A Study on the Purchasing Pattern of Husbands' Clothing: The Case of seoul

한국도시남편의 의복구매행동에 관한 연구 -서울시를 중심으로-

This study attempts to discern the purchasing pattern of urban husbands' clothing in Korea. Studies on this subject in other cultures show that wives play lesser role in purchasing activities of their husbands' clothing in the industrial societies rather than in the pre-industrial ones. It would be interesting to know the way selecting and buying husbands' clothing in urban Korea. Specifically questions to be answered include: Who makes the decision in selecting in kinds of husbands' clothing and who buy them? Data for this study has been collected through structured questionaire survey for 606 married women in the City of Seoul including 192 mothers of elementary school students, 58 elementary school teachers, 210 mothers of middle and high school students, 56 mothers of undergraduate students, and 47 college professors. Since most women of our sample are relatively high in educational level and working for various educational institutions, the findings of this study should not be generalized as a general trend of urban Korea. Major findings of this study include: 1) Purchasing husbands' clothing is not entirely wives' domain. The degree of participation on the part of wives in selecting and buying of their husbands' clothing depends upon the kinds of clothings. If it is for such items as underwear, socks, handkerchief, or umbrella, which are relatively easy to choose in terms of size, outlook, and price, more wives do the job. Other- wise, however, husbands more actively participate in selecting and buying their own clothings such as shoes, overcoats, neck tie, and formal wear. 2) In terms of clothing behavior of husbands, it seems to be a general trend that husbands select their clothings, but wives buy them. 3) Variables related to socio-economic status seem to affect the clothing behavior of husbands. Those who more actively participate in selecting and buying their clothings include: husbands whose wives have a job outside thier family, younger in age, middle school or high school graduates rather than college graduate or husbands with far lesser education, and husbands who live in western style houses rether than in traditional Korean houses.