Context

After researching over the course of 8 weeks I found that Hollister scored the highest on my DEI scale. This finding was in support of my original hypothesis. As a result I will continue most of my shopping at Hollister and encourage my friends to do the same. In terms of research, I would like to continue to apply my DEI scale in a more informal way during my future shopping experiences. This can save me time and money from investing in shops that are not worth it. 

Product

I learned the value of time management, writing strategies and the importance of confidence in presentations. Time management was important when given due dates far in advance and learning how to self regulate your own data collection. I kept true to my schedule and never felt pressed for time during the project. 

Writing strategies are crucial when planning for the final paper. Finding ways to structure and fit a school year's worth of research into one paper is a difficult task. However, finding ways to reword and shrink concepts to fit the preferred structure is a skill that I will carry into future papers. 

Finally, I found the most important aspect of my presentation and oral defense was not what I said but how I said it. Feeling confident throughout the presentation helped my presenting skills and also made my presentation more engaging. This is also a very crucial life skill that I can apply to future presentations and meetings that I could have in the academic or professional world. 

Process 

Through this project I found how much easier it is to research and pursue something that I am passionate about. It was easy to stay motivated through the whole duration of the project and made my findings even more significant. I now have a better idea of what type of projects I am passionate about and how important it is to work on projects that I am interested in. 

Abstract 

Awareness for diversity, equity and inclusivity within the adult fashion industry has increased significantly. However, little improvements have been seen in the teen fashion industry. This paper investigates the gap in the fashion industry where less focus is on how teens perceive various fashion brands and more on selling a product. In order to justify my claim I chose three popular teen clothing brands that had reputable online shopping platforms such as Urban Outfitters, Pacsun, and Hollister. I then randomly selected three clothing items from the men and women home pages and evaluated them on a DEI scale. DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusivity which helped me define how representative each clothing brand is. I created my own DEI scale based on numerous credible sources that helped me create qualitative and quantitative parameters for my scale. I continued this random selection process over the course of 8 weeks and graded each brand on one designated day. For example, I graded  Urban Outfitters on Monday, Pacsun on Tuesday, and Hollister on Wednesday. This method reduced the chance for bias in my study. After I gathered all my data I combined the averages for each score and compared them on a weekly basis based on a series of graphs. I compared the brands visually but also had to run a statistical analysis test to make sure the differences were statistically significant. After running a statistical analysis test called the Anova Test I found that Hollister was the only brand that scored significantly higher on my DEI scale. Some limitations of my research were that most of the findings were opinion based and there was limited time for me to include a variety of brands or gather human participant data. Regardless of some limitations, this research can help teens find the best brands to shop for that represent their unique body types and make them feel confident.