Purpose
– This study aims to investigate the relationship between young consumers' innovativeness and their hedonic/utilitarian attitudes toward cool clothing and to examine the moderating role of income on this relationship. This study uses five cool factors (singular cool, personal cool, aesthetic cool, functional cool and quality cool) under the hedonic and utilitarian cool dimensions to test the hypotheses.

Design/methodology/approach
– Using a web-based survey, 265 responses were used for analysis. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the measurement scales. Single-group SEM and multiple-group SEM were performed to examine the hypothesized relationships.

Findings
– Innovative young consumers tend to have stronger hedonic cool attitude toward clothing than non-innovative young consumers. In contrast, innovativeness and utilitarian values of cool products are not interrelated for young consumers. Innovative, high-income young consumes have a tendency to purchase cool products to reflect their personality, individuality, and self-identity.

Research limitations/implications
– This study has limitations for future research with regard to the generalization of the findings because this study focused on a sample of college students.

Practical implications
– This study will provide some valuable information about young consumers' purchasing behaviours toward cool products for commercial marketers.

Originality/value
– This study provides an initial contribution to the literature on the relationships between young consumers' hedonic/utilitarian attitudes and their innovativeness and income levels.