Clothing Fit and Self: An Empirical Examination of Fit Factors and Self Evaluation Related to the Confident Clothing Decision and Psychological Well-Being
Consumers’ body image and perception of comfort are closely related to garment fitting, a primary factor in evaluating clothing performance and body comfort. This study uses self-discrepancy theory to examine how fit characteristics (fit preference and performance) affect consumers’ self-evaluations (self-schema, body satisfaction, and self-esteem) and psychological responses (confident clothing decisions and psychological well-being). Non-probability quota sampling was used for the quantitative research approach. A total of 502 data was collected, and SPSS and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results of this study demonstrate that self-discrepancy mediates the relationships among self-schema, self-esteem, and body satisfaction, during consumers’ self-evaluation process and links up the influence of fit factors on their psychological responses. Additionally, Pearson χ2 tests and post hoc analysis confirmed a significant relationship between body characteristics (body size, shape, BMI) and fit preferences. Finally, the theoretical and practical implication of this study was presented.
Clothing fit, self-discrepancy, self-evaluation, psychological well-being, quantitative
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