Abstract
Mothers are a powerful consumer force in the children clothing market, and somatotype plays an crucial role on their evaluation of clothing and decision to purchase. It is therefore essential to identify the roles of mother's somatotype & somatotype cognition in relation to purchasing of children clothing. This study aimed to investigate the effects of mother’s actual somatotype & somatotype cognition on their children’s clothing evaluative criteria. In order to compare the clothing evaluative criteria of the groups and among the groups by mother’s somatotypes at the point of children’s clothing purchases, mother’s actual somatotype & somatotype cognition of their self and their children were adopted as variables. Total usable questionnaires were obtained from 147 middle-aged mothers of students aged between 10 & 13. Results indicated that practical, commodity & symbolic dimensions of children’s clothing evaluative criteria were used differently by each group to decide on purchase of clothing for thin, moderate & heavy children. This study provides important commercial information about mother’s actual somatotype & somatotype cognition related to their children’s clothing evaluative criteria, and as such can be used strategically to the effective communication with consumers.