Fuzzy MCDM for evaluating fashion trend alternatives

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the developed personal pleasure fashion design model (PPFDM), the authors have developed six fashion trend alternatives. The purpose of this paper is to use the fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) to select the best fashion trend alternative.

Design/methodology/approach

To rationalize uncertainty associated with fuzzy, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) is proposed in this work to calculate the weight for the criteria. The synthetic evaluation is used to calculate the score for each criterion from the best non‐fuzzy performance (BNP) values and the weight of the criterion. The scores for each criterion are summed up to rank the importance of the alternatives.

Findings

The results show that the preferred trend of the alternatives is in the order of Romantic hippy, followed by Greek goddess, then Black knight, Urban punk, Country yappy, and Sporty academy. The multiple dimension scale (MDS) is used to visualize the preferred fashion trend alternatives; it reveals that the preference image goes from romantic to urban, to country, and finally to sporty.

Originality/value

The paper offers important criteria for the selection of fashion trend alternatives. The calculation examples provide insight into the complicated fuzzy AHP and MDS methods to clarify each step in fuzzy MCDM. This study, through using MDS, uncovers that material‐oriented consumers will purchase products or brands that are congruent with their inner femininity desire to create their personal identity and self‐image. Moreover, the developed framework has proven to be useful in improving the quality of fashion design decision.

Citation

Lin, C. and Twu, C.H. (2012), "Fuzzy MCDM for evaluating fashion trend alternatives", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 24 No. 2/3, pp. 141-153. https://doi.org/10.1108/09556221211205586