Brand Trust and Emotional Attachment as Predictors of Long-Term Brand Loyalty in the Fashion Retail Industry
Keywords:
Brand trust, Emotional attachment, Long-term brand loyalty, Fashion retail, PLS-SEMAbstract
Purpose – This study examined whether brand trust and emotional attachment predict long-term brand loyalty in the fashion retail industry and assessed their combined predictive contribution.
Methodology – A quantitative explanatory design was employed through a cross-sectional survey of 312 fashion retail consumers in Greater Jakarta. Respondents had purchased from the same fashion brand at least twice during the previous 12 months and had known the brand for at least one year. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 4.
Findings – Brand trust positively predicted long-term brand loyalty (β = 0.361, p < 0.001), while emotional attachment produced a stronger positive effect (β = 0.493, p < 0.001). Together, both constructs explained 61.7% of the variance in loyalty. Positive Q²_predict values indicated meaningful predictive relevance.
Implications – Fashion retailers should combine reliable product and service performance with authentic, personalized, and identity-relevant customer experiences. Trust-building and emotional branding should be managed as complementary strategies.
Originality – The study positions brand trust and emotional attachment as parallel predictors of long-term loyalty and integrates cognitive and affective explanations in an emerging-market fashion retail context.
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