Abstract
The purpose of this study were 1) to find out the structural elements in classifying clothes images, and 2) to segment the consumer market for women's street clothes based on clothes image preferences and to identify the group differences in psychological variables, purchasing behavior variables and demographic variables. The sample was taken from 1106 middle class women who were in thier 30's∼40's living in Gwangju city. Consumers were classified into six groups: active image group (35.4%), feminine image group (25.9%). daring image group (16.5%), elegant image group (10.8%), dressy image group (8.9%) and brisk image group (3.5%). Women in their 30's∼40's preferred elegant image, daring image, active image and feminine image. Elegant image oriented group: This group is the lowest education level group and has the highest rating of housewife. This group has the lowest scores use of person information search, Daring image oriented group: Woman in their 30's prefers daring image. This group thinks practical benefit sought is less important than self-expression benefit sought. This group has the highest scores use of non-person information search, Active image oriented group: This group is practical benefit seeking group. and purchases the lowest amount of clothes. The amount of average household income is the lowest. Feminine image oriented group: The amount of average household income is the highest. This group perceives more youth$.$fashion benefit sought and self-expression benefit sought than elegant image oriented group. ANOVA, $\chi$$^2$-test revealed differences among groups according to benefit sought use of information sources, purchasing behavior variables and demographic variables.
