The purpose of this study was to determine adolescents' patronage motives and non-motives when using catalogs for clothing shopping. In addition, the study examined the purchasing role structure, payment practices, information sought, product-specific attributes considered, and shopping practices of adolescents in catalog shopping for their clothing.;Self-administered questionnaires were given to 272 junior high and high school boys and girls who have clothing that was purchased from a catalog in the past 12 months. Subjects were located in two midwestern cities approximately 15 miles apart, each with a population of approximately 20,000. The statistics used for analysis were analysis of variance, discriminate analysis, factor analysis, and t-tests.;Findings suggest adolescents' motives for catalog shopping are that catalogs offer top fashions and unique better quality clothing that is not available elsewhere. Adolescents' non-motives for catalog shopping are that they cannot try on the clothes and returning the clothes is a problem. Adolescents generally decide alone in catalog purchase decisions; however, when influenced, friends are considered the most influential people in the purchase decision. Adolescents' parents have more influence on higher risk purchases, such as coats, than lower risk purchases, such as socks. The adolescents' parents generally pay for the purchases, and the payment methods most frequently used are checks and store charge cards. Information generally sought by adolescents is size, price, and brand name; and, product-specific attributes most often considered are style, color, and fit. Adolescents tend to comparison shop by looking at each page and making comparisons within the catalog before purchasing.
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