An investigation into American apparel's identification as a socially conscious fashion brand and how this can be replicated in South Africa

Abstract

This study will examine American Apparel‟s CSI‟s and socially conscious fashion ethos and determine whether or not it has been replicated in South Africa and if so, how? It will assess whether sustainability of a brand has any bearing on consumer behaviour with regards to a specific target market. The research study is rooted within the retail industry, thus it was imperative to the study to put into account the research approach for retail. Primary data is key in research when dealing with a specific area. Therefore, this study utilised a qualitative approach in order to gather primary data. Qualitative research lends itself to this study as it is based on consumers emotive response to a „conscious‟ brand and how this sways their buying decisions (Diamond, 2006). There are a number of studies on consumer behaviour but not within a South African context and no studies have taken place which focus on consumer behaviour with regards to sustainability and fast fashion. For the purposes of this study the researcher focused on three different sample groups for analysis. The three groups will therefore be referred to as the retailer, the customer and the manufacturer. These three groups were utilised in order to test the viability of the American Apparel brand model in Cape Town. The target population has been specified as Cape Town based and the consumers will be females between the ages of 18 and 45. The consumers only moderately care about where their clothing comes from. The consumers have a desire to be educated on sustainable fashion and thus will make more conscious shopping choices. The manufacturers/retailers don't believe the locally made factor sways consumers choices" "The researcher made use of an online based survey in order to gather data from the consumer. An online questionnaire was utilised to gather data from the manufacturers and the retailers in order to complement the consumer data. The researcher compared data from the consumer group and the manufacturer/retailer group in order to gain an understanding of the motivation behind consumer choices. This further gives the researcher the opportunity to gain an understanding of consumers behaviour from the retailer/manufacturers point of view. The researcher will assess where there is gap between what the consumer wants and expects and how the retailer/manufacturer may be failing to meet the consumer expectations and wants. The study could be of benefit to smaller retailers who are able to make changes to their supply chain and product offering. The study could also be utilised by manufacturers in how they position themselves to designers and retailers. The study might give an indication of how of fashion brands can adopt sustainable practices.