A conceptual framework for Asian women's emotional needs in fashion design

Abstract

Despite recognition of consumer emotions in design practice today, a literature review of design research in the field of fashion has revealed a lack of conceptualisation of consumers' emotional needs in fashion. In Asia, the ready-made clothing market has grown remarkably in such a short time with Western trends without considering the emotional and cultural needs related to design. In view of these gaps, this study firstly characterised consumer's emotional design needs through a literature review, and involved a survey of 260 Asian females from 8 nationalities and after analysis of their responses, the data were used to formulate a Functional, Expressive, and Aesthetic (FEA) emotional needs model. Asian women's emotional needs for fashion can be classified into three representative standards: functional, expressive, and aesthetic; and for each, criteria for emotional design can be visualised through 25 pairs of adjectives. The research results provide insights into emotional design as a new guideline to elaborate further and to conceptualise Asian women's emotional needs in fashion. © 2015 The Textile Institute and Informa UK Ltd.