The Sproles Consumer Interests and Priorities questionnaire was administered to 3,036 home economists. Awareness of social implications of clothing, correlated positively with fashion awareness and clothing economic practices. Results suggest that persons exhibiting substantial awareness of social importance of clothing also tend to evidence…

Surveyed 209 adults over age 50 regarding use of mass media for fashion information. Results showed an inverse relationship between frequency of use of mass media for fashion information and fashion alienation. Frustration was expressed with regard to finding suitable clothes in stores and keeping up with fashion changes. (JAC)

This study investigated consumers' valuation of clothing on the basis of aesthetic and utilitarian qualities. Findings indicated that subjects were willing to pay the most for high aesthetic items regardless of utility and the least for low aesthetic, low utility items. (JB)

Posits a critical approach to the study of contemporary social controversy. Examines objectives to the use of fur as oppositional argument, rhetoric that veers from the goal of persuasion to block conventional associations and refashion communication norms. Shows how pro-fur responses illustrate strategies available to bolster, alter, or abandon…

Apparel industry representatives (n=12) and apparel program faculty (n=17) used Q methodology to identify industry skill needs. Most industry representatives thought strong affective skills were most important for design professionals. Nearly half the educators thought that cognitive attributes were most important. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

Used classical conditioning theory of learning to predict attitudes of junior high students toward spending for designer jeans. Found that students were likely to say that in comparison to the nondesigner jeans, they would spend more for the designer jeans, select them more often as gifts, and purchase them more often for themselves. (Author/ABB)

A project was conducted to validate program standards and performance standards for four postsecondary occupational areas--fashion merchandising, fashion design, apparel, and window treatment services. Returns from 117 questionnaires from postsecondary institutions in fifty states were used to develop program standards statements and to provide…

Used a functional framework of the perception of female physical attractiveness in a sample of 96 college students viewing 96 photographs of female fashion models. Suggests perceivers should differentiate sexual (sexy), youthful, nonsexual (cute), and up-to-date clothed and groomed (trendy) dimensions. Indicates areas of both convergence and…

A study was done of higher education curricula with substantial enrollment by women (such as fashion merchandising and home economics) to examine the context and substance of the curricula, to identify infrastructures that have supported these programs, and to probe issues that face administrators, faculty and students engaged in such programs.…

The nine centers of excellence described in this document are institutions and geographic areas in the European Economic Community (EEC) that, in addition to providing training and maintaining their links with the labor market, carry out research and disseminate technology with individual firms, groups of firms, and the textile industry as a…

A study examined the current needs of middle management in the textile and clothing industry in Portugal. Focus was on Level 3--foremen, overseers, and team leaders. Eight of 400 enterprises responded to the first questionnaire; 370 of 1,000 responded to the revised questionnaire. The following data were collected: number of employees according to…

A survey was conducted to determine the availability of internship opportunities for fashion design students at Harper College and to measure the value of Harper design graduates to their employers. A sample of 279 manufacturers, contacts, and retail stores employing fashion designers were identified in the Chicago metropolitan area and after two…