CLOTHING CONSUMPTION PRACTICES AMONG CAREER WOMEN IN LAGOS STATE

The major purpose of this study was to investigate clothing consumption practices among career women in Lagos State. Specifically the study identified factors that inform clothing selection of career women; determined procedures they should follow in purchasing clothing, determined clothing wearing practices of the career women, determined procedures for maintenance of clothing determined options for disposing clothing that are no longer in use, identified challenges that militate against clothing consumption among career women, determine ways of ameliorating the challenges that militate against clothing consumption among career women. Seven research questions were answered while seven null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and was carried out in Lagos State, Nigeria. The population was, 1,946 career women, comprising of 1260 career women from the public sector and 686 from the private sector. The sample for the study was made up of 583 women. The study adopted purposive, multistage and stratified random sampling techniques. The study used multi stage sampling technique to select 583 career women, comprising 378 career women from public sector and 205 from private sector. Out of the 583 copies of questionnaire administered, a total of 509 were returned out of which 409 copies were correctly filled. This represents 68.1% return rate. In order to determine internal consistency and reliability of the instrument, crombach alpha coefficient of 0.82, 0.80, 0.84, 0.78, were obtained. Mean was used for answering research questions while t-test was employed for testing null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study revealed 21 factors that influence the clothing selection practices of career women, 68 procedures that are to be followed in clothing purchasing, 46 guides to the wearing of clothes for career women, 36 maintenance practices for career women and 16 options for disposal of unwanted clothes by career women in Lagos State. The study also found 25 challenges that militate against clothing consumption practices of career women and suggested 15 ways of ameliorating the challenges that militate against career women clothing consumption practices in Lagos State. There were no significant differences in the mean ratings of career women in public and private sectors on: 21 factors that should inform their clothing selection, 66 out of 68 procedures to be followed by career women in clothing purchase, 46 guides to wearing of clothes, 34 out of 36 clothing maintenance practices for career women, 16 options for disposal of unwanted clothes, 25 identified challenges that militate against clothing consumption practices and 16 ways of ameliorating the challenges that militate against career women clothing consumption practices in Lagos State. The findings of the study show that more career women do not read care labels before purchasing their clothes. The findings further revealed that career women purchase their clothing without pre purchase planning. The findings also reveal that the career women also throwaway clothes that are not satisfactory after purchase. Eight recommendations were made among which are that career women should take inventory of their wardrobes always before planning for the purchase of new clothing to avoid buying what is not needed. Wearable clothing should not be discarded in the waste bin or burnt by career women but rather be donated to charity among others.