Social and Psychological Aspects

Body Appreciation: An Assessment of Fashion Innovativeness, Fashion Enjoyment, and Psychological Fashion Risk Among Plus-Size Gwynnie Bee Members

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Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing appeal among consumers of apparel subscription services, commonly referred to as ‘subscription boxes’. The apparel subscription website Gwynnie Bee (GB) allows plus-size women to try fashion styles and brands that might not otherwise be available to them. The study assesses the impact of body appreciation in relationship to plus-size GB members. In addition, the variables of fashion innovativeness, fashion enjoyment, and psychological fashion risk will be assessed among members of GB. 

Data for this study were collected using an online consumer panel within the USA. Of the 168 consumer panelists, 57 were trial members and 111 were current or past members of GB. Existing scales from previous studies were adopted to measure body appreciation (Tylka et al., 2015), fashion innovativeness (Park et al., 2007), fashion enjoyment (Lang, 2018) and psychological fashion risk (Lang, 2018). Independent t-tests were used to analyze the survey results.

The findings of this study suggest that Gwynnie Bee positively impacts members’ body perceptions. To further assess, high and low body appreciation, GB member groups were created based on top 40 percentile and bottom 40 percentile on the body appreciation scale (Greenspoon & Saklofske, 2001). The findings provide implications for other apparel subscription websites who want to venture into the plus-size market or expand their current plus-size offerings, as they indeed can learn from GB’s online model.

Keywords: psychological fashion risk, fashion innovativeness, plus-size, body appreciation, fashion enjoyment

How to Cite:

Matthews, D. R., McKaraher, K. & Degirmencioglu, N., (2019) “Body Appreciation: An Assessment of Fashion Innovativeness, Fashion Enjoyment, and Psychological Fashion Risk Among Plus-Size Gwynnie Bee Members”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.8871