Individual differences, motivations, and willingness to use a mass customization option for fashion products

Mass customization entails the mass production of individually customized goods and services. Co‐design is a mass customization option where a product's design is based on the customer's selections from a range of design feature offerings. A model comprised of relationships between individual differences, motivations for using co‐design, and willingness to use co‐design was proposed and statistically supported using 521 university subjects from different regions of the USA and the analysis of moment structures (AMOS) statistic. As hypothesized, optimum stimulation level (OSL) predicted two clothing interest factors: experimenting with appearance (EA) and enhancement of individuality (EI). As proposed, OSL and EA predicted the two motivations, trying co‐design as an exciting experience and using co‐design to create a unique product, whereas EI only predicted using co‐design to create a unique product. Both motives were mediating variables between individual differences and willingness to use co‐design, but using co‐design to create a unique product had a stronger effect. Theoretical and marketing implications were discussed.