It is not flawed, it is Wabi-Sabi.

It is not flawed, it is Wabi-Sabi.

It is not flawed, it is Wabi-Sabi.

by Elena Bressan

University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business

MSc Marketing Management Master Thesis

Completion date: June 26, 2017

Address: Oosterhamriklaan 123 9715 PA Groningen Phone number: 339 2848592 Mail: e.bressan@student.rug.nl

Student Number: S324763

i ABSTRACT

Consumers are highly influenced by the aesthetic properties of products they buy and even when the appearance is only superficially flawed and the product can perfectly perform its function it often does not even reach the marketplace. This research addresses the issue of superficially flawed products in the apparel industry and considers whether knowledge of the flaw’s earlier origin can favorably affect the preference for flawed garments. This is the case because being present on the fabric or happening while the product is still being crafted makes the flaw something naturally embedded in the product itself, thus increasing its acceptance.

An online survey was distributed via Amazon Mechanical Turk and 409 people were assigned to one of the eight conditions based on the flaw occurrence at a specific production stage and the fact that the textile was natural or synthetic. The manipulation of the flaw’s origin did not have a main effect on preference; however it significantly affected its perceived naturalness, the earlier the flaw the more natural. A factorial ANCOVA confirmed that flaws considered more natural resulted in a greater preference for the product and a lower naturalness rating was especially detrimental for a product made of a natural material such as cotton.

Overall the findings of this research offer some valuable implications for companies operating in the apparel industry when dealing with garments that present some minor imperfections. Ultimately in order for consumers to be willing to buy flawed apparel, especially at full price, manufactures need to highlight the fact that irregularities are natural, essential features to be expected as part of the product since for example the fabric used originally has them.

ii PREFACE

Writing this thesis was the conclusive step of my Master in Marketing Management which I enthusiastically started last September and which has been a challenging but rewarding program I proudly add to my education.

The fashion industry is a crucial contributor to the world’s economy but also an important polluter and in the past years a push towards sustainability represented a prevailing trend for many players, especially in the fast fashion sector. Nonetheless tons of clothes are still wasted due to small, superficial flaws and I feel that presenting such flaws differently to exploit ideas such as material- and design-based differentiation can really change the way consumers, and consequently retailers, relate to these clothes.

I personally have among my favorite pieces of clothing two which are far from being perfect, namely my grandmother’s old, baggy wool sweater and my washed-out, stained Converse shoes. Both are to my understanding good examples of products embedded with a certain essence responsible for making their quirks special, valuable elements following what I now know to be the Wabi-Sabi philosophical way of thinking. This philosophy and its link with the topic of imperfection was presented to me by my supervisor Jing Wan and since it immediately intrigued me, I believe this stimulus she initially gave me was a fundamental building block for the direction taken by my research. Moreover I also sincerely thank my supervisor for her constructive and stimulating feedback during the whole semester.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The importance of the aesthetic appeal 1

1.2 The Wabi-Sabi aesthetics 3

1.3 Current research on products’ imperfections: contagious transformations 4

1.4 Defining the Research Question 6

2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 6

2.1 Flaw generation: textile sourcing, production, post-production 7

2.2 Moderating Effect: Raw material naturalness 9

2.3 Mediating Effect: Flaw’s perceived intentionality 10

3. METHODOLOGY 11

3.1 Study Design 11

3.2 Participants 12

3.3 Data collection procedure 12

3.4 Measures 14

3.5 Plan of Analysis 15

4. RESULTS 16

4.1 Preliminary tests: Control variables and Manipulation checks 16 4.2 Flaw occurrence and raw material naturalness: Hypotheses 1 and 2 18 4.3 Flaw naturalness and raw material naturalness: Hypotheses 1 and 2 20

4.4 Intentionality mediation: Hypothesis 3 22

4.5 Additional findings 22

5. GENERAL DISCUSSION 24

5.1 Limitations of the study 26

5.2 Managerial Implications 27

5.3 Future research 28

REFERENCES 29

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1. INTRODUCTION

The fashion industry is characterized by fierce competition and, especially in the case of fast-fashion players, the compelling need to quickly produce and throw into the market brand-new models on a regular basis (Christopher, Lowson, and Peck, 2004). Sustainability issues in this sector have gained attention and various researches have been devoted to the supply chain management of companies operating in the textile and apparel industry (De Brito, Carbone, and Blanquart, 2008; Nagurney and Yu, 2012). Consumers themselves are important actors in this scenario since they are responsible for the drastic reduction of a garment’s journey from the shop to an already congested landfill (Luz, 2007). However an often overlooked type of waste in the fashion industry happens before the garment even reaches the consumer and is due to minor aesthetic defects in the textile (e.g. color fade) or in product finishing (e.g. sewing defects) responsible for textiles and finished clothes being discarded before they are even shipped to any store.

1.1 The importance of the aesthetic appeal

2 and Rath, 1984).

In apparel consumption performance and quality measures are both functional, such as durability, and aesthetic, such as attractiveness (Brown and Rice, 1998: 38-39). However the aesthetic attributes of a garment tend to be given more attention when purchasing it so their influence on the product performance and quality appraisal is possibly more important (Eckman, Damhorst, and Kadolph, 1990). In fact the role of visual product aesthetics such as fabric, color and embroidery (Bloch, Brunel, and Arnold, 2003) should be emphasized especially for those product categories which can be regarded as extensions of the self like clothing (Belk, 1988; Workman and Caldwell, 2007).

A product’s quality and performance can be harmed by defects; however not all defects are of the same type and they could be categorized as critical, major or minor (Knack, 2015). Critical defects could prevent the product from being used because it might even be harmful. Therefore considering specifically a garment’s critical defect would be for example finding a needle stuck somewhere in the fabric or mold which affects both the functional and aesthetic performance of the garment; a major defect might make the product less effective both from a functional and aesthetic point of view and thus sizing issues or a visible hole would fall into this defects’ class; finally minor defects, which are the superficial flaws considered by this work, will likely not affect the functional nor aesthetic performance of the product and actually occur quite frequently in apparel production including for example an untrimmed thread or slight color discrepancies (Knack, 2015).

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indeed only reinforces the overall perception towards minor, superficial imperfections as devaluing aspects of a product.

1.2 The Wabi-Sabi aesthetics

This perspective on cheapening flaws is definitely opposed by the Japanese aesthetic ideal in light of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy which nurtures the idea of beauty in imperfection. According to this philosophy time and wear and tear processes leave some scars to objects, and these signs are thus showing the natural processes that transformed these products and they consequently make them uniquely enriched and beautiful (Koren, 1994; Juniper, 2011). An artistic important example in line with this philosophy is given by the oriental art of Kintsugi or “golden joinery” where broken porcelain is repaired with gold welding in such a way that it marks, instead of hiding, the defects in the form of cracks (Kwan, 2012). In particular both corrosion due to time passage and contamination due to external forces and all sorts of agents the object can come into contact with, determine the object’s peculiar, one-of-a-kind transformation which finally adds value to it (Koren, 1994). Therefore the beauty concept as conceived by the Wabi-Sabi philosophy is not only limited to the fact that time and ageing in itself make objects valuable but revolves more around the fact that what time leaves behind as an object’s but also a person’s history should be preserved unpolished being expression of the object’s and person’s essence.

One of the most famous Japanese fashion label is Comme des Garçons, founded by Rei Kawakubo in 1969. Kawakubo embraced the Wabi-Sabi concept in her fashion philosophy and in reaction to the mandatory perfection for machine-made clothes she designed the notorious Lace Sweater in 1982, displaying an apparently accidental design full of holes (Black et al., 2014: 202). Kawakubo together with other important Japanese designers such as Miyake and Yamamoto addresses the importance of the processes behind the fabrication of a garment and in their designs they intentionally leave some marks for shaping and expressing the progressive identity of the product (Black et al., 2014: 202).

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designer has to sort of document it while developing the piece. Clearly consumers would not judge a pair of bleached jeans found in a Zara shop as imperfect and defective because their idea is that those jeans were meant to be like that, the bleach could be imagined to be part of their DNA and thus it is not a flaw but rather a valuable feature intentionally added to the product while being crafted. Considering this, it might be useful to incorporate the process responsible for the flaw to guide consumers’ perceptions towards the acceptability of flaws as genuine occurrences during the product creation, thus being naturally part of the finished piece. Presenting the imperfection almost as an event belonging to the product’s history makes it a trace supposed to be an integral part of the product itself giving it a natural appeal. Rozin (2006) claimed that the emotional and narrative power of an object’s history on consumers is typically underrated and an important aspect of it is the purpose of the creator itself. This type of connection is deeply appreciated in the case of artifacts, in a broad sense objects that exist through human agency (Bloom, 1996: 1) ranging from a chair to a pictorial representation. Bloom (1996) discusses how is it possible to categorize an object as a specific artifact type and one of the main assertions made is that an important discriminant are the creator’s intentions (e.g. a 3-year old child drawing of a dog is still a picture of a dog even if it does not really look like it).

With this in mind this paper wants to try a rather unexplored path to increase consumers’ acceptability and valuation of superficially flawed clothing by contextualizing the occurrence of a product’s imperfections to its history in the form of the process undertaken to create it. This can lead to favorable inferences based on flaws’ perceived naturalness and the idea that the finished garment was meant to have such minor irregularity like a zip of the wrong color or a different bottom.

1.3 Current research on products’ imperfections: contagious transformations

To date experimental research on product’s imperfections and their effect on consumers is still rather limited and has mainly focused on the food domain and particularly on the role of negative contagion where a dent in a can (White et al., 2016) or a messy product display on the shelves (Castro, Morales and Nowlis, 2013) activates the idea of negative contamination and thus health and safety concerns.

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(Nemeroff and Rozin, 1994). The mechanism behind it actually often resides in the fact that it goes beyond the way something looks and resorts to its invisible history to determine its qualitative value (Nemeroff and Rozin, 2000). Therefore taking this perspective shows how inducing consumers to consider the progressive production cycle behind a product, encourages them to go beyond its imperfect appearance and this consideration shifts the valuation of the flaw from something which contaminates and detracts from the product’s quality to something that is integrally part of it.

In the food domain another important mechanism which results in ingestible goods’ devaluation has to do with contagious additions or more generally transformations which reduce a product’s naturalness. Naturalness is a very valued attribute especially in the food domain (Rozin et al., 2004); however positive inferences based on naturalness can be observed also in the field of pharmaceutical drugs and textiles (Rozin, 2005). An important finding by Rozin (2005) is that the strongest impact on perceived naturalness is associated with the type of process leading to some sort of modification rather than the modified content per se. A product can undergo multiple transformations which finally make its content exactly as it was originally but still the reduction of naturalness is significant and this is due to the substantial processing experienced by the product. Therefore even when a non-significant resulting change is observed, a more invasive processing system still degrades the naturalness level.

An example made by Rozin (2006) involves water from a natural spring which is processed to remove some minerals it naturally comes with. At a second stage of the process these same minerals are added back, such that the water is now chemically equivalent to how it was when it was collected from the spring. However people’s ratings of naturalness for this twice-processed water are much lower as compared to the content-wise equivalent water which is not processed. So the more it is processed, the more the water’s essence, the way it naturally is, is changed and the less it is accepted.

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Adopting a Wabi-Sabi inspired attitude towards aesthetic flaws would mean accepting the imperfection as part of the product’s essence, thus when built-in elements of the materials and occurrences during manufacturing processes. The main theory proposed to support this idea is the prevailing role of process in naturalness determination (Rozin, 2005) and thus the fact that perceived lower processing, when the flaw belongs to an earlier stage of production, implies the perception that the product’s natural essence is intact and the flaw in such case does not negatively affect its valuation.

1.4 Defining the Research Question

Against this background, the primary research question is:

When and how does knowledge of a flaw’s origin lead to increased consumers’ acceptability and favorable valuation of flawed apparel?

Specifically, this paper aims to discuss how localizing the flaw’s origin could accommodate inferences of naturalness and perceived intentionality and thus make otherwise undesirable imperfections accepted as the Wabi-Sabi philosophy would advocate. Research objectives of this study are thus threefold: (1) to investigate the effect of knowledge of a flaw’s origin on consumers’ perceptions, (2) to examine the interaction of a flaw’s origin with raw material naturalness and, (3) to investigate the role of perceived intentionality.

This research might help manufacturers in finding a communication strategy which enhances minor imperfections in the eyes of consumers, by framing those as genuine qualities of the garment. Empirical research on imperfect products is rather scarce and mostly focused on the food domain, therefore this work might develop interesting insights by connecting the apparel industry with the research on defective products.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: first the conceptual framework and literature review will be presented; then the framework will be tested by means of an experiment; finally drawing on the findings obtained from the experimental study, theoretical as well as practical implications will be suggested and proposals for further research will be explored.

2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

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suggested linkages among them (see Figure 1) will be outlined and analyzed in the light of current academic literature.

FIGURE 1 Conceptual model

2.1 Flaw generation: textile sourcing, production, post-production

The appreciation of imperfections as genuine occurrences during the development of a product can be reasonably understood in the context of handcraft objects since consumers hold the idea of an artisan transferring the love for his profession as well as his expertise to the product and flaws may be part of this creative performance (Fuchs, Schreier, and van Osselaer, 2015; Newman and Bloom, 2012). Therefore flaws’ positive consideration in the handmade context is not necessarily due to some conceptual and/or aesthetic preference for the artisanal product per se but is rather dependent on their ability to reveal history and naturalness (Karana, Pedgley, and Rognoli, 2013: 147).

In apparel mass-production we may assume that imperfections could occur at different stages of the process, namely at the very beginning, in the case they are integral part of the textile, during manufacturing and assembly, when the product has not yet achieved its designated form, and finally in a post-production stage consisting of packaging and shipping of the finished good. Therefore a broader distinction can be made between a pre-completion stage when the product does not exist yet per se but is still taking shape, namely when the product is still raw material or when it is going through some manufacturing transformation, and a post-completion stage when the different components have come together in a finished piece.

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and the modelling and design of clothes the channel through which the product can tell a story. In fact it can be said that the Japanese designers embracing this view want their final piece to capture the invisible story behind the product’s visible appearance. The potential of a product for telling this story can be understood in the context of narrative processing.

Narrative processing firstly implies an organization of events according to a time framework therefore something which happened at the beginning, middle or end and the structure obtained supports certain causal inferences (Escalas, 2004). Therefore giving consumers a time frame about the occurrence of the flaw at the beginning, middle or end is consistent with a narrative processing and different causal inferences are to be expected for different points in time along the creation of the product. With this perspective, temporally framing the earlier incidence of a flaw in the product creation cycle would facilitate a more positive inference towards the flaw as a genuine feature belonging to the product’s story and essence since there was never a pristine product to begin with.

Process as the major determinant of naturalness

This mechanism can be further explained by making a comparison with genetic engineering and what would turn to be the DNA, the essence as previously called, of a product. When a product is in a pre-completion stage and is not yet a finished one any addition or transformation still can be perceived as an integral part of the product itself in such a way that consumers may assume that it was meant to be there since it simply belongs to the product’s authentic core, its DNA. Differently when a product is already a finished good ready to be shipped any addition or transformation might be seen as something which deprives the product from its essential nature, a kind of genetic mutation of the product DNA, corrupting its authentic form. As a matter of fact, the definition of a product’s form involves the assessment of the creative process during production but does not contemplate what happens when this phase is completed (Bloch, 1995).

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levels of apparel’s flaws. In fact, these findings in the field of genetic engineering can be applied also to the current research framework because the underlying motive of people opposing this type of practice is kind of ideational in nature considering something which is inherently right, rather than being concretely related to safety concerns specific for the food domain; therefore these results do not have to be restricted to processes involving the naturalness of ingestible goods only (Rozin et al., 2004). Hence the later the flaw occurrence, the more a longer processing of the object is considered damage to its naturalness (Evans, de Challemaison, and Cox, 2010).

Consequently, as already clarified, to better define what early or later in the process means, a more net division is given by differentiating between the pre-completion and post-completion stage. With this division it is possible to make an easier comparison between what observed in Rozin (2005) research and the naturalness of the flaw occurrence in the apparel scenario as happening before or after the product is finished. In this case contagion at a later, post-completion stage disrupts the real product essence rather than participating in its creation and has then a negative effect on consumers’ mindset (Rozin, 2005). Since product liking and the emergence of a favorable attitude is one of the predictor of purchase intentions according to the theory of planned behavior, it is reasonable to expect that a positive affective attitude will be coupled by greater purchase intentions (Ajzen, 1991). Therefore the following hypothesis has been formulated:

H1: Knowing that a flaw was generated in the pre-completion phase (vs post-completion phase) of the production process will increase (vs decrease) consumers’ product liking and purchase intentions. 2.2 Moderating Effect: Raw material naturalness

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intervention will be (Evans, de Challemaison, and Cox, 2010). Therefore differentiating between a T-shirt made of a natural fiber such as cotton and another made of an unnatural, synthetic fiber such as acrylic it is reasonable to expect that the most invasive, negative effect of a flaw generated after the product has been completed is to be observed when the T-shirt is 100% cotton, so the contaminated target is natural. On the other hand when the flaw is generated during a pre-completion phase, the flaw itself is more natural as it belongs to the product’s original form, thus a natural flaw on a natural target does not result in a negative reaction since the target’s naturalness is preserved.

H2 The difference in product’s liking based on flaw occurrence at a post-completion phase (vs pre-completion phase) would be bigger in the case of natural materials compared with artificial materials. 2.3 Mediating Effect: Flaw’s perceived intentionality

It can be argued that in the case of natural materials such as leather or wood (Karana, 2012; Kotradyova, Teischinger, and Ebner, 2012) consumers tend to consider irregularities on the surface, leather bleaches or wood carvings, as genuine, peculiar features rather than imperfections. This is the case because of the inferred idea that those materials were never perfect to begin with and the irregular patterns are integral part of them. Thus as these raw materials are used to manufacture a leather bag or a chair, visible aesthetic imperfections are not perceived as flaws and even if bleaches on a fabric could be potentially classified as minor defects, as discussed earlier, consumers will likely assume the bag is supposed to have them. Similarly considering the example made before of a pair of jeans in a Zara shop it is evident that consumers know those rips are intentionally made and overall they convey that those jeans are trendy or that for example they represent a rugged look. In both cases the superficial flaws are appreciated also because they are perceived as meant to be part of the leather bag or Zara jeans and they are either integral part of the material or intentionally done during the manufacturing process, thus before the product is a finished good. Consequently it can be argued that a flaw’s appreciation is affected by people being aware of the intention behind it (Da Silva, Crilly, and Hekkert, 2015). Indeed, the underlying inference made by consumers is that these types of intentional flaws do not undermine the integrity of the garment because in fact they are part of it, being designed to be in the final piece.

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material or arising during manufacturing, thus again in a pre-completion phase, is accepted and even valued because of the inferred intentionality of the creator to choose the bleached leather to produce the bag or to display the “traces of life” as integral part of the product design.

With this perspective product imperfections can be embraced by designers as a natural way to realize distinctive pieces and conveniently affect consumers’ evaluations both by exploiting material-based differentiation and showing their original creative processes (Rognoli and Karana, 2014). In fact it could be expected that the more consumers are induced to think that the finished product is supposed to look like that, and thus apply the inference they already normally make in the case of faded leather or ripped jeans, the more they will accept the flaw. Product imperfection is then considered positively when intended and namely when it is part of the chosen raw material or when it belongs to the designer creative process and progressive construction of the product, thus in a pre-completion stage.

H3 Consumers’ knowledge of the flaw origin as part of the fabric or outcome of the manufacturing process will increase the perception of purposeful presence of the flaw which in turn leads to increased product liking and purchase intentions.

3. METHODOLOGY

The aim of the study is to assess how knowing when the flaw originated at a specific moment during production on a natural or synthetic material could influence the overall preference for the flawed garment and whether this variance is explained by the inference towards the flaw being intentionally part of the final product. The model presented in Figure 1 was tested empirically by means of an online survey where all of the variables of interest namely the incidence of the flaw at a specific stage of the production process as well as the type of raw material used were manipulated in order to check the validity of the relevant hypotheses made.

3.1 Study Design

12 FIGURE 2 Factorial Design

No Flaw Sourcing stage Manufacturing stage Shipping stage

100% cotton Baseline condition 1

Treatment

condition 3 Treatment condition 5

Treatment condition 7

100% acrylic Baseline condition 2

Treatment

condition 4 Treatment condition 6

Treatment condition 8

3.2 Participants The sample for this research included a total of 409 participants. Each participant was randomly

assigned to one of the eight experimental conditions, treatment or control groups, in order to ensure that any difference arising across conditions is caused by the manipulation and not for example by background characteristics of the subjects which influence their self-selection into one of the conditions (Aronson, Wilson, and Brewer, 1998). The sample included 197 females (48%) and 212 males (52%), the age range was 19-74 with a mean value of 36, and the majority of the people were White American (71%).

3.3 Data collection procedure

An online questionnaire was designed by means of the platform Qualtrics and distributed on Amazon Mechanical Turk, a Web-based service offered by Amazon which allows to recruit a large and relatively diverse sample of people who get paid to participate in online behavioral research (Mason and Suri, 2012; Buhrmester, Kwang, and Gosling, 2011). The questionnaire was made up of three main blocks (see Appendix 1).

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the flaw, some ratings concerning the extent of damage to the scarf integrity and quality as well as two questions used as manipulation checks regarding the specification of the flaw occurrence at a certain stage of the process. In the third and concluding part of the questionnaire additional overall evaluations of the product’s uniqueness level were assessed. In addition, to rule out undesired effects of participants personal circumstances on their answers, few questions to control for the habitual or seldom usage of scarves were included together with a mood scale and finally some general demographic questions. Throughout the whole questionnaire 7-point Likert scales was used in order to facilitate subsequent comparisons across items.

Stimulus material: Manipulation of the Independent Variable and Moderator

A unisex, light grey scarf was chosen in order to avoid confounds by using the exact same product for all participants, independent of their gender. The majority of participants (76%) actually defined the scarf to be unisex and the lack of gender bias was also tested by means of an independent samples T-test with respect to the overall preference towards the scarf and no significant impact of gender was observed on the averaged ratings for liking, purchase intentions, enjoyment and quality (t(407)= -0.365, p = .715).

The independent variable was manipulated by showing the same scarf where a color mismatch in one of the fringes, namely few fringes were slightly darker than the others, was either present (treatment) or not (control). When the flaw was present, a remark for the participant was placed below the image clarifying that few fringes were darker as some of the yarns were dyed a darker color either before the scarf was even woven together or during the process of being woven or just before the finished scarf was shipped (see Appendix 1). To ensure that the experimental manipulation of the flaw occurrence across the different stages in the production cycle was successfully received by the individual respondents in the different treatment scenarios (Wilson, Aronson, and Carlsmith, 2010: 64) they were required to define whether the flaw occurred when there was no scarf yet but just a raw material(=1) at the beginning(=1) of the production process or at the end(=7) of it when the scarf was completed, being namely a finished good(=7).

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estimation of naturalness for cotton as compared to acrylic is larger (Overvliet, Karana, and Soto-Faraco, 2016).

3.4 Measures

Dependent variable

Participants’ preference towards the product was measured by means of four items on a 1 to 7 scale. Firstly, participants’ attitude towards the product was considered as they were asked to state the extent to which they either quite liked (totally agree=7) or not (totally disagree=1) the scarf. Secondly participants’ intentions to buy the specific scarf displayed in each condition were assessed as they expressed their agreement with the following statement: ‘’If I were going to buy a scarf, I would be willing to buy this scarf’’ where 1=totally disagree and 7=totally agree. In addition, respondents were also asked to express from 1 to 7 the extent to which they would enjoy wearing the scarf. Finally they were required to judge the overall quality of the garment giving a score from 1=very poor quality to 7=very good quality. The internal consistency of these items was tested and they were merged into a single measure labelled preference for further analysis (4 items, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.925).

Additional measures: Moderator and Mediator

After these measurements a number of questions were included in order to support the hypotheses involving moderating and mediating effects. The moderator, the naturalness degree of the fabric, was hypothesized to interact with the stage responsible for the flaw based on the preservation of the textile naturalness when the flaw itself was viewed as natural being part of the product since the beginning. To check for the validity of this argument participants in the treatment condition (see Figure 2) were also asked to rate the naturalness degree of the mismatched fringe on a 7-point scale adapted from Rozin (2005) where 1=not natural at all and 7=completely natural.

15 Additional measures: Damage perception and Uniqueness

To get a richer picture about the effect of earlier or later flaw occurrence on people’s perceptions some additional measures were considered. In particular across the treatment conditions, the extent to which the darker fringes were seen as something annoying, damaging the quality and integrity of the scarf was rated on a 7-point Likert scale where a higher rating(=7) indicated a stronger negative effect. Looking at these ratings might help to corroborate the hypothesis made towards the fact that a flaw occurring later on is less natural and in a sense more invasive implying a bigger perceived damage to the product. Moreover all participants were required to indicate how unique they considered the scarf and its fabric as well as the production process behind it and possible answers ranged from 1=definitely not unique to 7=definitely unique. This measure was included since while considering an apparel article the uniqueness motive will likely arise and induce a preference for those designs which are perceived to be more unique (Tian, Bearden, and Hunter, 2001).

Control variables

Demographics control variables such as gender, age and ethnicity were tested and if not significant they were not considered in subsequent tests. Additionally considering the fact that mood states have been studied to affect people’s evaluations a mood scale was included to eventually rule out variances caused by people’s feelings while taking the study (Batson et al., 1988). The scale reliability was confirmed (4 items, Cronbach’s alpha=0.889) and the 4 items merged into an average value. Another aspect which was used as control is whether participants usually wear scarves, both from natural and synthetic textile. A dummy variable was created distinguishing those people in the cotton (vs. acrylic) condition who answered with a 1=’’no, never’’ to the question ‘Do you often wear scarves made of natural (vs. synthetic) materials?’. Finally the fact that some male respondents judged the scarf as being more suitable for women, and vice versa with respect to female respondents, was also controlled for.

3.5 Plan of Analysis

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realized by means of the Process Macro tool for SPSS written by Hayes (2012). Finally, once the main hypotheses were tested some additional analysis as listed above were also performed to provide a richer picture on the contributing factors and derive some more insights from the data.

4. RESULTS

The questions for liking, purchase intentions, quality and enjoyment were merged to form the preference construct (4 items, Cronbach’s alpha = 0.925), as already discussed, and such measure will be used as the dependent variable for all subsequent analyses.

4.1 Preliminary tests: Control variables and Manipulation checks

Control variables

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TABLE 1

Control variables included as covariates Dependent variable: Preference

Control variable Level Means

Mood Low ( Median split) 4.33

High (Median split) 5.02

People who never wear natural/synthetic scarves

Never wear(=1) 3.81

Wear(>1) 4.92

Unisex perception check Not passed 4.10

Passed 4.73

Manipulation checks

The independent variable was manipulated as explained differentiating among a flaw occurring earlier in the production chain or at the end of it when the product is finished and the effectiveness of this treatment was checked by the ratings given to following questions: ‘At the time the mismatched fringe occurred how far was the scarf in its production process?’ (1=Beginning and 7=End) and ‘At the time the mismatched fringe occurred how much would you say the scarf was a finished good?’ (1=Raw material and 7=Finished good). The two questions were averaged due to high internal reliability (2 items, Cronbach’s alpha= 0.782) and the one-way ANOVA supported the effectiveness of the manipulation with a significant difference across the three flawed levels of the independent variable (F(2,302)= 35.281, p < .001). However a closer look at the average values (see Table 2) showed that even when the flaw was part of the textile the mean rating was 4.19 which is far from the expected value of 1=Beginning/Raw Material. The results revealed that in fact almost half of the participants thought the flaw occurred towards the end of the production process (ratings being 6 or 7) when the scarf was completed and among those were also many respondents belonging to the condition where the flaw was part of the fabric or outcome of manufacturing stage.

TABLE 2

Independent variable manipulation check Dependent variable: Processing degree

Flaw occurrence Means

Sourcing stage 4.19 Manufacturing stage 4.86 Shipping stage 5.80

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the yarns dyed of a different color tend to happen when the production process and the product itself is almost complete. Given the fact that the answers to the manipulation check were mostly not strictly representative of the condition participants were assigned to, these results might imply that the note suggesting that the flaw occurred either early or later on the production cycle was not effectively interpreted by respondents. Moreover since the answers to these two questions did not significantly affect the main dependent variable, the preference extent (β = 0.010, t(303)= 0.168, p= .867), they will not be taken into consideration for further analysis.

Finally, the effectiveness of the moderator’s manipulation was also assessed by asking respondents whether they considered the fabric of the displayed scarf to be more natural(=1) or synthetic(=7). This manipulation was successfully received since the ratings between people who saw a scarf labelled 100% cotton (Mcotton=2.00, SD=1.33) and those who saw the 100% acrylic scarf (Macrylic=6.12, SD=1.22) were significantly different (F(7,401)= 1074.073, p < .001).

4.2 Flaw occurrence and raw material naturalness: Hypotheses 1 and 2

In order to find an answer to the research question, the objectives of the study were threefold and the first goal was to assess if the fact that the consumer acknowledges when the flaw happened, either in a pre- or post-completion phase, results in increased or decreased liking and purchase intentions for the flawed product. The factorial ANCOVA, with the covariates listed in Table 1, showed that there was not a significant difference in the flaw’s preference whether respondents were told it was a built in element, an outcome of the manufacturing process or something related to the post-production stage (F (2,296)= 0.408, p= .665) (see Appendix 2), therefore hypothesis 1 is to be rejected. However notably the difference in the preference extent was not substantial even comparing the non-flawed (Mnoflaw=4.70) and an average of the flawed conditions (Mflaw=4.65) (see Table 3).

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considered and consequently hypothesis 2 cannot be accepted.

TABLE 3

Means Natural/Synthetic and No flaw/Sourcing stage/Manufacturing stage/Shipping stage Dependent variable: Preference

Flaw occurrence Fabric naturalness Means Means No Flaw/Flaw

No Flaw Natural 5.19 4.70

Synthetic 4.23

Sourcing stage Natural 4.83

4.65

Synthetic 4.32

Manufacturing stage Natural 5.01

Synthetic 4.51

Shipping stage Natural 4.69

Synthetic 4.55

Despite this, in light of what hypothesized in the conceptual framework section following the research made by Rozin (2005), the foundation of hypotheses 1 and 2 is that the information given on the flaw origin should actually affect its perceived naturalness (lower processing extent implies higher naturalness), which is in fact what supposedly influences people’s evaluations. Therefore the relationship between the occurrence of the flaw at a certain stage during production and its perceived naturalness measured by the question: ‘How natural do you think the mismatched fringe is?’ (1=Not natural at all 7=Completely natural), was also investigated.

20 the main analyses.

FIGURE 3

Combined effect of flaw occurrence and fabric naturalness on flaw naturalness

4.3 Flaw naturalness and raw material naturalness: Hypotheses 1 and 2

21

are in fact substantially explained but the model involving flaw naturalness (R2=.227). Combining this finding with the previous differentiation in the naturalness ratings for a pre-completion and post-completion stage, even if hypothesis 1 was not directly supported, the mechanism behind it, similarly to what pictured by Rozin (2005), is well represented by our results.

TABLE 4

Means Low/Medium/High Flaw Naturalness Dependent variable: Preference

Flaw naturalness Mean

Low 3.72

Medium 4.58

High 5.50

Also hypothesis 2 was further tested using the flaw naturalness categorical transformation by means of a factorial ANCOVA with the three covariates discussed earlier (see Table 1). A significant interaction effect between a lower naturalness degree and the type of fabric emerged (F (2, 296)= 3.996, p= .019) (see Appendix 3) supporting what discussed in relation to the fact that a flaw which is less natural, is particularly invasive if the target, the fabric, is natural as well and thus the stronger decrease in preference as pictured in Figure 4. Therefore, an unnatural flaw (Low naturalness condition) negatively affects the preference for a 100% cotton scarf significantly more than when the scarf is 100% acrylic.

FIGURE 4

22 4.4 Intentionality mediation: Hypothesis 3

The third, final aim of the study was to check how the idea that the mismatch was not an unintentional mistake but rather a characteristic truly belonging to the product could mediate the relationship between knowledge of earlier flaw occurrence and product’s appeal. Flaw occurrence as independent variable showed no significant impact on preference and therefore no mediation analysis could be performed and hypothesis 3 could not be investigated. However, one of the main assumptions behind this hypothesis is that the more the flaw is perceived to be intentional, the less it is seen as something that negatively affect the product’s integrity. This inverse relationship was checked by means of a correlation analysis proving that the two scales are significantly negatively correlated (r(303)= -0.582, p <.001), thus a larger value for the intentionality construct corresponds to a lower value for the damage perception.

Moreover since the naturalness degree of the fringe was found out to significantly affect the dependent variable (see Table 4) a mediation analysis was performed using the former as antecedent to the mediator. The mediation analysis performed by means of the PROCESS analysis tool in SPSS validated the hypothesis that the fringe perceived naturalness leads to the inference of a color mismatch which was meant to be part of the finished scarf which in turns influences the degree of expressed preference. The indirect coefficient proved to be significant (b=.041, SE=0.019, CI [.0092, .0863]) however the ratio between the indirect (0.04) and total (0.35) effect reveals that the mediation is only partial (see Figure 5) (see Appendix 5).

FIGURE 5

Partial Mediation of perceived intentionality

4.5 Additional findings

23

The three questions used to assess the latter were combined to form a single construct due to their high internal reliability (3 items, Cronbach’s alpha=0.851). The role of uniqueness was investigated based on the discussed assumption that it positively affects preference, which was confirmed by the outcome of the regression analysis (β= 0.358, t(407)= 7.743, p < .001). First of all, the influence of all of the control variables on the uniqueness measure was checked and similarly to the previous analyses made, mood and the dummy variable for ‘’scarf haters’’ were found to have a significant effect and were thus treated as covariates. The results of the factorial ANCOVA show some interesting differences when comparing the flawed and non-flawed conditions (see Table 2). The main effect of flaw occurrence was significant (F (3, 399)= 8.381, p < .001) and overall scarves made of cotton were also rated to be marginally more unique (F (1, 399)= 2.805, p= .095). Interestingly all flawed conditions were considered more unique (see Table 2) and in line with the considerations made in light of material-based differentiation, the highest uniqueness rating pertained to the sourcing stage when the fabric composition was 100% natural.

TABLE 5

Means Natural/Synthetic and No flaw/Sourcing stage/Manufacturing stage/Shipping stage Dependent variable: Uniqueness

Flaw occurrence Fabric naturalness Means Means No Flaw/Flaw

No Flaw Natural 2.16 2.50

Synthetic 2.82

Sourcing stage Natural 3.65

3.22

Synthetic 3.30

Manufacturing stage Natural 3.17

Synthetic 2.95

Shipping stage Natural 2.92

Synthetic 3.34

24

effect of both the independent variable (F (2, 298)= 1.266, p= .284), the flaw occurrence, and its interaction with the moderator, the type of material (F (2, 298)= 0.241, p= .786). Also in this case the analysis was run taking the naturalness degree categorization as independent variable and the main effect on the damage perception was in turn significant (F (2, 298)= 31.156, p < 0.001). In particular, the lower the naturalness rating of the flaw, indifferently whether the scarf was 100% cotton or 100% acrylic, the more it was perceived as a damage to the scarf quality and integrity (see Table 3), according to what discussed in the conceptual framework.

TABLE 3

Means Low/Medium/High Flaw Naturalness Dependent variable: Damage perception

Flaw naturalness Mean

Low 3.40

Medium 2.40

High 1.60

4.6 Results summary

In line with what was the foundation for hypothesis 1, the flaw’s origin in a pre-completion stage increased its perceived naturalness with respect to the post-completion stage; however there was no significant influence of such division on the overall preference, including liking and purchase intentions. The interrelationship between a flaw’s and the fabric naturalness confirmed that lower flaw’s naturalness is perceived more negatively when the textile itself is more natural. Finally, interesting patterns emerged with respect to the additional analyses performed and specifically with respect to the uniqueness ratings being overall significantly larger in all flawed conditions as compared with the non-flawed conditions and when the textile was 100% cotton instead of 100% acrylic.

5. GENERAL DISCUSSION

25

@UglyFruitandVeg to avoid food waste (Whaba, 2016) to the apparel brand D.EFECT, created in 2009, whose image was built entirely on the idea of beauty in imperfection (Kiškytė, 2015). In relation to this, the intent of this research was to examine when and how is imperfection lovable and the main assumptions were that the earlier the flaw (when), the more consumers perceive it as a natural and intentional feature and not a mistake (how) and this would favorably influence the flawed product overall evaluation.

Based on these assumptions three hypotheses were developed. The outcome of the analysis showed that H1, namely the fact that knowledge of an earlier incidence increases preference, was not directly supported; however the positive effect on preference was in fact indirect when the earlier incidence and fewer processing implied an increased naturalness perception in line with the framework studied by Rozin (2005) and Evans et al. (2010), and the naturalness appeal in turn positively influenced the evaluation (Rozin et al., 2004). Therefore, referring to Bahrgava (2017), what appears to be a strategically sound way to frame a product’s flaws is to communicate their presence as natural based on the fact that they were integral elements since the earliest stages in the product development. In particular, as found while investigating H2, the naturalness degree of the fabric was shown to exert an especially important role in explaining the preference decrease for a product with flaws considered unnatural since they would appear even more as negative additions to a textile made of natural fibers. This is aligned with Rozin (2005) fourth hypothesis stating that mixing unlike entities (unnatural flaw and natural textile) produces a larger drop in the overall naturalness, hence the observed reduction in the overall appeal as well. With respect to H3 a partial mediation was found. Namely, a flaw considered high in naturalness would also positively influence the probability of a respondent making the inference that the flaw was supposedly designed to be part of the final product and this inference favorably affects preference.

26

(2012). In fact material imperfections which occur by nature are also identified as unique aesthetic qualities (Karana, Pedgley, and Rognoli, 2015) and this is why, as supported by the discussed findings, both appeals can be combined in order to valorize a product’s superficial flaws.

5.1 Limitations of the study

A major limitation is given by the fact that the textual remark on the flaw occurrence was possibly not effectively received by many participants in terms of perceived processing degree and product finalization. To make participants better aware of the distinction between a pre-completion vs. post-completion origin of the flaw, the scarf picture could be accompanied with another pictorial, instead of verbal, representation which helps to visualize and better recall (Paivio and Csapo, 1973) the moment when the mismatch happened. This means showing either the dyeing process of the raw fabric or such process during manufacturing when the scarf starts to have a shape or when it is perfectly finished and ready to be put in the trucks for shipping.

Another limitation concerns the possibility to generalize the findings of this research to the apparel category. The stimulus chosen was a light grey scarf in view of its unisex quality however, as results showed, quite some respondents and particularly male respondents do not usually wear scarves, especially if made of a synthetic material. Therefore it is arguable that in a shopping scenario in the apparel category consumers are probably not as involved with the choice and evaluation of a scarf as they would be for a pair of trousers or a sweater (Tigert, Ring, and King, 1976) and this could prevent from reaching a broader conclusion.

27 5.2 Managerial Implications

The results suggest that in the case of a superficial flaw, consumers are favorably influenced in their expression of a preference when they feel that the flaw is natural and this impression can be encouraged by making them aware of the fact that the flaw was part of the product before this was complete, thus in a pre-completion stage. In particular in the case of natural materials a flaw considered unnatural especially damages the product’s appeal. Therefore especially for garments made of cotton or any other natural fiber, it would be beneficial to convey the idea of the flaw being a natural element of the garment by indicating how it is actually to be expected that the products might be slightly different among each other and that these differences, or quirks, are present by nature. An example of such strategy is offered by what 2(x)ist, an American brand well known for its innovative designs for men underwear, did in 2006. The company launched a collection of underwear made of soy fabric and a peculiar statement was made in the packaging of such a line, notifying that the fabric naturally presents some imperfections which should be valued for endowing each piece with a unique quality (Wilson, 2007). This example shows how flaws’ naturalness might be highlighted in order for consumers to recognize and accept them as very subtle, singular details.

Another finding which can offer a valuable insight to apparel companies when designing their strategy is that flawed products can be appreciated for being particularly unique when they belong to the fabric itself and the fabric comes from a natural fiber. Combining this with the recent trend towards mass customization in the fashion industry (Leitich, 2017) and the fact that perceived uniqueness is highly responsible for the value derived from personalization practices (Franke and Schreier, 2008) could represent a stimulating perspective to retailers. Specifically consumers may be given the possibility to create their own garment choosing and incorporating in their design those natural textiles which were dyed of the wrong color or had some other irregularities, similarly to what the British brand Antiform is already doing with the AntiformxYou project.

28

information on the stylistic choices made when designing a product, positively affects their attitude towards it (Schnurr and Stokburger‐Sauer, 2016). This way flaws are channels to free a product’s creation narrative and this interactive property is in fact also what makes quirks and irregularities valuable in accordance with the Wabi-Sabi principles (Juniper, 2011).

5.3 Future research

The discussed results as well as the potential limitations provide some ground for future research. Firstly, the consideration of the multiple stages that lead to the creation of a product and the idea of naturalness reduction through longer processing can be especially relevant for dealing with imperfect products in the food domain following the original research of Rozin (2005).

Moreover one of the major implications of the Wabi-Sabi aesthetics is that objects can be beautifully imperfect because imperfections are unique, singular transformations. As seen, the scarf uniqueness level was overall significantly higher when the flaw was present and with this in mind a compelling avenue for future studies will be to focus on the inherent singular, one-of-a-kind nature of flawed products; it might be interesting to see how the overall preference is affected when fostering consumers’ uniqueness motive or for example by making a distinction among fashion change agents and fashion followers (Workman and Kidd, 2000).

29

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35 APPENDIX

Appendix 1: Survey example Treatment condition 3

Imagine that you are inside a shop looking for a scarf to use this fall and you see the one below.

You note a label specifying that the composition of the textile is 100% cotton. Please note that the scarf has few slightly darker fringes (see zoomed image).

Before the scarf had been woven together, some of the yarns were dyed a slightly darker grey.

Questions

Dependent variable: Preference I really like this scarf.

If I were going to buy a scarf, I would be willing to buy this scarf. I would enjoy wearing this scarf.

What do you think of the overall quality of this scarf?

Mediator: Intentionality

36

The mismatched fringe was designed to be part of the finished scarf. Moderator check: Naturalness

How natural do you think the mismatched fringe is? Additional ratings: Damage

Do you see the mismatched fringe as a damage to the product’s quality? Would you say the mismatched fringe damages the integrity of the garment? How much does this mismatched fringe annoy you?

Manipulation checks

At the time the mismatched fringe occurred how far was the scarf in its production process?

At the time the mismatched fringe occurred, to what extent do you think the scarf was a finished/completed product?

Additional ratings: Uniqueness

How unique do you consider the scarf to be?

How unique do you consider the production process behind this scarf to be? How unique do you consider the material used to produce this scarf to be? Control: Unisex

Do you think this scarf is : Unisex(Anyone can wear it)/Menswear(More suitable for men)/Womenswear(More suitable for women)

Attentional check

Would you say the textile used to produce this scarf is more: Natural/Synthetic Control: Habitual usage

Do you normally wear scarves (when seasonally appropriate)?

Do you often wear scarves made of natural materials (e.g., cotton, wool, etc.)? Do you often wear scarves made of synthetic materials (e.g., polyester, acrylic, etc.)? Mood scale and demographics

How do you currently feel? (e.g. Good-Bad) How old are you?

37 SPSS Output

Appendix 2: Hypotheses 1 and 2 – Factorial ANCOVA - 3 (flaw occurrence: sourcing stage vs. manufacturing stage vs shipping stage) x 2 (raw material naturalness: natural vs. synthetic) between subjects design

Dependent variable: Preference

Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 115,297a 8 14,412 7,985 0,000 Intercept 99,767 1 99,767 55,273 0,000 Mood_covariate 46,032 1 46,032 25,502 0,000 Scarf_hater_covariat e 37,548 1 37,548 20,802 0,000 Unisex_dummy 2,350 1 2,350 1,302 0,255 Flaw_occurrence 1,474 2 0,737 0,408 0,665 Fabric 5,462 1 5,462 3,026 0,083 Flaw_occurrence * Fabric 2,437 2 1,219 0,675 0,510 Error 534,278 296 1,805 Total 7244,438 305 Corrected Total 649,575 304

a. R Squared = ,177 (Adjusted R Squared = ,155)

Appendix 3: Hypotheses 1 and 2– Factorial ANCOVA - 3 (flaw naturalness: low vs medium vs. high) x 2 (raw material naturalness: natural vs. synthetic) between subjects design

Dependent variable: Preference

Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 219,976a 8 27,497 18,946 0,000 Intercept 121,239 1 121,239 83,535 0,000 Mood_covariate 23,210 1 23,210 15,992 0,000 Scarf_hater_covariate 31,098 1 31,098 21,427 0,000 Unisex_dummy 0,593 1 0,593 0,408 0,523 Flaw_naturalness_Categ orical 95,928 2 47,964 33,048 0,000 Fabric 3,769 1 3,769 2,597 0,108 Flaw_naturalness_Categ orical * Fabric 11,594 2 5,797 3,994 0,019 Error 429,599 296 1,451 Total 7244,438 305 Corrected Total 649,575 304