In Search of the Bricoleur Consumer: Conceptualizing and Measuring Bricolage in Fashion Consumption

ABSTRACT We conceptualize consumer bricolage in fashion as everyday practices of assembling, adapting, and personalizing garments to express identity within resource‐constrained contexts, and develop a validated, multidimensional scale to capture it. Across five studies, we specify the construct via qualitative inquiry, generate and screen items, and then use survey‐based analyses to establish a reliable three‐dimensional structure, along with convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The resulting scale is theoretically distinct from adjacent constructs (e.g., customization, need for uniqueness, co‐creation, innovativeness) and exhibits the expected associations with fashion consciousness, as well as incremental links to fashion consciousness, identity distinctiveness, fashion innovativeness, and consumers' social media engagement. By clarifying the dimensions of consumer bricolage and providing a robust instrument, we advance research on consumer bricolage and self‐expressive consumption, particularly in contexts where resourcefulness and identity signaling are intertwined. For managers, the scale supports segmentation and the design of personalization pathways (e.g., modular assortments, upcycling kits, community challenges) that cultivate brand‐community engagement.