Mean value of the cosine of the angle ϕ between the major eigenvector of the stellar distribution and the direction towards neighbouring subhaloes as a function of 3D galaxy separation, for galaxies in the orientation sample selected based on their shape. The selection is based on the sphericity of the whole stellar distribution defined as S = c/a where a and c are the square root of the major and minor eigenvalues of the inertia tensor respectively. We choose a threshold value for the sphericity of 0.5. The subhaloes used for the left-hand panel are taken from the EAGLE L100 (11.3 < log₁₀(M_sub/[h⁻¹ M_⊙]) < 12.6) simulation while in the right-hand panel they are taken from the cosmo-OWLS L200 simulation (12.6 < log₁₀(M_sub/[h⁻¹ M_⊙]) < 13.7). Thicker lines indicate components with stronger alignment. In both panels the error bars represent 1σ bootstrap errors. More spherical galaxies show a weaker orientation–direction alignment.