Chinese Gen Z’s emotional dimensions for fashion design during the pandemic

ABSTRACT Known for being passionate about fashion, Chinese Generation Z (CGZ) is a powerful consumer group in the China fashion market today, but a psychological shift in their perceptions has been driven by COVID-19, arousing the attention of the fashion field. As visual product, fashion product elicits consumers’ emotional reactions. Existing research in fashion design has noted consumers’ emotional needs but still lacks focus on them in specific cultural contexts. To fill the gap, we employed a Kansei Engineering (KE) method to detect consumers’ emotional responses to fashion design. This study uncovered CGZ’s preferences, perceptions of fashion styles, and demographic influence. Further, we clustered CGZ’s emotional needs into four classifications based on the relationship between the participants and dressing, others, and the environment. This study serves as a theoretical guideline for fashion design by translating consumers’ emotional needs into a conceptual framework.