• 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 Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1903-1914
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to propose an efficient and feasible global market entry strategy for the Korean apparel industry by analyzing the Italian fashion industry. In particular, the study investigated the role of foreign exhibitions and showrooms supported and organized by Italian fashion organizations. The methodology for this study was to analyze industrial reports, review previous studies and conduct in-depth interviews with 23 industry experts in Italy, Korea and LA. The results indicated that the most prominent factor in the Italian fashion industry was the fashion cluster, which is a strong and organic network of diverse fashion related areas No matter the size of the enterprise, firms can get practical, prompt and efficient support from diverse associations. The network operated by the associations provides strong support to each firm by organizing collections and exhibitions, and providing promotional activities. Showrooms and agents are another supportive "gate keeper", directly related to an enterprise's sales. However, Korean fashion firms did not have enough information or knowledge for foreign exhibitions, nor did they make aggressive promotional efforts in the global market. Despite the many fashion-related associations exist in Korea, their programs are too focused on visible accomplishments and are too oriented on "big company" and "big voice", rather than many "small firms". In conclusion, the Korean fashion industry-particularly the fashion industry in Seoul-has strong potential to become the center of the global fashion market in the future. However, the fashion support system that can act as the channel to promote firms and to meet global buyers needs to be supplemented. To feasibly create this system, government or industry associations should develop a strong and generous support system and network, and they must recognize the need for small firms to exist.