O significado atribuído pelo consumidor à utilização da nanotecnologia em tecido com valor de moda

Abstract

The new textile properties developed through nanotechnology not only provide added value to the final product, consequently allowing the industrial companies to reach top positions in the competitive market of textiles and clothing, but also, and mainly, interfere with the manner through which the consumer assigns meanings to that technological innovation and, consequently, with the way that those persons interact with the consumer goods. Therefore, this dissertation establishes as general aim to investigate the meanings that the consumer assigns to the nanotechnology that is impregnated in cloths with fashion value. Besides that, the specific aims are: 1) ascertain if the consumer can perceive the difference between cloths developed with nanotechnological products and cloths produced through the conventional forms; 2) understand the manner through which the consumers apprehend those differences, regardless the information about the presence of nanotechnological contents in cloths with fashion value; 3) identify how the information about the presence of nanotechnological contents impregnated in cloths with fashion value can interfere with the manner how the consumers perceive the sensory characteristics of those textile artifacts; 4) evaluate the different meanings produced by the consumers through the analysis of the characteristics perceived in the cloth. Given this, it is possible to state that the making of this dissertation is justified by the fact that it allows the guidance towards the development of strategies that will improve the properties of the cloths in accordance with the physical and emotional needs of the consumers, being also able to provide guidance concerning to the recommendations on how those information can be diffused in a more efficient and effective way. The methodology utilized is characterized as being exploratory, and, in order to be developed, it was applied a sequential combination between quantitative and qualitative methods, which had as a tool for collecting data, respectively, the survey technique and the focal group, being the last one a stage reserved for observation and discussion of the perceived characteristics reached through the sensorial analysis of different types of cloths impregnated and profited with a cosmetic substance developed through nanotechnology. In what to the quantitative analysis of data is concerned, it were utilized elements that belong to the field of the descriptive statistics regarding to the profile of the investigated sample, that is to say, to characterize the consumers that have residence in the Metropolitan Micro-region of Recife. In addition, for the analysis of the qualitative data it was utilized the content analysis. As a result, through the results presented in this dissertation, it is possible to recognize not only the profile of the consumers but also the manner through which they recognize the signs associated to the textile technology and the manner how they apprehend the differences in the cloth when there is no information about the presence (or not) of nanotechnological content, as well as the main significances given by the consumers to the utilization of nanotechnology, being some of them: the high costs of the cloths produced with nanotechnological products, the increase of the environmental and social responsibility for the manufacturers and the consumers, the improvement of the quality of the textile products, among others.