• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.75-89
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to provide information how to locate a apparel store based on target age, merchandise's type and price. Three trade areas in Seoul are chosen: Myeong-dong which is the biggest trade area in Korea; Kangnam station one of representative Kangnam trade areas; and Myeongil-Dong a neighborhood trade area. This study is mainly performed by analysing the locations of the stores in the given areas. The result shows that the main apparel stores in Myeong-dong are casual wear stores for young people with the range of mid-high price. The stores in Kangnam station trade area also sell the casual wear for young people but they are mostly mid-low priced. In the trade area of Myeongil-dong, however, there are various kinds of mid-priced apparel stores for residents of all ages. Apparel stores for formal wear, casual wear, and formal-casual wear tend to be located side by side. But other kinds do not. These results show that affinity is found in some types of apparel stores by the analysis of the next-door apparel stores.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.462-473
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• 2008

In recent years, Korea's apparel exports to the USA have faced a great threat, as the trade environment around the world has changed continually. The purpose of this study is to analyze the competitive position of Korean apparel exports to the USA, and to enhance export competitiveness by applying to offshore sourcing. The trade data of the Office of Textiles and Apparel(OTEXA) in the U.S. Department of Commerce were selected for inquiry about export competitiveness of apparel products made in Korea. In addition, we targeted members of the Korea Apparel Industry Association among the 500 exporters of clothing items in "The Import and Export Textile Product 2003." A total 70 sheets were analyzed. The results of this study were as follows: 1) Korean apparel exports to USA have decreased by 20-35 percent per year since 2005 under the Free Trade Area, showing that Korean apparel industries have not adapted to the new trade environment. Although Korean apparel exports to USA have indicated a trade surplus from now on, Korean apparel industries should find new ways to overcome this situation, diminishing exports and increasing imports. 2) Korean apparel companies selected more offshore sourcing than domestic sourcing. Also, as Korean apparel companies manufactured apparel products offshore, foreign subcontracting outranked manufacturing in their own foreign plants. When they chose foreign countries to source, they turned mainly to China and Vietnam. Also, they considered the target country's manufacturing price, labor stability, apparel products, quality, lead time, and so on. In order to increase apparel exports, Korean apparel industries should focus more on developing competitively new apparel products, improving the ability of sourcing management, and establishing on-the-spot agencies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.889-900
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was; to investigate consumers'selection criteria for their trade area when purchasing apparel products; to study whether there is a difference on the importance of the selection criteria; to examine consumers'willingness to visit specific trade area according to the types of apparel products. Four hundred sixty-nine female consumers who lived in the two new towns, Bundang and Ilsan participated in the study by completing questionnaires. Data were analyzed using factor analyses, t-tests, paired t-teats and chi-square analyses. The results indicated that consumer selected trade area based on shop variety within trade areas and range of products, customer services, environment of trade area, price level, entertaining features of the trade area, and the convenience of location and shopping time. In addition, the importance of these criteria varied according to the types of apparel products(i.e. formal wears and casual wears). The types of apparel products had influence on consumers'willingness to visit specific trade area. Consumers preferred the trade areas in the new towns for purchasing formal wears, whereas they frequented the trade areas in Seoul for purchasing casual wears.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.65-79
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• 2021

Apparel fairs are business platforms specializing in selling fashion products. As the largest apparel fair in the United States and with the highest number of animated buyers in the entire world, the Las Vegas Magic Show utilizes this distribution platform to the greatest extent by sustaining over 90,000 buyers annually. In accordance, the exhibiting companies also participate in commercial functions by striving to promote brand awareness to consumers as they carefully plan to increase actual sales and secure new customers. Domestically, numerous organizations such as the Trade Promotion Administration, the Korean Apparel Association, and KOTRA(Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) present similar international apparel fairs to strongly encourage domestic companies to exhibit at international apparel fairs. However, many companies fail to succeed in achieving actual results, which frequently causes them to attend the shows for the short term only. This may occur due to the lack of research on apparel order-writing exhibitions by academia and proactive workers. This research study was based on the careful observation and analysis of the three most recent years of Magic exhibitor attendees' operations and changes to accomplish the final objective of presenting a basic guideline to attend an international apparel exhibition.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.21-30
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• 1989

The U.S. response to increased international competition was examined in the present study in order to have more comprehensive understanding of the U.S. textile and clothing market. The method employed to conduct the study was the analysis of the written materials, interview with professionals, and the survey of the actual situations of the U.S. textile and apparel industries. The results are summarized as follows; 1. Official U.S. textile and apparel trade policy has been quite has been quite protective since 1950's. The protective trend has been embodied in Japan Cotton Textile Export Control (reciprocal trade agreement signed by the U.S. and Japan in 1957), Short Term Arrangement Regarding International Trade in Cotton Textiles, Long Term Cotton Textile Arrangement (1962∼1973), and Multi-fiber Arrangement (1974∼). Other governmental programs designed to improve the competitiveness of the U.S. textile and apparel industries include Long-term Textile and Apparel Products Export-expansion Program, and 807 Trade to take labor cost advantage. 2. Along with the quite protective governmental trade policy, the corporate responses have been made such as new sourcing mixes, investment in technology, specialization in the textile and apparel industries, and recent strategies pursued by retailer's. The apparel industry was subject to pressure from imports that increased at moderate levels, and the U.S. textile and apparel industries have made extensive efforts to adjust to the increasing competition from abroad. The textile and apparel industries have taken steps to increase labor productivity through automation, to speed management to create and introduce new products and new methods, and have lowered indirect overhead costs. Several industrywide promotion campaigns have attempted to establish a greater public awareness of international competition and to develop a preference for apparel produced in the United States. 3. Regarding these response of the U.S. and other situations of world textile and apparel trade market, much of the sense of crisis that pervades Korean textile and apparel industries has to do with the problem of adjusting government and corporate policy. Textile and apparel industry of Korea faces on going pressure to reduce costs, improve quality, increase service, develop new markets, diversify, and differentiate itself from its foreign competitors. The strategies that have been adopted in the past have generally worked in the past, but the time has come to adopt strategies that reflect present conditions. If this is not done, then we stand to lose large segments of these industries, which once lost will not easily be regenerated.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2017

The purpose of this research was to develop a typology of fair-trade apparel consumers and present a clear overview of the influence of product knowledge on consumer behaviors. A two-step cluster analysis was used to classify respondents into sub-groups based on their level of self-perceived knowledge and purchase experience. In addition, ANOVA was used to test the predictive validity of the cluster solution. Income was the only demographic variable that significantly differed across groups. The more familiar and more experienced group had higher income than the other groups. Psychographic data showed that attitudes and moral norms varied across groups. The more familiar and more experienced group had more positive attitudes and higher level of moral norms than the less familiar and less experienced group. In terms of behavioristic data, groups differed significantly in purchase intentions and willingness to pay more for fair-trade apparel. That is, the more familiar and more experienced group was willing to pay more and had higher purchase intentions than the less familiar and less experienced group. Overall, the level of product knowledge and purchase experience were considerably low. This study thus confirmed the need to increase consumers' familiarity related to fair-trade apparel products.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2014

This study focuses on apparel production and consumption trends in major Asian economies in order to understand a paradigm change in the Asian fashion industry. A comparison of trade among ASEAN, NICs, and developed countries shows the changes that have occurred in terms of production and consumption of fashion products before and after 2000 in Korea, Hong Kong, and China. The flow of imports and exports in the apparel industry was analyzed using UN trade statistics data. The results found a change of industry structures in Asian NICs and ASEAN countries. Garment production bases have moved to lower cost regions like China and ASEAN; in addition, NICs sent a part of their export business in the fashion industry to ASEAN countries. The Asian fashion industry has transformed from a production base for developed countries into a consumption market with the emergence of newly industrializing economies.

• Fashion, Industry and Education
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.24-34
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• 2016

This research examined two decades of the U.S. used clothing exports to the world. All countries (209) were classified into four groups based on the level of economic development. Between 1996 and 2012, U.S. used clothing exports shifted away from low-income economies to high-income economies. For the first time, our research demonstrated that the majority of used clothing discarded by American consumers is exported to high-income economies instead of poorest nations of the world. Next, used clothing exports and imports by volume and value in seven high-income countries were analyzed. The high-income countries not only exported but also imported significant amount of used clothing, which indicates a growing demand for worn apparel in developed nations. The demand might be at least partially attributed to the popular vintage clothing trend and increasing consumer environmentalism. Implications regarding development and implementation of a new classification system of worn clothing and recommendations for future research are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.66 no.5
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• pp.49-65
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• 2016

This study investigated the effect of emotional appeals on consumers' attitude towards fair trade apparel advertisements, and their intention to purchase those fair trade apparels. The interaction effect of the advertising channel and the mediation effect of perceived consumer effectiveness(PCE) were examined. Four stimuli were manipulated using two types of emotions(positive/negative) and two types of advertising channels(magazine/SNS) were used to analyze consumers' reaction. The results demonstrated the significant differences in attitude towards ads and purchase intention according to the types of emotional appeals used in fair trade apparel ads. However, the interaction effect between the types of emotion and advertising channels was not identified. The results of mediation analysis showed that positive emotion influenced purchase intention directly without forming a favorable attitude towards the ads, whereas negative emotion had no significant influence on attitude towards the ads and purchase intention. The results also identified that PCE mediated between emotion elicited by ads and purchase intention. This study suggests that delivering images and messages that creates positive emotion should be considered when fair trade ads are produced. In addition, fair trade ads need to be devised to enhance PCE by emphasizing that ethical choices of individual consumers can change the working environment of manufacturing countries.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.11
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• pp.17-26
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• 1975

This study examined the flexibility strategies and the spatial division of labour on production system in the industrial restructuring process of textile and apparel industry in Daegu. Textile and apparel firms in Daegu have come to have power after holding trade function. In the context of existing variant production units across all the sectors of the textile and apparel industry, individual firms that hold trade function can organize the lowest cost production system. Daegu's Textile and apparel industry in Daegu shows the complicated and closely realted production system through individual firm's flexibility strategies. Although the textile and apparel firms produce the same item or have the same size, they pursue different flexibility strategies and form different networked production system and different spatial division of labour.