The impact of a firm’s transparent manufacturing practices on women fashion shoppers

Many fashion brands have responded to a transparent fashion industry to prevent unethical manufacturing practices. Firms are evaluating suppliers more carefully as fashion consumers are showing more concern and shopping with the social consciousness of sweatshops. Prior studies have examined the relationship between transparency and purchase intention; however, little is known about women fashion consumers. Because women show more participation in pro-environment behavior and activism than men and information about suppliers is highly valued, we examined women’s perception toward firms’ transparency of suppliers’ manufacturing practices. Structural modeling was employed for hypotheses testing for 411 women fashion consumers in a South-western European country. The proposed model provides the satisfactory explanation for transparency as an antecedent of brand trust among women consumers. The study reports that consumer attitude toward the brand acts as mediator between transparency and purchase intention. The results suggest that transparency has a significant and positive relationship with trust, attitude and word-of-mouth intention; however, it does not have significant relation to purchase intention. Trust has a positive and significant relation with word-of-mouth communication; however, it does not have a significant relation to purchase intention. Implications for researchers and marketers and direction for future studies are suggested.