• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.165-182
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• 1994

Korea's clothing industry which has been country's leading export industry and basic strategical industry is now faced with many difficulties both domestically and internationally. Domestically it is faced with continuing shortage of manpower in both production line and management high labour cost causing increase in price putting more weight on behavior of consumers resulting in change of industrial environment and continuing structural problems of industry itself. Internationally it is faced with strengthening of import regulations and protectionism of developed countries and rapid emergence of underdeveloped countries as leading exporting nations. In reality export plays the most essential role in our economy and is especially sensitive to the external environmental factors. Already economic bloc phonomenon can be seen everywhere and is continuing to accelerate in place such as E. U in Europ, North & South America as NAFTA, and South East Asian contries which recent tendency of economic unity effort is present. These countries of such economic blocs are imposing heavy custom duties reinforcing provision of country origin and acting out strict inspection regulations in order to protect the interest of their own industry. Therefore it is vital to manufacture excellent quality goods For these reasons study in this area has brought attention in Korea as well as worldwide in the recent years. Apparel industry which requires professional technology and ability is the most competitive international business. In order to challenge the international market the high level of intelligence is most required to produce high quality goods. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between functions and roles of marketing and to approach problems in more efficient manner. Apparel industry is composed of various programs such as design pattern making merchandising and textile science. To succeed in the business is to give the highest satisfaction to the targeted market. Hence this study will example the factors that determine the Cost Quality and Performance of apparel products. The study will involve following steps; firstly establish relationship between the quality concept and productivity of apparel products Secondly inquire in to marketing strategy laying stress on apparel production related factors focusing on merchandising marketing production and operations Thirdly prospect 21st century apparel industry focusing on garment production and trade and also other countries structural improvement Fourthly establish the new dimension of competitive factors by grasping the actual circumstance of Korea's apparel industry in the international market. The research method will include; First reality approach method by analysing the present state of industry Second literal analysis such as marketing comparisons between leading apparel exporting countries.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.158-175
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to understand and improve the clothing habits and the apparel industry of North Korea in preparation for the reunification of South and North Korea. For this study, literary data, reports, periodicals, interviews and internet data of the two Koreas were reviewed. North Korean clothing habits used to be monotonous and uniform but nowadays people's clothes have become somewhat brighter in color and more diverse in design than before. In particular, liberal and individual dressing habits appeared among the privileged classes. When taking part in national events, women have to wear the traditional Korean costume, Hanbok, while men wear business suits for formal wear. In general, men don't wear Hanbok. Students have to be in uniforms but blue jeans, T-shirts with English logos were popular among them reflecting their sensitivity and openness towards western cultures. The brides usually wear pink Hanboks and the bridegrooms wear black business suits for their wedding. North Koreans also wear Hanbok on national holidays like South Koreans. Clothing is the most important item in the trade of process commission between North and South Korea. Trading items are mid to low end men's clothing for the most part due to less emphasis on fashion in the North. The processing is indirect trade and composed of sample making and contracting, sending out materials and production, carrying in goods and setting accounts. To activate South-North trade, establishment of infrastructure, stabilization of shipping, reducing high costs of distribution, building direct communication system by setting up office in a neutral zone and simplifying procedures in applying for the South and North Korea Economic Cooperation Fund. On the other hand, clothing and textiles education is carried on at art colleges, light industries colleges and commercial colleges in Pyongyang. Clothing institutes which study Hanbok and Western clothes, are installed in each city and province. Graduates who majored in clothing and textiles are posted in institutes or apparel factories. Their job is designing, patternmaking and sewing for their customers. Most of them are women and in good state of economic conditions. The North Korean clothing industry has been the core national industry that has developed based on overseas demand form the mid 1980s. The standard is that of South Korea in the early 1980s. In 1999, trade of North Korean textile products with trade counterparts such as Japan and China was $1.3 million in exports and $1.27 in imports. Of this amount the export takes up 25.4% of the total exports in North Korea. However, fundamentally even in sectors that are irrelevant to politics such as the fashion clothing industry, trust between the South and North should be a prerequisite. Only through this can exchange between North and South and economic cooperation contribute towards the reunification.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.832-847
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• 2014

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to building some strategic foundations for future Korean foreign investors in Cambodia by investigating trends and institutional changes in inward foreign direct investment and working conditions in Cambodia. Rapid increase in labor costs, and investment incentives centering on high-tech industries in China and Vietnam has led to the relocation of labor-intensive industries into low wage countries since the early 2000. As a result, Cambodia has emerged as a new alternative investment region in which enable to off-set existing locational and institutional advantages, so that it has implicated in changes in Asian economic geographies. In addition, the Cambodian government has operated two labor relations projects - Better Factory Cambodia and Labor Dispute Resolution Project - with ILO to improve the working conditions of foreign investment firms. These projects could provide an insight into constructing strategies for foreign investment, and also imply institutional embeddedness in Cambodia.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.54-66
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• 2008

This study aims to suggest better future-oriented improvements by considering the traits and changes of the curriculum of the courses related to the field of fashion. To get the best results from the study, out of all the fashion-related majors (courses) from 4-year based universities in Korea, 65 was selected and divided into 24 courses in the category of clothing & textiles, 34 courses in the category of fashion design and 7 courses in the category of fashion industry in 7 universities, and their education goals and contents of the curriculum posted on the internet homepage of each university were analyzed. The results of the study are as follows: Firstly, with the result from analyzing what the core terms have in common, which are used to express the educational purposes of fashion-related courses in Korea, the ideal type of talents that most of the fashion-related courses tend to pursue can be said to be those who are equipped with a sense of future-oriented creative direction and international communication capability, based on a multidisciplinary general capability, a professional executive ability, an information-analytic ability and an ability of planning, as well as in possession of a sense of beauty, creativity and a scientific mind. Secondly, with the traits of the curriculum of courses in each category, it was found that the category of clothing & textiles courses belongs to colleges of human ecology the most, and in terms of major subjects, the relative importance of clothing science seemed high compared to other school categories while the category of fashion design courses belongs to colleges of art, modeling or design the most, and in terms of major subjects, the scope of dress design appeared the widest, and finally the category of fashion industry courses belongs to colleges of natural science the most, and the relative importance of marketing seemed quite high. Moreover, with the result mentioned earlier, It was found that the names of departments and majors of fashion-related courses are differentiated, depending on what kind of college they belong to, and their curriculum have been differentiated to some degree accordingly. Thirdly, as shown above, Korean universities have attempted to make a lot of changes in the curriculum of fashion-related courses according to changes of the age, compared to what they did in the past, but they have still seemed to lack many things for the cultivation of talents fit for their educational purposes. Through the result from investigating both the changes of the current age and the directions in developing the curriculum, the study came to conclusion that each university in Korea should develop the major curriculum of fashion-related courses that are more sophisticated and intensive fit for the its department name and educational purposes.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2019

Currently, the field of textile is expanding the scope of its research, which focuses on non-material values such as emotion. This study suggests possibilities for and applications of emotional textile design, using digital craft via empirical research focusing on the emotional significance of textile design. The results, obtained with a subjective evaluation scale developed for this study, were used to verify whether there is statistical significance in the differences between textile design using digital technology and textile design using digital craft. The experiment indicated certain meaningful implications for application of digital crafts through the application of textile design. First, ethnic emotions were not found to be significant but did increase in all three comparative analyses. Second, both modern and classical emotions decreased. Third, comparisons between digital textile machine and digital textile machine and craft showed a significant difference in sensibility. Lastly, the comparison of 3D printing and 3D printing and craft indicated a significant increase in elegance. Therefore, textile design using digital craft is thought to be able to deliver an ethnic, fun, and elegant sensibility, following the digital technology used. If the results derived from this study are used appropriately in the development and production of textile design, it can effectively support the development of emotional textile design. In addition, the results of this study provide objective data for the design of emotional textile through digital craft, which will provide important implications for the academic world and for practical production.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.63-107
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• 2016

This paper analyzed the restrictiveness of the rules of origin of the 15 FTAs of Korea utilizing the restrictiveness index suggested by Estevadeordal(2000). The main purpose of the paper is to provide an update of the current status and characteristics of the restrictiveness of the rules of origin based on product type and country. The research showed that FTA with EU and Turkey showed the highest restrictiveness, whereas New Zealand, Peru and India showed the lowest. Overall, Korea's restrictiveness index was found to be at appropriate levels. Additionally, in terms of the current status by restrictiveness index, over time with the exception of European countries in the FTA, products with the lowest score in restrictiveness index of 2 continued to be processed in the Korea-Peru FTA which illustrated the current trend of easing restrictiveness. In terms of restrictiveness index based on product type, commodity products, processed food, clothing-fabric-general merchandise were found to be very strict. However, in categories such as general machinery, electronics, chemical products and precision instruments, the restrictiveness index showed the lowest readings. The results imply the high restrictiveness in sensitive products that are vulnerable from competition through high tariffs, and easing of restrictiveness in competitive products in order to vitalize trade. The results also show that in Korea's FTA, Korea's rules of origin in FTA vary and are sorted in a complicated manner. With an increasing number of FTAs and a number of different rules of origin, there is a need for standardized criteria for Korea. This study was significant in that it compiled all the rules of origin and the restrictiveness index of all FTAs that came into effect and have been negotiated in Korea. The results of the research are expected to be used as an informative and meaningful guideline for Korea's FTAs.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.83-90
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• 2023

The recent trend in younger generations of wearing traditional costumes or incorporating fusion hanbok into daily wear necessitates the development of modern hair accessories to complement hanbok. The purpose of this study is to develop practical and modern hair accessory designs inspired by royal women's hair ornaments that complement hanbok, and therefore expand the scope of fashion content development utilizing hanbok culture as well as meeting the demand for various experiences of traditional culture. This research studied the literature on traditional hairstyles and accessories of Queen Yeong and constructed models of these accessories for the purpose of empirical research. The production process first required creating a basic foundation of nylon mesh reflecting the silhouette of a traditional hairstyle, and then grafting a digital textile printed fabric using majestic and extravagant royal relics on top, thus employing the trompe l'oeil technique to ultimately give the impression of wearing traditional jewelry. As a result, a total of six hair accessory designs were completed, produced with hairbands, hair pins, and hair ties. In addition, the accessories are designed to be easily worn regardless of the wearer's hair style, and the stiff yet flexible nylon mesh effectively expresses the shape of a voluminous hairstyle and creates an optical illusion, blending into the hair. These research results present a unique aesthetic and cultural experience to the greater public seeking both daily entertainment and value from rarity.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.325-345
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• 2023

In the rapidly evolving domain of e-commerce, our study presents a cohesive approach to enhance customer satisfaction prediction from online reviews, aligning methodological innovation with practical insights. We integrate the RFE-SHAP feature selection with LDA topic modeling to streamline predictive analytics in e-commerce. This integration facilitates the identification of key features-specifically, narrowing down from an initial set of 28 to an optimal subset of 14 features for the Random Forest algorithm. Our approach strategically mitigates the common issue of overfitting in models with an excess of features, leading to an improved accuracy rate of 84% in our Random Forest model. Central to our analysis is the understanding that certain aspects in review content, such as quality, fit, and durability, play a pivotal role in influencing customer satisfaction, especially in the clothing sector. We delve into explaining how each of these selected features impacts customer satisfaction, providing a comprehensive view of the elements most appreciated by customers. Our research makes significant contributions in two key areas. First, it enhances predictive modeling within the realm of e-commerce analytics by introducing a streamlined, feature-centric approach. This refinement in methodology not only bolsters the accuracy of customer satisfaction predictions but also sets a new standard for handling feature selection in predictive models. Second, the study provides actionable insights for e-commerce platforms, especially those in the clothing sector. By highlighting which aspects of customer reviews-like quality, fit, and durability-most influence satisfaction, we offer a strategic direction for businesses to tailor their products and services.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.67-85
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• 2023

Purpose - This study seeks to investigate the determinants of global sourcing intention in clothing sewing industry, in particular with its focus on women's knit wear production. Design/methodology/approach - This study collected a unique set of qualitative data through 31 in-depth interviews with fashion brands, promotion agencies, and sewing factories between July 2023 and October 2023. In addition, it analyzed the dataset using the MAXQDA to complement the research findings. Findings - We have two findings. First, the interviewees commonly mentioned the following factors as reasons for considering global sourcing: the human factors(aging of skilled technicians and labor shortages), the financial factors(gap in production unit prices at home and abroad), the relational factors(lack of novelty), and the physical factors(loss of production infrastructure and network), while the human factors(skilled workforce), the production factors(delivery date and product quality), and the relational factors(timely communication and mutual trust) as reasons for continuing domestic sourcing. Additional code analysis of interview also supports this finding. On the other hand, there was also a subtle difference between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and processing plants), and buyers consider the exact delivery date critical so that they could see trend-sensitive women's knit wear on time, and suppliers took production costs, labor costs, and labor shortages, which are financial factors, more seriously. Research implications or Originality - This study provides a richer and more balanced view of existing literature, which has generally tended to introduce global sourcing across the clothing industry despite the existence of various diversity within the industry. In addition, through qualitative research, we introduce that the sewing industry is carried out according to complex factors, and by revealing and categorizing the determinants of global sourcing, we supplement the existing research on the clothing sewing industry centered on survey. On a practical note, this study introduces that there is a difference in view of domestic sourcing and global sourcing between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and sewing factories), suggesting practical implications for revitalizing networks and deriving win-win cooperation network models among members in the future.