that status seeking teenagers (mean of $156.07) significantly (p=0.006) spent more than non-status seeking teenagers (mean of $103.32).

Hypothesis 1

H1 was tested with repeated measure ANOVA on each comparison. H1 with reference to Italian made luxury brands, was supported. The result for Australian luxury brands (mean=28.36) versus Italian luxury brand

apparel (mean=28.71) was not significant; non-status seeking teenagers reported the same overall attitude towards both Australian and Italian luxury brands (MS=131.77, F=0.43, p=0.513).

H1 with reference to Japanese made luxury brands was also supported. The results showed that Australian luxury brand apparel (mean=28.36) versus Japanese luxury brands (mean=27.30) was not significant; non-

status seeking teenagers reported the same overall attitude toward both Australian and Japanese luxury brands (MS=1268.49, F=3.12, p=0.079). Hence, there is no difference in non-status seeking teenagers'

attitudes toward buying Australian luxury brands and Japanese luxury brands.

However, H1 on Chinese made luxury brands was rejected. The results for Australian brand apparel (mean=28.36) versus the Chinese brands (mean=24.76) was significant; non-status seeking teenagers had overall a more positive attitude towards Australian luxury brands than the Chinese luxury brands (MS=14

604.55, F=46.069, p=0.0001).

Overall, the result for H1 on Australian luxury brands of apparel (mean=28.36) versus foreign luxury brands (mean=26.92) was significant; non-status seeking teenagers had an overall more positive attitude towards

Australian brands than foreign brands (MS=14604.55, F=46.069, p=0.0001). (MS=194.64, F=9.37, p=0.003). Therefore, H1 on Australian made versus foreign made luxury brand apparel was accepted.

In order to have a better justification of the findings, the 12 apparel attributes were analysed separately with 12 repeated measures ANOVA to determine if non-status seeking teenagers gave the same evaluation toward Australian and foreign luxury brands on each of the 12 apparels attributes (i.e. non-status seeking teenagers

may have given a higher evaluation of Australian luxury brands for some attributes as compared to their evaluations of foreign luxury brands and vice versa). Beaudoin et al. (1998) suggested that in order to avoid

type 1 error (falsely accepting a hypothesis) on the 12 attributes, which are not independent, one could use the Bonferroni inequality to determine the critical F values. In order to replicate Beaudoin et al. 's (1998) method of multiple comparisons, the significance level was divided by the number of comparisons to fix the new level of

significance. Therefore, the significance level, which was fixed originally at 0.05, was reduced to 0.004 (0.05/12=0.004).

The results of the 12 additional repeated measures ANOVA are shown in Tables II and III. Non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Australian luxury brands over Italian brands on three

attributes – ease of care; good price and comfort. However, they considered Italian luxury brand apparel to be significantly better than Australian luxury brand apparel on three attributes – quality; fashionableness and brand

name. Regarding the other attributes, non-status seeking teenagers considered Australian luxury brands as good as Italian brands.

Conversely, non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Australian luxury brands over Japanese brands on five attributes – good fit; durability; ease of care; comfort; and quality. Nevertheless,

they considered Japanese luxury brands to be significantly better than Australian luxury brands on two attributes – good price; and being fashionable. There were no differences in the other attributes for Australian

and Japanese luxury brands.

Lastly, non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly better evaluations of Australian luxury brands over Chinese ones on six attributes – good fit; durability; ease of care; comfort; quality; and appropriate for occasion.

In contrast, non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Chinese luxury brands of apparel over Australian luxury brands for good price. Regarding the other attributes, non-status seeking

teenagers considered Australian brands as good as Chinese brands.

To conclude, non-status seeking teenagers overall have a more positive attitude toward luxury brand apparel from Italy, Australia and Japan respectively. In contrast, they do not have positive attitudes toward luxury brand

apparel from China. However, non-status seeking teenagers had a more positive overall attitude toward Australian made luxury clothing than foreign made brands. This could be due to the fact that when a

comparison between the three foreign countries was made, the results indicated that the opinions of Chinese luxury brand apparel were much lower. Overall, non-status seeking teenagers still considered Australian made

luxury brands to be better.

Hypothesis 2

H2 was tested with a repeated measure of ANOVA. The result for H2a on Italian luxury brand apparel (mean=31.75) versus Australian luxury brand apparel (mean=27.69) was significant. Status seeking teenagers

had a more positive overall attitude toward Italian made luxury brand apparel rather than Australian made luxury brand apparel (MS=17603.84, F=84.79, p=0.0001). Thus, H2a was accepted.

The 12 attributes were analysed separately again with 12 repeated measures of ANOVA to determine which attributes made this difference significant. Tables IV and V presents the results. Status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Italian made luxury brands over Australian made on five attributes – good fit;

quality; fashionableness; brand name; and appropriate for occasion. Yet, they considered Australian made luxury brand apparel to be significantly better than Italian made luxury brand apparel on three attributes – ease

of care; good price; and attractiveness. Regarding the other attributes, status seeking teenagers considered Italian made luxury brands as good as Australian made luxury brands.

As for H2b, a non significant difference between Japanese luxury brand apparel (mean=28.47) versus Australian luxury brand apparel (mean=27.69) was not expected. Status seeking teenagers demonstrated the

same overall attitude toward both Japanese and Australian luxury brand apparel (MS=655.96, F=1.71, p=0.1920). Thus, H2b was rejected.

On the other hand, status-seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Japanese made luxury brands over Australian made on two attributes – fashionableness; and brand name. It was also not expected

that there were no significant higher evaluations of Australian made luxury brands over Japanese made luxury brands. There were no differences for other attributes of Australian and Japanese made luxury brands as well.

On the contrary, the result for H2c on Australian luxury brands of apparel (mean=27.69) versus Chinese luxury brands of apparel (mean=24.32) was significant. Status seeking teenagers had an overall more positive

attitude toward Australian made luxury brands than Chinese made luxury brands (MS=12117.98, F=34.70, p=0.0001). Thus, H2c was accepted.

Status-seeking teenagers gave significantly better evaluations to Australian made luxury brands over Chinese made on six attributes – durability; ease of care; comfort; quality; brand name; and appropriate for occasion.

Status-seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations to Chinese luxury brand apparel over Australian brand apparel on good price.

Overall, status-seeking teenagers generally had a more positive attitude toward Italian, Japanese, and Australian luxury brand apparel respectively. They too, gave significantly higher evaluations to Australian luxury

brands over Chinese luxury brands. On the other hand, status-seeking teenagers had a significantly more positive attitude toward foreign made luxury brand apparel than Australian made.

Hypothesis 3

H3 relates to the difference between the attitudes of status seeking teenagers and non-status seeking teenagers toward Australian luxury brands. A t-test was used to determine whether status seeking and non-status seeking teenagers had the same attitudes toward Australian made luxury brands. The results showed

that there is no significant difference between status seeking and non-status seeking teenagers' attitudes toward Australian luxury brand apparel (T=0.89, p=0.3740). The mean attitude towards Australian made luxury

brands for status seeking teenagers was 27.69 and 28.36 for non-status seeking teenagers.

In order to have a better justification of the results, the 12 apparel attributes were analysed separately. Table VI presents the results of the findings. Status seeking teenagers gave higher evaluations than non-status seeking teenagers to “Made in Australia” apparels on fashionableness. In contrast, non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations than status seeking teenagers to good price. These results also showed that there was no difference between the two groups with regards to the attributes of good fit, durability, ease of

care, comfort, quality, colour, attractiveness, brand name, appropriate for occasion, and choice of styles.

Hypothesis 4

H4 was concerned with the difference between the attitudes of status seeking teenagers and non-status seeking teenagers toward foreign luxury clothing. A t-test was used to determine that status seeking teenagers

(mean=31.75) overall had a significantly (T=−3.79, p<0.004) more positive attitude than non-status seeking teenagers (mean=28.71) toward Italian luxury brand apparel. H4a was rejected.

Table VII presents the results of the 12 additional t-tests that compared both groups' attitudes toward Italian apparel on each attribute separately. The results showed that status seeking teenagers gave significantly

higher evaluations compared to non-status seeking teenagers for Italian luxury brand apparel on three of the 12 apparel attributes – attractiveness, fashionableness, and brand name. Unexpectedly, non-status seeking

teenagers gave considerably higher evaluations than status seeking teenagers on good price. Other attributes such as good fit, durability, ease of care, comfort, quality, colour, appropriate for occasion, and choice of styles

had no significant differences between the two groups.

For H4b, a t-test showed that there were no significant differences (T=−1.39, p=0.1670) between status seeking teenagers' (mean=28.47) and non-status seeking teenagers' (mean=27.30) attitudes toward Japanese

luxury brand apparel. Consequently, H4b was accepted.

Table VIII presents the results of the 12 additional t-tests that compared both groups' attitudes toward Japanese apparel on each attribute separately. The results showed that status seeking teenagers gave

significantly higher evaluations than non-status seeking teenagers to Japanese luxury brand apparel on two of the 12 apparel attributes – fashionableness; and brand name. In contrast, non-status seeking teenagers gave significantly higher evaluations than status seeking teenagers to good price. The other nine attributes had no

significant differences in the responses from the two groups.

A t-test was also used to determine the difference between the attitudes of status seeking teenagers (mean=24.32) and non-status seeking teenager (mean=24.76) toward Chinese luxury brands apparel. The results indicated that there is no significant difference (T=0.57, p=0.5680) between both groups' attitudes

toward Chinese luxury brand apparel. As a result, H4c was accepted.

Table IX illustrates the results of the 12 additional t-tests that compared both groups' attitudes toward Chinese luxury brand apparel on each attribute separately. The results showed that status seeking teenagers gave

significantly higher evaluations than non-status seeking teenagers to Chinese luxury brand apparel on fashionableness; whereas non-status seeking teenagers gave significant higher evaluations than status

seeking teenagers to good price. In addition, the other ten attributes had the same overall attitude between both groups.

Thus, status seeking teenagers, overall, had a more positive attitude than non-status seeking teenagers towards foreign luxury brand apparel, particularly those that are Made in Italy. However, both groups gave the highest evaluations to Italian made luxury brands. Both groups also gave the lowest evaluations to Chinese

luxury brands.

Concluding comments

Status seeking teenagers were found to have a more positive overall attitude toward foreign luxury brand apparel than local luxury brand apparel, with the exception of Chinese brands. Similar results were obtained for Beaudoin et al. (1998) with fashion leaders instead. It seems that there may be a correlation between fashion

leaders and status seeking consumers' attitudes toward foreign versus local products as documented by many other previous studies (Deeter-Schmelz et al. , 2000 ; Goldsmith and Stith, 1993; The Economist , 2004 ).

The country origin literature has also identified that there is the tendency for consumers to prefer products from developed countries over those from less developed countries (Fischer and Byron, 1997; Patterson and Tai,

1998; Wadud and Nair, 2003). This study reflects that status seeking teenagers tended to believe that foreign luxury brand apparel are of better fit, better quality, more fashionable, have a better brand name and are more

appropriate for classy occasions than Australian luxury brand apparel (especially products from Italy and Japan). Although respondents prefer Australian luxury brands to Chinese luxury brands, status-seeking

teenagers gave significantly high evaluations on good price to Chinese luxury brands as good value for money. This finding on good price was consistent with those of Mohamad et al. (2000) and Patterson and Tai (1998) on

consumer perception of country of origin. Consumers perceived that apparel from developing countries, especially China, is inferior in quality but is compensated for by good price concessions. However, focusing on

these attributes is not a good strategy to market luxury or prestige brand apparel. According to Bagwell and Bernheim (1996), Chao and Schor (1998), Coelho and McClure (1993), Deeter-Schmelz et al. (2000) , and Grace and O'Cass (2002) the signal of status on fashion goods is that apparel must be more expensive to

suggest higher quality or higher status.

On the other hand, non-status seeking teenagers reported that they had more positive attitudes towards Australian brands than foreign brands, with regards to ease of care and comfort. However, when compared

separately, the results were only significant for luxury brands from China but not for Italian and Japanese luxury brands. When compared to Italian brands, Australian luxury brands have a better price; whereas with Chinese

and Japanese produced brands, the value is seen in better fit, more durability and better quality.

The Australian apparel industry should concentrate its marketing strategy on enhancing the attributes of “fashionable” and “brand name” of Australian apparel that both status seeking and non-status seeking

teenagers preferred in foreign apparel. When compared to Italian luxury brand apparel particularly, Australian brands were evaluated as being of poorer quality. Brand name is important in the luxury goods market because

status seeking consumers only purchase products that represent status in the eyes of people who they deem to be significant (Eastman et al. , 1999 ; O'Cass and Frost, 2002). Grace and O'Cass (2002) and Mohamad et al.

(2000) also determined that status products possess good quality and a good brand name. Undeniably, status-seeking consumers are more likely to buy luxury apparel from countries with a good brand name.

Japanese luxury brands were perceived to be slightly superior to Australian luxury brands. Therefore, manufacturers or retailers should place more emphasis on the design, brand name and quality in order to be

more competitive in the Australian luxury garments market especially in direct competition with Japanese brands. Moreover, fashion-conscious consumers have a great impact on a quarter of the world's luxury goods

sales (The Economist , 2004 ). Therefore, the major concern is the changing market that status-seeking consumers, especially teenagers, are now longing for more fashionable apparel.

One other alternative would be to encourage a joint effort with members of the Italian luxury clothing industry, capitalising on the favourable attitudes from the consumers. The Australian textile industry should commence

the import of more Italian textiles and designs to reposition its brand name and image in the local luxury market. Another alternative would be to export textiles, especially Australian wool, to Italy to gain association

with Italian brand names.

There are some future directions that should be considered. First, the construct of ethnocentrism should be incorporated into the study using the same methodology. Previous research has shown that younger

Australians exhibit lower consumer ethnocentrism (Fischer and Byron, 1997; Patterson and Tai, 1998). However, the influence of status consumption is not known. Second, a study of more diverse sub-cultures within the Australian population is needed. In addition, this comparative study between Australia and three foreign countries (Italy, Japan, and China) could be constrained by negative stereotyping. Different foreign

countries from different economic backgrounds should be included in future studies to verify whether the results can be generalised. The research paradigm should be expanded beyond multiple country comparisons, given that it is assumed that there might be a connection between fashion leaders and status seeking consumers.

Similar studies should be conducted in future on both fashion leadership and status consumption, as well as be used to prove the relationship of both concepts. Finally, future studies could also be conducted for older

segments of status seeking and non-status seeking consumers. Age differences may also have vital implications for future marketing strategies.

Equation 1

Table IFrequency distribution of demographic variables

Table IIAttitude of non-status seeking teenagers toward buying Australian and foreign luxury brands of apparel: attributes 1-6

Table IIIAttitude of non-status seeking teenagers toward buying Australian and foreign luxury brands of apparel: attributes 7-12

Table IVAttitude of status teenagers toward buying Australian and foreign luxury brands of apparel: attributes 1-6

Table VAttitude of status teenagers toward buying Australian and foreign luxury brands of apparel: attributes 7-12

Table VI T-test comparison between status and non-status teenagers' attitude toward Australian luxury brands of apparel by attributes

Table VII T-test comparison between status and non-status seeking teenagers' attitude toward Italian luxury brands of apparel by attributes

Table VIII T-test comparison between attitudes of status and non-status seeking teenagers toward Japanese luxury brands of apparel by attributes

Table IX T-test comparison between status and non-status seeking teenagers' attitude toward Chinese luxury brands of apparel by attributes

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Corresponding author

Ian Phau can be contacted at: ian.phau@cbs.curtin.edu.au

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