The influence of socio‐economic factors on the perceived importance of buying a garment made in the USA

Since the early 1980s, many studies have assessed consumers’ preferences for domestic versus imported apparel; a few have addressed the influence of socio‐economic factors on preference. This study provides a profile of the ethnocentric consumer, one who prefers their own goods over goods made in other cultures, by using an array of socio‐economic factors, including an eight‐category occupation variable and a “greatest generation” age variable, regressed on consumers’ perception of the importance of buying a garment made in the USA. Data were obtained from a convenience sample of rodeo attendees. Results from binary logistic regression reveal that younger, college‐educated respondents and those employed in service occupations are less likely to perceive buying US‐produced apparel as important than other groups.