The Effects of Clothing Consumption Value and Demographic Features on Clothing Disposal Behaviors

This study aims to investigate the relationship between consumers’ clothing consumption values, demographic features, and clothing disposal behaviors. The data were collected from 300 women aged between 20 and 59 through the online survey with the self-administered questionnaire. A series of exploratory and confirmative factor analysis was conducted to identify the dimensions of clothing consumption values and clothing disposition behaviors. Clothing consumption values consisted of six dimensions including conditional value, individuality value, fashion value, social value, practical value, and self-expression value. Clothing disposition behaviors were discovered as four dimensions such as discarding, giving, selling, and donating. A structural equation modeling analysis was employed to examine the relationship between clothing consumption values and disposition behaviors. While individuality value, fashion value, and practical value had a significantly positive impact on donating, giving, and discarding behaviors, both practical value and self-expression value negatively influenced discarding behavior. Fashion value negatively affected giving behavior. Employing a series of MANOVA, one-way ANOVA and sheffe's multiple range test, this study found that there were significant effects of age, marital status, monthly income, and monthly clothing expenses on giving and donating behaviors. This study suggests that fashion firms should be aware of clothing disposition in terms of social and environmental concerns and understand diverse consumer disposal behaviors and utilize them as a social marketing strategy.