Clothing interest and shopping patterns of used-clothing-store patrons

This research was designed to investigate clothing interest of used-clothing-store patrons and retail-clothing store patrons in relation to various demographic variables: age, level of education, employment status, marital status, and level of income. The study included a secondary problem investigating the policies of used-clothing stores and the shopping patterns of used-clothing-store patrons.

The General Clothing Interests Questionnaire was distributed to 110 used-clothing-store patrons and 110 retail clothing- store patrons. It consisted of 32 attitude statements which represented eight specific clothing interest scales. One hundred twenty-one returned questionnaires were statistically analyzed by t-test and analysis of variance tests. The hvpotheses were accepted or rejected at the .05 probability level. The study determined that, in general, clothing interests of women are similar regardless of type of store patronized, age, level of education, employment status, marital status, and level of income. Differences, however, were recognized in regard to various specific clothing interest scales.

A Survey of Used-Clothing-Store Managers, consisting of 17 questions, was distributed to 4 9 managers in the West Texas area. Frequency distributions and percentages were calculated for the 25 responses obtained. It was found the number of used-clothing stores have increased in the past five years. Policies of the used-clothing store were found to vary with (1) how the merchandise is obtained and (2) where the store profits go. A majority of used-clothing store managers reported similar shopping patterns of their patrons.