• Fashion, Industry and Education
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.24-34
• /
• 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 Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.63-78
• /
• 2015

The purpose of this study is to compare the style of clothing by type of the Goguryeo and Xianbei Tribe based on the examination of the literature centered on the historical relationship between Goguryeo and Xianbei Tribe. The research results are as follows. First, it was found that both the apparels of Goguryeo and Xianbei Tribe had hemp cloth with the V-neckline with the blocked front part and hemp cloth with the open front that is worn by overlapping the straight collars of the upper garment. Both men and women wore the garment of the straight line collar that is worn by folding towards the left or right, or upper garment of the round shaped collar. Women wore an upper garment with short sleeves on top of the upper garment of Korean traditional clothes while men wore pants for the lower garment, and women wore skirt and apron with triangular cloth decoration on top of the skirt. Second, Goguryeo Anak Tomb No. 3 mural painting(year 357) shows that apparel worn by the lady who is the wife of the owner of the tomb is similar to the apparel worn by the lady in the lacquer painting for folding screen of the Sima Jinlong Tomb ancient painting on the woman of chaste reputation in terms of the form and structure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.63 no.1
• /
• pp.81-96
• /
• 2013

We interviewed and surveyed parents of 3 to 6-year-old boys in order to determine designs for indoor apparel that appealed to toddlers. In addition, on the basis of the behavioral characteristics of such boys, improvements in the development of indoor apparels were suggested. Parents preferred indoor apparels because it could be worn as underwear when the kid is outdoors and as outerwear when indoors. These apparels were popular with toddlers. Therefore, indoor apparel that gives the impression of outerwear while performing the function of underwear was designed. Underwear fabric was used, but outerwear apparel design was partially adopted. In order to improve the activity, fabric that could be stretched in any direction was used for the sleeves and pant legs, while organic fabric with soft texture was used for the trunk part of the apparel. Dark-colored material was used for the chest and elbow parts of the clothes in order to prevent contamination in these parts. In particular, a bib was used to prevent contamination in the chest part. Given that toddlers engage in many activities, the fabric needed to be durable, so this led to thick materials being used for the knee part. As certain parents complained about the short length for tops, we increased the length of the tops by 5cm. In the survey items that investigated overall wearability, ease, and suitability for toddlers' activities, the test apparel obtained a higher score than existing apparel did. This indicates that the overall suitability of the newly designed apparel was improved.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.365-377
• /
• 2011

The dual purposes of this study were to investigate footwear worn by college students who have become spoilt for choice in apparel & shoes, and point out the problems of their shoe-wearing habbits. The survey was administered in October, 2010 to 600 college residents in Kwangju-Jeonnam area and the results are as follows. Firstly, the most frequently worn footware by males were sneakers, followed by dress shoes and oxford shoes. Females followed a similar trend with sneakers being the most frequently worn, followed by high heeled shoes, flat shoes, wedge high heeled shoes and chucker boots. Secondly, both male and female students thought that the most comfortable and favorable shoes for them were sneakers and the most uncomfortable ones were high-heeled shoes and sandals. They thought chucker boots were both fashionable and comfortable. Thirdly, the degree of unsatisfaction for shoes was relatively high and the influencing factors for unsatisfaction were uncomfortable soles, aches around the toes and a frontward leaning posture of the body, etc. Finally, 87% of the female subjects who had experience wearing high-heeled(over 7cm height) shoes showed a significant increase in foot disorders than those who had never worn high-heeled shoes. According to the results, it is necessary to educate proper selection and wearing of footwear in order to prevent foot disorders and maintain overall health of the body.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.61-71
• /
• 2020

This study looks at 'Corporate Social Responsibility' which is required for the fashion industry and brands in modern times. The American fashion brand known for its corporate social responsibility activities, 'Patagonia' is the case study for this research. The purpose of this study is to make suggestions to eco-friendly, outdoor and casual apparel fashion brands that want to introduce corporate social responsibility programs by considering the case of Patagonia's "Worn Wear" campaign. The method of this study was to review corporate social responsibility, previous studies on Patagonia, and literature, such as domestic and foreign media, Patagonia's official homepage, specialty publications, and media. The study concerning corporate social responsibility is focused on Patagonia's "Worn Wear". Worn Wear is Patagonia's system that repurchases and repairs products from Patagonia's own consumers. The study found that the well known corporate social responsibility led to increased sales. Patagonia's social responsibility activities are thought to be part of the brand identity that goes beyond marketing. In the Worn Ware case, repurchasing products from consumers and reselling them or reprocessing them resulted in increased sales, increased consumer engagement, and higher brand attention. The suggestion for a fashion company or brand in a category similar to Patagonia that is looking to engage in corporate social responsibilbty is to adopt and continue a campaign that 'consists of a successful marketing image, connecting memories and new experiences, separated shopping channels while diversifying the creation of distribution and contact channels'.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.30 no.1 s.149
• /
• pp.167-175
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study is to clarify the expansion of functions of clothes by analyzing the characteristics of transformation, and to forecast future trends in fashion through systematization of the aforementioned analyses. Analysis of 20th century Modernism and Post-Modernism in a sociocultural sense confirms that transformation in clothes was formed by environmental, functional, deconstructive, and expressive factors. In this sense, the formative factors mentioned above conceptually include nomadic characteristics, usefulness, irregularity, and expressiveness. The nomadic characteristics found in clothes transformation signify the change of clothes into environmental nomadic everyday implements, used as tools for the body. Usefulness of clothes means that it is worn for variability, multipurpose multi-functionality, and combined multiple use. Irregularity means the clothes can change indefinitely, according to random manipulation on the wearer's part. Last of all, expressiveness conveys the designer's internal sensitivity and imagination onto an external object through the induction of various expressive factors.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.239-245
• /
• 2000

The purpose of this study was for analysis of ease about basic bodice pattern, as the first step of the research process for the drawing method of basic bodice for women in their twenties. The five selected basic bodice were made and they were worn by FRP body The garment space of each bodice was measured by analysis of the garment space of each section in figure of polymerization of cross section by a 3-D measuring instrument. The research suggests that this compared analysis is an objective reference. This analysis not only of the area of cross section of garment space and ease but also of the girth of the body shape and wearing shape, using the PAD system and 3-D measuring instrument, can be helpful in making garment patterns.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
• /
• v.63 no.8
• /
• pp.143-155
• /
• 2013

The outdoor apparel market has been growing very fast recently, and consumers are spending more time doing outdoor activities for their leisure. As the outdoor apparel market is growing, it has started to combine functionality with style to provide more diverse designs and colors for all ages. The increase of interest in heathy life-styles, outdoor activities, and leisure has lead to a rise in demand for outdoor apparel. Now outdoor apparel have become a part of people's daily casual wear in addition to being worn for outdoor activities. This study is focused on a outdoor jacket design which is used as down-alternative material and the purpose of this study is to design outdoor jackets using a down-alternative fabrics that improve the thermal and lightweight effects for clothing comfort, and increase the satisfaction of wearing down-alterative outdoor jacket. The research of this paper was done by using a questionnaire survey. The survey was used to examine the male customers' outdoor activities, purchase behaviors, place, expense and design preferences. Then, down-like fabric was used to make the prototype down jacket and its design, function, and satisfaction with wearing compared with other brands down jacket products were analyzed. Although duck down fabrics are representative of outdoor jackets, they have many problems that need to be solved such as feathers falling out or its vulnerability to moisture. They have competitive prices compared to down jackets so down-alternative jackets are able to gain more proportion of its market share.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.657-670
• /
• 2018

This study investigated the wearing of jackets by down-aging middle-aged women in their 40s to 50s who enjoy wearing attire from ladies' apparel brands that target the 20s to 30s age group. As a method of research, a survey was done on middle-aged women in their 40s and 50s as the target age group. Based on the survey results, comparison and analysis was done on the wearing of jackets as well as preferred extra space and fitness of the clothes, with the distinction between the down-aging group and the non down-aging group. The down-aging middle-aged women purchased jackets mainly at department stores, outlets, discount outlets, and internet shopping malls, and showed the highest frequency of wearing the jackets once or twice a week. For the item "importance in selecting a jacket", both groups chose "the design" as the most important aspect; however, the non down-aging group took "size and fitness" and "activity and comfort" more than the down-aging group. Especially regarding the size of the jackets, size S (55) was the most often worn by the down-aging group, whereas size M (66) was the most often worn by the non down-aging group.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.70-79
• /
• 2010

There has been some research conducted that addressed immoral consumer behaviors in Korea; however, most of this research focused on purchasing counterfeits or shoplifting. High return rates of apparel and used apparel returns have been acknowledged as problem areas within the fashion industry. However, very few researchers have addressed this issue. Therefore, the goal of this research was to explore consumer's retail borrowing experience using a mixed methods approach. In study 1 Korean consumer's retail borrowing experiences was explored through focus group interviews. Findings informed study 2 an examination of apparel consumers' attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior via an online survey. Findings assist both researchers' and practitioners' understanding of retail borrowing behaviors and provide insight into retail borrowing issues in the apparel retail industry. For study 1, five focus-group interviews were conducted with seven panels of individuals that had retail borrowing experience within the past year. Thirty-five Korean consumers who lived in a metropolitan area participated in the focus group interviews. Most of consumers were in their 20's (n=21) and were women (n=24). Most participants purchased apparel items from a retail store and returned the worn items for either a full refund or exchanged the worn item for another item. Motives underlying retail borrowing behavior included social needs, job-related needs, fashion needs, and "smart shopping." Similar to existing research findings from other countries, social needs were the most frequently mentioned cause of retail borrowing in fashion stores. Consumers' moral values, attitude toward large corporations, and prior retail borrowing experience were mentioned as possible factors affecting consumers' retail borrowing behavior. For study 2, the questionnaire used to gather the data was developed based on the findings of part I and existing research. Questions concerning consumers' moral beliefs, sensation seeking tendencies, self-worth, past retail job experience, retail borrowing experience, and some demographic characteristics were included in the questionnaire. The data were collected via an online survey using an online panel provided by a commercial online research company located in Seoul, Korea. In order to obtain various consumers, a quota sample was (male: female=1:1, 20's:30's:40's=1:1:1, retail experience: no retail experience=1:3) obtained from the company. A total of 401 consumers who had shopped for apparel items during the prior 6 months participated in the online survey. The results indicated that 19.7% of the respondents reported they had experience borrowing fashion merchandise. Among these individuals, male borrowers (57%) outnumbered female borrowers. In terms of age distribution, x2 revealed that there was a statistical difference between respondents with and without retail borrowing experiences: 41.8% of the respondents with retail borrowing experience were in their 40's, while respondents without retail borrowing experience were evenly distributed between their 20's to 40's. There was also a significant difference between respondents with and without retail borrowing experience in terms of income: respondents with retail borrowing experience tended to have higher incomes than those without retail borrowing experience. T-tests were performed to compare respondents' fashion shopping behavior, moral beliefs, sensation-seeking tendencies, and attitudes toward retail borrowing behavior between participants with and without retail borrowing experience. As compared to those with no borrowing experience, respondents with experience tended to shop for fashion items more frequently and spent more on shopping for fashion items. Consumers with experience borrowing tended to have higher sensation-seeking tendencies than consumers without retail borrowing experience. A regression analysis revealed that attitudes toward fashion retail borrowing were negatively related to consumers' moral beliefs, but positively related to monthly fashion shopping frequency, sensation-seeking tendencies, and past fashion retail borrowing experience. Among these variables, past retail borrowing experience was the most significant predictor, followed by moral beliefs. This research serves as an initial attempt to address the motives that underlie retail borrowing behaviors and the factors affecting those behaviors. The findings of this study may facilitate an understanding of the consumer's retail borrowing, which will provide a basis for approaches that may help decrease retail borrowing and inappropriate returns at fashion retail stores. The findings may also provide materials for consumer education over the long term. In order to better understand fashion retail borrowing behavior, more research is needed in the future.