The purpose of this study is to investigate symbolic consumption of fashion global brands and its relation to the self. This work adopts a qualitative approach and the “tripartite model of self” (Brewer & Yuki, 2007) to study brand meaning among consumers in two different cultural settings: UK and Colombia. Findings show how some meanings change among groups, addressing different self-identity needs, motivations and tensions. This work contributes to debates around international marketing strategies.

The Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) literature has, in recent years, introduced various CBBE models and measurement scales. This study aims to compare the external validity of the two prominent CBBE models in the fashion retail industry; those introduced by Yoo and Donthu (2011) based on Aaker (1991)’s CBBE concept and Nam et al. (2011). In order to make this comparison, the study collected data from 285 respondents in Turkey. Research findings show that Nam et al.’s (2011) CBBE model is, in the fashion industry context, the more reliable and valid. When the concept of “brand awareness” is included in this model, the psychometric properties of the model are improved.