• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1784-1792
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• 2007

This study set out to identify the problems with hat labels and to search for improvement measures by examining and analyzing consumers' practice of managing their hats. It also intended to provide accurate and enough information about how to keep and wash hats and thus help consumers use their hats for a long period. In an attempt to investigate how consumers wash and manage their hats, a survey was carried out to 395 individuals in their twenties and over who owned hats living in urban areas including Seoul, and were quota sampled according to age and gender. The survey period is March to April 2007. The collected data were statistically treated with the SPSS 12.0 program in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, standard error, cross tabulation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The findings were as followed. First, the respondents were in the average level of perceiving and practicing the washing methods of their hats. The female respondents who had more experiences with laundering than the males knew and practiced the washing methods for hats better than males. Second, compared to other clothing items, hat wearers were more likely to pay careful attention to their hats by putting their hats in a laundry net and applying a laundry detergent for wool fabrics when using a washing machine or washing their hats with their own hands. And third, most of the hat wearers were aware of the importance of hat labels and showed a lower level of trust in them than other clothing items. The suppliers need to offer accurate and practical labels in order to regain the consumers' trust. Many consumers had some difficulties figuring out the size system of hats. In particular, the male consumers had a low level of perception of labels, which implies that there should be specific efforts to educate them about general labels.