Consumer-perceived symbolic meaning of Fashion Design and Art Collaboration (FDAC)

This research explores the symbolic meaning of Fashion Design and Art Collaboration (FDAC) products based on investigations of the consumers of Louis Vuitton, Vans, Levi's and Adidas. A series of findings and insights were reported: (1) symbolic meaning of FDAC products was found to be critically important for consumers, typically including authentic attributes of originality, uniqueness and freedom; such products' potential superiority lies with the understanding that they can better satisfy people's spiritual demands with the possibility of personal possession and wearing. (2) The appearance attributes consumers discerned in FDAC products were identified as being mainly transferred from artists. (3) Given consumers' multiple interests in the FDAC project, the idea of a 'product packet' was proposed, which means design should cover both individual products and the surroundings. (4) The creation of a story was viewed as the core value of an FDAC product. In this circumstance, design techniques should serve the story. (5) Lastly, a gender orientation in FDAC cognition was identified.