The effects of apparel names and visual complexity of apparel design on consumers' apparel product attitudes: A mental imagery perspective

Abstract Although atypical apparel names, such as “Boyfriend Jeans” and “Cozy Workday Sweater,” have the potential to make consumers purchase more apparel products, there is little research on apparel names in the literature. Applying the mental imagery framework, we examined the moderating effect of the visual complexity of apparel design on the relationship between apparel name and mental imagery, followed by apparel product attitudes. A two apparel names (atypical vs. typical name) × two levels of visual complexity (complex vs. simple apparel design) between-subject experimental design was used. The results showed that for simple apparel designs, mental imagery elaboration and quality were greater for atypical than typical apparel names, while for complex apparel designs, there was no difference in mental imagery across apparel names. We also found that for simple apparel designs, mental imagery evoked by atypical apparel name increased positive apparel product attitudes.