Materialistic, brand engaged and status consuming consumers and clothing behaviors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how materialism, brand engagement in self‐concept (BESC), and status consumption influence clothing involvement and brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach The authors use data from a survey of 258 US college students to test a model using structural equation modelling. Findings The results show that materialism, BESC, and status consumption positively influence clothing involvement and brand loyalty. Research limitations/implications The study findings are bounded by the country and sample providing the data. The results strongly support hypotheses derived from the literature and provide important insights into the motives for clothing involvement and brand loyalty. Practical implications The findings suggest that appealing to these three important motivators can influence some consumers to choose specific brands of clothing. Originality/value This study is the first to demonstrate the influence of materialism, especially operationalized by Kasser's scale, and brand engagement in self‐concept on these clothing behaviors.