Fashion, Design, Technology, Education: Factors in Consumer Purchasing

A recent study looks at the potential benefits of buying eco-friendly bamboo apparel.

As bamboo has been praised as a friendly purchase to help out the environment, the Federal Trade Commission issued a 2009 consumer alert noting that some pollutants can be released in products containing bamboo via its stalks.

When it comes to picking this material in order to make your product over others, consumers are typically driven by a few factors as determinates. For instance, bamboo products that are too expensive may prevent the consumer from purchasing an item as it may be considered more of a novelty than a thing of actual use, according to researchers at Baylor University.

Yet consumers are also influenced by emotion, price, functionality, social image and curiosity, according to lead researchers Jay Yoo, Ph.D., an assistant professor of family and consumer sciences in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences.

In the case of bamboo, "if I have it and you don't, there's novelty - and curiosity can make something more appealing," Yoo said, according to a press release.

The study was based on information from 122 participants who answered a questionnaire regarding whether bamboo reflects social status.

The study concludes with the following, via the release "From an environmental standpoint, bamboo is touted as a product for the same reasons it is vilified by anyone who has tried to eradicate it from a yard: It is renewable, shooting to maturity in a mere four years, boasting a vast root system and clinging tenaciously even to steep hills, Yoo said.

"While the fashion industry seeks to earn profits, it is increasingly trying to do so in ways that do not harm the environment, such as using organic or recyclable materials, he said. From the industry's standpoint, bamboo is desirable because it dyes well, feels silkier than cotton and is less expensive than silk."

What do you think? Pandas?

More information regarding the study can be found via the  International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education.