FACULTY OF INFORMATION STUDIES

MARA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Diploma of Information Management

(IS110)

Fundamental of Information Study

(IMD 102)

FASHION

by
Fatin Farhana binti Mas’ud
(2009868362)

Prepared for:
Muhamad Ismail bin Pahmi

Submit by:
 2nd September 2009
How information agency help me complete my ‘fashion’ assignment.

Library act as an information agency. The term of library is from latin word

‘liber’ or ‘libri’ which mean book or writing. Library provides some services such as

books and databases. Online database is to get references such as journals,

bibliographies, articles, and site pages. Internet also function as an information

agency and it does give big help to those in needs in information. All we need is

just type what we need and the information will appear in the right time and right

place. Depends on what we are searching for.

Online database system such as emeraldinsight and proquest has subscribed all

types of journals, bibliographies and articles. It lighten searching for info. Database

is a set of records that are all constructed in the same way and are connected by

relationship links. A database can be in paper format, but usually thought of these

days as being machine-readable. Some database contain actual facts, or text on

various subject.

The disadvantage of database is sometimes we cannot find what we are

searching for. I get my information much from online database. The disadvantage

is information overload is occurred. The trouble I got when doing this assignment is

when I am using online database and website, i got to get connected with internet,

and now I am using a laptop without a broadband so it is kind difficult to get

wireless connection although I went to library to get wireless easier. Moreover, the

information I got from online database system is many so I got to choose rightly. I

2
can choose journals, articles, books and even bibliography in online database

system.

Fashion.

What is fashion? According to Cynthia Nellis(2009), fashion is an art form.

To others, it is almost a religion. For most people, fashion is a method of utilizing

clothes, accessories and hair to show and hide something about ourself. Fashion

is also used to express ourself , as extension of our personality. Fashion is an

image. Fashion can be clothes, accessories, shoes, hair, makeup, even cell

phone. World’s fashion centers are in Paris, New York and Milan. They are

considered the major hubs for designers and manufacturers of fashion apparel and

accessories. In fact, they are countries with updated fashion.

Fashion is a term commonly used to describe a style of clothing worn by

most of people of a country. A fashion usually remains popular for about 1-3 years

and then is replaced by yet another fashion. Even though there are a lot of

changes in fashion, most people do not easily except the changes. Clothing style

may be introduced as a fashion, but its use becomes a custom after being handed

down from generation to generation. A fashion that comes and goes is called a

Fad.

During the mid-1800's, a mass production of clothing was made fashionable

and available to more people for lower prices. This encouraged more people to

wear more stylish clothes which is why we are wearing what we are today.

3
 Clothing is made out of all types of material such as cotton, rayon, spandex,

and polyester, and they are just a few used. Some clothing may even be made of 2

or more different types, this is known as “Blending."

Clothing can be decorated or designed with all types of images and colors.

The designs can either be embroidered onto the fabric, woven on to the fabric, silk

screened, or ironed onto the fabric to create a desired look. Some images that

have been used to enhance an article of clothing range from a simple design on

front of a T shirt to a famous printing that has been woven into fabric creating a

colorful piece of art that one can wear.

Teenagers and fashion.

Teenagers loves fashion and value fashion more than other group of ages.

The teenage years represent the transition period into adulthood. Teens start to

develop their independence and unique opinions about life's issues. The fashion

trend has changed quite a bit from the days when Indians set up tents in the

United States of America. When it comes to shopping, teens like to choose their

own clothes and fashions at this time of their life. Sometimes teens and parents

agree which clothes to purchase, sometimes they disagree.

Nowadays as we can see most of fashionable clothes are mostly valued by

teenagers. Adults and other group of age does not really values fashion as

teenagers does. This statement is supported according to teenagers value fashion

perhaps more than any other age group (Koester and May, 1985)

4
 Global marketers are drawn to teenagers. According to Peter Zollo of Teen

Research Unlimited (MMR, 2000), there are several reasons for this. First,

teenagers have significant discretionary spending power and thus are influential

trendsetters. Second, they are impressionable in that their brand loyalties are in

the process of formation. Third, they spend family money and influence their

parents’ purchasing behaviors. Fourth, the sheer size of the global teenage

population makes them hard to ignore. Teenagers tends to spend money on

fashion as the environments grow.

Age and Fashion.

Age has been identified as an important dimension in the fashion clothing field

(O'Cass, 2001). Some studies indicated that differences in fashion clothing

attachment and usage are said to exist because of age (O'Cass, 2000). The

assumption is that younger people place more emphasis on their appearance than

older people (O'Cass, 2009), since they are starting to have a more active social

live and need to show their look to friends. The literature supports the notion that

there are significant differences in consumers' age as regards their perception of

fashion website attributes and fashion consumption.

Images on fashion

In fashion, it have not only clothes, but have trends such as spectacles,

watches, bangles, make ups, and even socks. Adolescents and teenagers take

care of their images by taking varies type of clothes. Nowadays, women is more

likely to be seen on fashion wears rather than men. Even if, in the fashion history,

men have played a significant role as fashion creators, fashion consumption has
5
generally been associated with women. In most societies, women are more

expected than men to be concerned with beauty, appearance and fashion (Kaiser,

1990). Women appreciate beauty and appearance than men. As a result, taking

care of their image is becoming a kind of second nature or a “natural duty” for most

females. Men, on the other hand, were rather regarded suspiciously if they

seemed to attach too much importance to their looks or to fashion in general.

(Kaiser, 1990).

O'Cass (2004) recommended that the issue of antecedents of fashion

involvement could be extended to include personal values, personality traits and

consequences, such as information search and time spent shopping. Regarding

this last variable, the study supposes that the time spent shopping is greater for

people buying fashion clothing than for people buying conventional clothing.

Theoretically, strong pleasure feelings related to possessions in fashion clothing

makes people spend more time buying things, because normal clothing does not

demand the degree of expertise with brands and styles and requires less cognitive

endeavour. This same argument is also used by McKinney (2004). In these

circumstances, since the cognitive effort required in buying fashion clothing could

be greater, consumers could spend more time shopping for clothing.

Buying Brands

Consumers buy mainstream brands in a habitual shopping mode. This

allows them to spend minimal time at point of purchase. Thus, a strong brand

6
name can substantially reduce the risk of introducing a new product by building on

consumers' familiarity with and knowledge of an established brand. A further

benefit of brand extension is that companies can create new market segments

without the expense of launching a brand. This can decrease the costs of gaining

distribution and/or increase the efficiency of promotional expenditures (Bhat and

Reddy, 2001). Therefore, brands affect the choices for consumer to pick and

choose the ways of fashion.

A brand name can, like advertising, become a potential complement in

consumption that raises consumers' willingness to pay (Smith and Park, 1992).

Because consumers are becoming more selective, retailers are well advised to

meet not only the different needs of diverse customers, but also the needs of the

same customer in different contexts by offering the set of products or brands that

seem to be linked to a specific lifestyle in consumers' minds.

Brand recognition emerged clearly among all the age groups, notably for

the sportswear manufacturers (Adidas, Nike and Reebok). The collages showed

clear evidence of the recognition of brand names and logos; and the children used

symbols such as the three stripes from Adidas, and the “swoosh” from Nike to

represent the brands in their collages. The young consumers’ perceptions of brand

imagery of sweatshirts was also clearly represented in the collages, as illustrated

by the discussion of Nike above. In their collages children (particularly the boys)

made strong associations between sportsmen and different sportswear brands. A

variety of sporting themes were evident in both the Adidas and Reebok collages

although the range of sports was narrower than for the Nike collages. This

confirms Mowen’s view of the role of celebrity endorsers in product promotion.

7
When a celebrity endorses a product in an advertisement, associations are formed

so that the culturally derived meanings may be transferred to the product (Mowen,

2009).

The collages demonstrated clear links, for instance, between the boys

support of their local football teams in the Premier League and the First Division

respectively and certain football stars. Other stars, such as athletes and tennis

players, also appeared in the collages associated with sportswear brands. The

association with prominent sportsmen was an important attribute which the

children used in classifying and evaluating the different brands. Again images of

speed and endurance emerged clearly in the brand associations for Adidas and

Reebok.

In contrast the collages for the high street stores were not dominated by

sports. There was brand recognition for the sweaters from the high street stores

and for the T-shirt from the supermarket. However, the brand imagery was not

always as pronounced nor as clear cut for these store brands as for the sportswear

brands. The brand imagery was linked to other themes such as children’s images

and characters for example the teletubbies, which elicited mixed feelings from the

participants. In some cases, the imagery associated with the store brands was

quite negative. For instance one young boy respondent described a store product

as “pants”, and then went on to look in the magazines for a picture of a pair of

men’s pants, which he cut out and stuck in the group collage.There was also

evidence of more indirect associations between the product brands and children’s

8
perceptions. Some children used colours to represent their image of the brands,

for instance white was associated with Nike; and red with Adidas.

References

Afonso, Valter Viera. (2009 march 15) Key in fashion in emerald database
system. An extended theoretical model of fashion clothing involvement. 13(2) 179-
200.

Beaudoin, Pierre. (2009 july 20) Key in fashion in emerald database system.
Fashion innovativeness, fashion diffusion and brand sensitivity among
adolescents. 7(1) 1361- 2026.

Bruce, Magaret. (2009, July 24) Key in fashion marketing in database

management system. Buyer Behavior for Fast Fashion. 10(3), 329-344.

Browne, Kaldenberg. (2009 july 27),Key in consumer fashion in emerald

database system. Conceptualizing self-monitoring: links to materialism and
product involvement.14(1). 31-44.

Bhat, S., Reddy, S.K. (2009 july 18), Key in fashion in emerald database
system.Symbolic and functional positioning of brands.15(1).32-43.

Joergens, Catrin. (2009, June 29) Key in fashion in emerald database

management system. Ethical Fashion: myth or future trend?. 10(3), 360-371.

Kaiser (2009 june 22), Key in fashion in emerald management system.

Construction of an ST theory of fashion: part 1, ambivalence and change. 13(3).
172-83.

Koester, A.W., May, J.K. (2009 july 21), Key in fashion in emerald database
system. Profiles of adolescents' clothing practices: purchase, daily selection and
care, 20(77) 97-113.

MMR (2009 july 21), Key in fashion in emerald database system. Mass
market retailers woo growing teen market. 17(15).41.
9
 Mowen, J., Spears, N. (2009). Key in buying in emerald database system.
Understanding compulsive buying among college students: a hierarchical
approach.8(4).407-30.

O'Cass,(2009 july 21), Key in fashion in emerald management database

system. Consumer self-monitoring, materialism and involvement in fashion
clothing. 9(1). 46-60.

O'Cass,. (2009 july 23), Key in fashion in emerald database system.

Fashion clothing consumption: antecedents and consequences of fashion clothing
involvement, 38(7),869-82.

Cynthia Nellis, “ Fashion Matters, crazy clothes” 12 August

2009.<http://fashion.about.com/cs/historycostumes/a/whatisfashion.html>.

Parker,R. Stephen. (2009,July 28). Key fashion in database management

system. Fashion consciousness of Chinese, Japanese and American
Teenagers.8(2), 176-186.

Rooney. (2009). Key in brands in emerald database system. Branding:

atrend for today and tomorrow.4 (4). 48 – 55.

Smith, D., Park, C. (2009 july 17). Key in fashion brands in emerald
database system.The effects of brand extensions on market share and advertising
efficiencyl. 29(3).263-313.

The Effects of Brand Extensions on Market Share and Advertising

Efficiency.8 august 2009.

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/3172741>.

Wigley, Stephen. (2009 july 19). Key in retailer in database management

system. The operational of international fashion success. 11(2).

10
 Azuma, Nobukaza. (2009 august 3) Key in fashion in database
management system. Fashion In The Globalized World and the role of Virtual
network in intrinstic fshion design. 7(4).

What is Fashion”. 28
August.28,2009.<http://library.thinkquest.org/J002932/What%20is
%20Fashion.html>

Ka Ming Law. (2009, July 16) Key in fashion changes in emerald database
management system. Fashion Changes and Fashion Consumption, the
chaotic perspective. 8(4), 362-374.

D. Belleau, Bonnie. (2009 June 23 ) Key in fashion products in emerald database

management system. Fashion leaders’ and followers’ attitudes towards exotic
leather apparel products. 5(2).

11