Meskerem MitikuLeul Taye2026-10-312026-10-312026-06-02https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/9239This study explored how consumers in Addis Ababa construct and narrate meaning around traditional and modern clothing, and how those meanings shape clothing choices across different social contexts. The study aimed to understand what clothing signifies to urban Ethiopian consumers, how personal histories and social interactions shape those meanings, which situational contexts drive choices between traditional and imported clothing, and what those findings mean for local producers and policymakers. Thirty participants were interviewed using a life-history approach, drawn from a wide range of ages, genders, occupations, and migration backgrounds across three market sites: Shero Meda, Merkato, and Shola. Observation sessions ran alongside the interviews at all three sites. Trustworthiness was established through triangulation, member checking, peer debriefing, and reflexive journaling. identity, ceremony, and ethnic pride. Modern and imported clothing functions as social currency signaling professionalism and aspiration. A consistent set of situational rules governs when each type fits. Life turning points such as migration and career entry restructure how people relate to clothing over time. A persistent gap exists between the desire to support local production and what people actually buy. Three broader patterns ran across the dataset: a dual wardrobe logic most participants lived without questioning, an aspiration-constraint tension felt most sharply by younger participants, and a migration recalibration narrative among those who moved to Addis Ababa from other parts of Ethiopia. The findings show that locally produced modern clothing lacks a clear design identity and carries almost no visible Ethiopian character, placing it in a weak market position between traditional and imported clothing. The desire most participants expressed to support local production is genuine but largely inactive, waiting for products and occasions that make acting on it feel like a real choice. These findings carry direct implications for local designers, retailers, and policymakers who want to grow the domestic clothing market by engaging the cultural and symbolic dimensions of consumer behavior that production-side investment alone has not reached.enconsumer narrativestraditional clothingimported clothingcultural identitysituational rulesdual wardrobeconsumer ethnocentrismlife-history interviewsurban clothing consumptionAddis Ababa.Thesis