Purpose: The aim of this paper is to assess the use of social media by Gen Z consumers and the ways they impact on and re-shape their fashion consumption journey. This generational approach uses the lens of uses and gratifications theory (UGT) to explore the customer fashion retail journey from the perspective of the Gen Z consumer.Design/methodology/approach: The research uses an exploratory approach in response to the relative lack of research in to GenZ consumers combined with a need to understand shopping journeys. Mixed methods were used with a first phase of interviews followed by a survey of 102 Gen Z students recruited online in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.Findings: The study found that GenZ users of social media for shopping sought gratification from experiences derived from social relationships, entertainment and information. The need for immediate gratification was found in new information and meeting new people to maintain social relationships, learn about products and inform the shopping journey. Further, the research supported the importance of visual images in the affective gratification of shopping needs. Resale sites on social media were favoured for their low prices, information about previously owned fashion items and the opportunity to exercise sustainable fashion choices.Originality/value: The research advances understanding of fashion shopping journeys through social media and online resale sites. It demonstrates that younger consumers, GenZ, shop through the gratification of experiences informed by their social networks and wider contacts. The linear stages of pre to post–purchase shopping are merged and looped as they exchange information about their shopping journey, from information gathering to post–purchase comments. The role of the brand to these knowledgeable consumers conducting their own resale trade is to facilitate access to and information about their products.

The aim of this paper is to assess opportunities for the upcycling of waste clothing through design workshops held in Accra, Ghana. An upcycling approach to clothing longevity examines how garments can be re-designed and resold in a new form. Significant amounts of surplus and second-hand clothing from the developed world and large producer nations, for example China, are distributed to Africa and sold in local markets at affordable prices. The research was conducted into upcycling waste clothing from the market by five groups of fashion design students at Accra Technical University (ATU). A participatory research design was applied to the project and the initial briefing to design groups confirmed the concept of upcycling and the design parameters. Each group defined a design theme, made a selection of clothes and accessories in the Accra market and returned to the university to conceptualise and re-create clothes and accessories. The project culminated in presentations of finished garments modelled by the students. It addressed the disposal stage of the circular economy model of clothing sustainability by providing new knowledge of how waste clothing, readily available in a developing country’s market can be sourced and creatively re-designed into new garments and accessories.

Purpose: Despite the growth of digital fashion shopping, many consumers regularly visit physical fashion stores. To enable digital interactions in a physical store, many fashion brands have installed interactive technology. However, studies of consumer engagement with interactive technology in fashion stores remain scarce. The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience with interactive technology in fashion stores.Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative user experience design (UXD) approach was employed to address the research question. A combination of methods: protocol analysis, observation and interview, was used to collect the data. A prominent UXD framework was utilised to analyse the data.Findings: There are four themes representing findings: split domain, digital domain merchandise, interactive information and interaction moments. For these, two core concepts were extracted: control over experience via framing and challenges for experience.Originality/value: This research paper infused a new approach that is UXD into the field of fashion marketing. This shows the possibility to amalgamate those contrasting fields. Moreover, this research paper provides insights particularly about the interactions with a technology in fashion stores.

Purpose: Continuous change has long been recognized as a core characteristic of retailing, its recent acceleration unprecedented, yet innovation in retailing remains under-researched, especially within fashion retailing. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to generate a deeper understanding of if, and to what extent, fashion retailers across different market segments are innovating in terms of in-store technology diffusion over time by taking a long-term perspective over five years.Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on retail change and innovation diffusion theory, the study takes a qualitative approach, using direct observation of 71 fashion stores in London (UK) in 2014 and 2019. In total, 142 stores were tabulated in Excel and qualitatively analysed manually and with NVivo.Findings: The findings identify the innovation adoption strategies implemented, the types of in-store technologies adopted over time and the fashion retail innovation adopters.Originality/value: The research offers new knowledge in terms of retail innovation and retail change, specifically on retail diffusion of innovation and the importance of in-store technology integration. Several practical implications for improving technology innovation management are also identified.

Purpose: An ageing population in the developed world has become a significant topic in the contemporary research agenda. The purpose of this paper is to report on the development of a new small-scale business model based on facilitating in-depth understanding and responding to mature female consumers’ needs and expectations towards fashionable clothing.Design/methodology/approach: Two complementary approaches are used: interpretative phenomenological analysis allows the researchers to employ the life-course perspective and to develop in-depth understanding of individuals’ present experiences in relation to their past. Action research offers the possibility to develop participatory, co-design processes based on collective creativity and mutual knowledge exchange between the stakeholders.Findings: The research finds a strong interest in fashionable clothing by women, irrespective of their age. The action-based co-design process involving collaborative encounters with mature consumers creates a dynamic capability for alternative fashion design methodologies. This approach can contribute to a small-scale fashion business model for the mature women’s fashion market.Practical implications: The women in the study stress the need for a more inclusive design process and expressed a willingness to buy from a brand/retailer who would offer them such a collaborative opportunity. There are practical implications for how a more flexible sizing approach to the design of fashion for older women could be implemented.Originality/value: This research makes a contribution to practice-based design solutions for mature women and a new inclusive business model based on emotional durability. The innovative methodological approach contributes to the field of ethical and sustainable fashion design.