It is the fashion conscious consumers who spread a style, but adoption in the root it will take. For a style to go through the fashion cycle, it must have mechanism of diffusion, that is a means by which it is spread. The following theoretical mechanisms are called Fashion Adoption Theories. Each of these theories has merit. (Greenwood and Murphy 1990)
1) Trickle Down Theory: This is the pyramid theory in which the top of the social stratum first adopts a style and then it trickles down to lower socioeconomic levels. When it finally reaches the general acceptance stage,the fashion innovator will no longer desire it. So,trickle down pattern occurs where a given fashion cycle flows downward through several socioeconomic levels.
2) Trickle Across Theory: The trickle across theory was proposed by Charles W King in (1963). This is a horizontal flow concept adhering to the principle that rapid communication allows the public to know immediately what the fashion innovations are. Mass production can introduce the style simultaneously in all price ranges. Therefore, each social class has the opportunity to accept or reject the new idea at the same time. Trickle across pattern occurs where the cycle moves horizontally and simultaneously within socioeconomic levels.
3) Trickle Up Theory (or Bottom Up Theory ): Trickle up patterns occurs where a style first becomes popular at lower socioeconomic levels and then flows upward to become popular among higher levels. Youths definitely play a role in the bottom up or trickle up theory, which was presented by Doyle Dane Bernbach,a New Yoke advertising agency. The assumption behind this theory is that lower income youth groups are much freer than any other social groups in their adoption of new style. This group has few inhibitions and traditions and a little social prestige or decision that might hamper decisions and actions. At the same time,the young from the emit social groups are so secure that they, too feel free to adopt unusual dress patterns. The middle class is truly thrust into the middle situation with the new trend of dress coming from the bottom and the top at the same time.
