Preparing Our Educators

Preschool fashionistas:

Research shows these youngsters understand fashion

Ms. MacKenzie King shares her research on children's clothing choices.

ATHENS, Ohio (April 18, 2011) –Today’s avant garde preschoolers know a thing or two about fashion. On April 8, MacKenzie King, a junior honors student in Retail Merchandising and Product Development, presented her research on preschoolers’ clothing choices.

King conducted qualitative research to investigate how children make decisions about their clothing, with the supervision of Dr. Ann Paulins, chair of Human Consumer Sciences Education in The Patton College, and Ms. Cathy Waller, director of the Child Development Center.

After some preliminary reading and researching, King interviewed 10 children at the Child Development Center, asking them questions about who picks out their clothes, what their favorite outfits are and whether or not they like to dress like characters on television.

After interviewing the children, King surveyed the parents to ensure that the responses from the interviewees aligned with what the parents experienced.

Through comparing the parent and child responses, King came up with four major influences that affect children’s clothing choices: appropriateness, utility, aesthetics and gender.

Most of the children volunteered said that they picked out their own clothes, which the parents confirmed in the surveys. The children seemed to understand the influence of utility, revealing that they changed their clothes when they did different activities, such as painting at school or going to church.

When asked which television characters they like to dress like, girls answered with Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, Hannah Montana and Tinker Bell, while the boys identified dinosaurs, Peter Pan, monkeys and sports players. This shows that students are influenced by popular culture.

King recommends that retailers looking to reach a young demographic should pay attention to gender roles as well as comfort and practicality of clothing. However, retailers should be cognizant of the messages they are sending with the clothing they sell.

“We want to promote products that our consumers need,” Dr. Paulins said. But even if the product will sell, it is important to know what stereotypes might be promoted along with the product.

King’s research set her apart from competitors when interviewing for summer internships. For the upcoming summer, she will intern with American Eagle Outfitters in their children’s clothing line department.

Story and photo by Ashley Showen.