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The purpose of this paper is to understand US and Chinese young Millennials’ perceptions of and consumption behaviour towards sustainable apparel products.

Quantitative research was conducted, and empirical data were collected from 590 US college students and 379 Chinese college students.

For both US and Chinese young Millennials, this study provides consistent empirical results of the positive and significant effects of young Millennials’ apparel sustainability knowledge and personal values on consumer attitude towards sustainable clothing, which in turn positively and strongly impacts purchase intention. In addition, a cross-cultural comparative analysis reveals similarities and differences regarding apparel sustainability knowledge and values between young Millennial consumers in the US and China.

The scale of environmental and social impacts from global apparel production and consumption makes sustainability increasingly important in the contemporary business environment. Young Millennials in the US and China represent large and influential consumer segments for sustainable consumption. This study contributes to the literature by surveying young Millennials in the US (developed market) and China (emerging market) in a cross-cultural context. The study offers insights into the global apparel industry in developing strategies for expanding sustainable apparel markets in the US and China.

With the expansion of globalization, the increased competitive environment has led to the diffusion of brands across borders and cultures. Furthermore, young consumers represent an optimal segment for the proliferation of global consumer culture (GCC). This paper aims to examine the relationship between acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC), perceived brand equity, attitudes toward the brand and brand resonance in the global sportswear brands context among young consumers in the USA.

A total of 394 undergraduate student participants ranging in age from 18 years to 24 years completed a multisectional structured survey. Model construct validity was tested using a confirmatory factor analysis. A structure equation model was used to test hypotheses and relationships.

Results showed that while cosmopolitan and self-identification with GCC dimensions of ACGG had a positive association with perceived brand equity, exposure to marketing activities of MNCs and global mass media exposure dimensions of AGCC had a negative association with perceived brand equity. Perceived brand equity also revealed a positive association with attitudes toward the brand, which in turn, affected brand resonance.

The research used a sample of 18-24-year-old youth consumers. Future research could be extended to include younger (15-17-year old) sample to provide a broader sample of the youth market. In addition, future replication of findings should seek through cross-cultural investigation of multiple youth segments.

Findings suggest support multiple dimensions of the AGCC scale as holding significant influence on young consumers’ brand equity consisting of brand image and brand awareness. Managerially, the findings provide support on the youth consumer’s affinity toward self-identification with a GCC and cosmopolitan openness to foreign cultures as being positively related to the adoptions and retention of apparel brands.

Theoretically, the results provide empirical evidence for the debate on the interrelationship between brand equity and attitudes toward brands. The theoretical model guiding the current study reflects the notion of an emerging acculturation process among a segment of the world’s population to a set of global consumer preferences and ideals that are increasingly being embodied in global brands.

This is among one of the first studies attempting to explore the applicability of Cleveland and Laroche’s (2007) AGCC concepts in predicting young consumers’ attitudes and behavioral responses toward global brands.

Consumers’ environmental behaviours are not only the result of their positive attitudes towards environments, but also different reasons and motivations exist. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to find out important factors affecting sustainable apparel buying behaviour. Applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study further examines how knowledge about sustainable apparel, perceived money availability, and perceived accessibility to the store influence sustainable apparel consumption.

Using a purposive college student sample, 235 usable responses were collected to answer the questions. An exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis was first performed followed by confirmatory factor analysis, and a structural equation modelling analysis.

Results revealed that the TPB was successfully applied in the context of sustainable apparel buying behaviour. Furthermore, it was found that consumers’ perceived money availability and perceived store accessibility are important factors that affect control beliefs and sustainable consumption.

This study found the needs of educating college students for contexts of environmental apparel and textiles issues.

Even though previous literature often found the gap between the behavioural intentions and the actual behaviour, this study found the respondents of this study walk their talk. This study successfully applied the TPB to explain consumers’ sustainable apparel buying behaviour.

Recent liberalization of the world's textile and apparel trade policies and the consequent changes in trade patterns posited threats to smaller textile‐ and apparel‐exporting nations, including Thailand. Thus it is important to understand how the new trade environment affects the competitiveness of Thailand's apparel industry. This study seeks to provide insights into how Thailand's apparel industry has responded to increasingly fierce global competition by drawing on Porter's theory of The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

To assess the competitiveness of the Thai industry, the study triangulated data from various sources, including secondary statistics, media reports, and relevant industry publications. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were also conducted, and participants included key executives from Thailand's apparel industry, government officials, and academics. The interviews were conducted at various locations in three Thai provinces: Bangkok, Nonthaburi, and Samutsakorn, over a two‐week period.

Findings revealed the existence of four determinants supporting the Thai apparel industry: basic v. specialized factors; sophisticated and demanding consumer market; the presence of interdependent economic agents; and strategies and structure of Thai companies and domestic rivals. These four determinants are identical to the “diamonds” outlined in Porter's theory of The Competitive Advantage of Nations and a new source of competitiveness. Furthermore, the Thai government was found to play an important role, by providing support to enhance the global competitiveness of Thai companies.

The study is among the first to attempt to provide insights into the competitive national advantage of the Thai apparel industry. Based on the findings, the outlook is positive for the continued success of Thailand's apparel industry in the global arena.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of hypermarket retailers' marketing efforts by exploring consumers' attitudes toward marketing practices (CATMPs) of three retailers (Tesco‐Lotus, Big C, and Carrefour) in Thailand.

A non‐probability convenience sampling procedure was employed. The data were collected from an intercept survey administered face to face. Three versions were tailored to each specific hypermarket retailer using similar questions related to consumers' attitudes toward different areas of marketing practices. The measures were adapted from the Index of Consumer Sentiment toward marketing and consumers' attitudes toward marketing.

The results showed that although Thai consumers displayed different attitudes toward retail services, positive advertising, and fair price, they expressed similar attitudes toward business provisions and product quality across samples. Main and interaction effects of a limited number of demographic variables were also identified.

Multinational hypermarket retailers need to understand the similarities and differences related to areas of their marketing practices to be able to market effectively to Thai consumers. However, since the data were obtained from one city, the major limitation in the study is the generalizability of the findings.

This study is among the first to attempt to investigate CATMPs of multinational hypermarket retailers operating in Thailand.

In response to the impact of market globalization and concerns over the universality of marketing measures, this study seeks to examine the measurement invariance of consumers' price perception scales cross‐culturally with samples drawn from four Eastern Asian countries, i.e. China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA). In addition, this study further examines the differences and similarities in the mean levels of consumers' price perceptions across the four samples.

A convenience sample of undergraduate college students was employed. A total of 958 students with business‐related majors completed a questionnaire in Beijing, China; Seoul, South Korea; Tainan, Taiwan; and Chonburi, Thailand.

Having established psychometric properties and demonstrated the partial scalar invariance of measurements and structural parameters, the results indicated that the consumers' price perception scale containing five dimensions (i.e. price‐quality schema, prestige sensitivity, value consciousness, sale proneness, and price mavenism) appears to be useful in Eastern Asian cultures. In addition, results of latent mean comparison revealed not only some similarities but also differences related to the five dimensions of price across the four Eastern Asian samples.

The main limitation is the issue of generalizability of the findings because of the use of student samples.

This study is among the first to examine cross‐cultural invariance of consumers' price perception within Eastern Asian countries using MGCFA.

Driven by Davis’s (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM) and Westaby’s (2005) behavioral reasoning theory (BRT), the purpose of this study is to develop and test a conceptual model and examine consumers’ acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for apparel shopping.

Data from 353 eligible US respondents was collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed on Amazon Mechanical Turk, an online panel. Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to test all hypothesized relationships using the structural equation model.

The results show that optimism and relative advantage of “reasons for” dimensions have a positive and significant influence on perceived ease of use (PEU), while innovativeness and relative advantage have a positive and significant influence on perceived usefulness (PUF). Discomfort and insecurity have no significant impact on PEU and PUF. However, complexity has a negative and significant impact on PEU but not on PUF. Additionally, PEU has a positive influence on PUF. Both PEU and PUF have a positive and significant influence on consumers’ attitudes toward using AI chatbots, which, in turn, affects the intention to use AI chatbots for apparel shopping. Overall, this study identifies that optimism, innovativeness and relative advantage are enablers and good reasons to adopt AI chatbots. Complexity is a prohibitor, making it the only reason against adopting AI chatbots for apparel shopping.

This study contributes to the literature by integrating TAM and BRT to develop a research model to understand what “reasons for” and “reasons against” factors are enablers or prohibitors that significantly impact consumers’ attitude and intention to use AI chatbots for apparel shopping through PEU and PUF.

The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' perceptions of and consumer behaviour towards apparel labels and environmental, sustainable and social apparel.

Quantitative research was conducted, and empirical data were collected from 399 US consumers.

Findings indicate that consumers expressed positive sentiments towards apparel sustainability, yet they lacked knowledge about socially and environmental practices within the apparel industry. Overall, it is apparent that the respondents have an interest in environmental and social labelling; but they are not aware of brands that sell these types of garments nor their validity. It was also found that consumers may not have much knowledge regarding environmental, sustainable and social apparel or their meanings.

By surveying the consumers about their perspectives on apparel labels and environmental, sustainable and social apparel, valuable market information was obtained. Sustainably and ethically produced garments are of demand as transparency in the apparel industry grows. Brands looking to become more transparent about their production methods will need to find new ways to reach their target market by accurately labelling products and educating their consumers about these label claims.