• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.15-29
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• 2013

In the children's market, characters are applied to products to stimulate children to buy a product directly or to implore their parents to buy it for them. To sell characterized products, marketers consider both parents and children. This research was designed to identify which parenting style factors affect the evaluation of characterized children's fashion products and to test how parenting style affects the evaluation of value importance of characterized children's fashion products. The parenting style factors studied were first categorized as communication, children's social acceptance, educational involvement, and media exposure. Responses from 259 parents residing in Woodbury, MN, and Ellicott City, MD, were used for data analysis. A factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis were conducted. Parents with high "Susceptibility to child peer pressure" attached importance to "Social Value" when buying characterized products. On the other hand, parents who were highly involved in their child's life and frequently intervened in their "Child's TV-viewing" attached importance to educational value. Educational value was a unique contributor to the evaluation of characterized products as compared to other fashion products. Marketers can therefore leverage both the social and educational value of characterized products.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to assess health risks in regard to exposure by children to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in children's products. Methods: Ten VOCs were measured by head-space gas chromatography in children's products, including toys, oil pastels, sign pens, furniture, ball pools, and playmats. We estimated the average daily dose (ADD) via inhalation during the use of these children's products and calculated hazard quotient (HQ) by dividing ADD by reference dose of VOCs. Results: Among the measured VOCs, five compounds were identified in children's products: benzene, ethylbenzene, styrene, toluene, and xylene. The detection rates of VOCs in toys, ball pools, furniture, playmats, sign pens, and oil pastels were 85%, 100%, 100%, 30%, 100%, and 60%, respectively. The maximum levels of VOCs were 0.18 mg benzene/kg in toys, 5.92 mg toluene/kg in playmats, 10.37 mg ethylbenzene/kg in ball pools, 24.85 mg xylene/kg in toys, and 118.29 mg styrene/kg in ball pools. From exposure levels of VOCs in the children's products HQs were calculated within a range of $5.71{\times}10^{-10}$ to $4.77{\times}10^{-4}$. The HQ of xylene was the highest for children aged 0-6 playing on the playmats. However, the HQ via inhalation exposure to VOCs in individual products did not exceed 1.00. Conclusion: Based on the results, it was concluded that the use of these children's products do not pose health risks to children.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.443-456
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• 2019

Objectives: Children are exposed to various environmental pollutants through contact with children's products. We investigated the KC mark, certification number, and contained substances labeled on children's products through market research and collected the toxicological data on these substances. Methods: The environmentally hazardous substances labeled on children's products (n=6576), including toys (n=2812), personal care products (n=2212), stationary/books (n=1333), and playground equipment (n=219) were examined. For the components that could be identified by CAS number, toxicological data on oral, inhalation, and dermal routes, cancer slope factor, and reference dose were collected. Results: Among the investigated products, KC marks or certification numbers were found for 4557 products (69.3%). Except for cosmetics and cleansers, the material information was labeled on most of the products. The frequency of labeling substance information in toys and stationary/books was low since this information could be omitted if KC certification was obtained. In the target products, 617 substances were identified by CAS number, and polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, and polyester were the most frequently displayed. Chronic toxicity data was found for only 32.4% of individual components, and information on toxicity through the dermal route was also highly limited. Conclusion: Our study suggested that labeling guidelines should be required to identify the environmentally hazardous substances contained in children's products. In addition, the toxicological data on many ingredients in children's products were insufficient. The data gap for toxicity data should be filled for future risk assessment.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.741-756
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• 2017

The natural resources of Jeju are recognized as the new regional image of that clean island. Reflecting these trends, this study is initiated to develop a textile design with the motive of persimmon, a natural resource of Jeju, and to apply it to infant's and children's clothes. Its purpose is to highlight the image of persimmon, a traditional dye, as a regional signature for Jeju. Product development procedure included, understanding the use of persimmon for fashion products, analyzing Infants' and Children's designer collections over the last three seasons (focused on 2014S/S, 2015S/S, and 2016S/S), and surveying the Children's Clothes market for persimmon dyeing in Jeju. The conclusion was that, the natural resources of Jeju are highly valuable, and should be applied to textile design and apparel products for children. Utilizing Jeju persimmon was actively studied, but, the market for the Jeju persimmon natural - dyeing products is extremely limited. Moreover, the apparel products for infants and children represent old-fashioned styles, despite their higher prices. Therefore, using the formative characteristics of persimmon for each theme was suggested for development of patterns for textile design. Pattern designs were expressed using textured textile screen-printing, embroidery and $appliqu{\acute{e}}$ for infants' and children's clothes. In this study, a total of 10 items were prepared as apparel products for infants and children. All items were designed considering mix-and-match, potential, with each other or with regular mass-market products. These results are expected to contribute to highlighting the unique image of Jeju and to help promote fashion culture products.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.134-149
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• 2018

The number of children wearing make-up is increasing. "Children's cosmetics" is not a legal term though it is commonly used. The purpose of this study is to analyze discussions on children's cosmetics based on news articles found on the internet. This study also identifies what products are being distributed as children's cosmetics. Keyword searches were conducted using internet portal sites. Information was extracted from news articles and Best Item 100 for children's cosmetics. The results of analyzing news articles and Best Item 100 lists are as follows : 1. There were two main discussion topics in news articles. The first topic was related to marketing(the branding and trends of children's cosmetics). The other topic was about government regulations(side effects, harmful ingredients, control, regulations, attention, proper product usage, product categorization, and the overall safety of children's cosmetics). By 2014, many articles had covered government control and regulation. However, since 2017, news articles have focused on the product categorization and the concern for overall safety has dramatically increased. 2. Three different product categories have appeared in the Best Item 100; they are cosmetics, toys, and other products. In market, consumers recognized children's cosmetics as cosmetics and also as toys. Between 2017 and 2018's Best Item, other products are dramatically down, color cosmetics and single cosmetics are on the rise, and the purchase of domestic products has increased.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.160-174
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• 2005

Despite the decrease in the number of children due to low birth rate, the domestic children's apparel market has been achieving steady growth as family income is rising thanks to more opportunities for working women, parents spend more on their children, and they prefer brand products that make their children look special. In addition, the market is suffering from hard competition as large enterprises have joined the race. The present study purposed to survey the children's apparel market in Korea, which is in a transitional period, and to contribute to the development of the market with Korean brands. For this purpose, we analyzed the characteristics of children's apparel brands in the 21st century based on the current state of the domestic children's apparel market and, based on the findings, forecasted the future trend of children's apparel brands, suggested improvements for expected problems, proposed standards for coping with changes such as diversification, high quality and differentiation in the children's apparel market, and provided consumers with information on how to purchase products. According to the result of analyzing the characteristics of children's apparel brands in the 21st century, brands are categorized largely into four types - life cultural brands, functional product brands, character brands and brands advancing to China. Life cultural brands equipped with all necessities for children are expanding, and with the deepening social problems of environmental pollution and the reduction of the child population, functional products made of environment-friendly materials are spreading widely, targeting infants and children. Furthermore, for extending age targets and diversifying products, children's apparel is using characters. The use of characters is expected to have a considerable effect on the growth of brands because children are more subjective as consumers than before and they are more easily persuaded with characters. Domestic children's apparel brands advancing to China have a high expectation of success in overcoming the limitation of the local market that has reached its peak and growing into global brands. Korean apparel makers are struggling to overcome the depressed domestic market, to recover consumers' consumption, to cope with market opening, to pursue high value of sensibility and to expand the seniors' market, etc. In this situation, future trends of children's apparel brands will be the expansion of family brands, brand totalization, quality price, niche market (pre-teen market), etc. In response to these trends, we made the following suggestions for improvement. 1. Children's apparel brands are evolving into family brands as well as into total brands through voluming. Today, however, apparel makers are advancing to the children's apparel market with the concept of adults' apparel and, as a result, children's apparel is merely adults' apparel of reduced size, having problems in design, color and materials. Thus, apparel makers must develop design considering the wide range of size and the characteristics of children's apparel, strengthen sourcing abilities to create revenues, and make thorough survey of customers to find common denominators between adults' apparel and children's apparel considering that characteristic that the target class is different from the buyer class. Furthermore, they must make active investments in human resources, develop outstanding products through advanced planning and design, and support marketing techniques and management systems to stores. 2. As the declining birth rate will continue to have a negative effect on the market, it may be difficult to expand the market size but there is still a margin for growth through high-sensibility and high-quality products. The competitiveness of brands is determined by their market shares. Accordingly, concepts should be specialized according to lifestyle, customers' diverse needs should be satisfied, and cross-coordination should be achieved within a brand. 3. Considering Korean parents who do not spare investment in their children despite shrinking consumption, functional products must be high value-added goods that can enhance efficiency. However, in the current situation of the infants' apparel industry where a textile manufacturer supply its products to multiple brands, it is difficult to develop unique products only based on materials. Thus, it is considered urgent to appeal to consumers not by relying on materials only but by finding methods of applying their own characters to children's dress.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.1277-1287
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• 2014

As concerns have been raised about health effects of children's products containing hazardous chemicals on children, the Korea Ministry of Environment announced 135 environmental hazardous substances in children's products (EHSCP) which were subject to risk assessment. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the current status of EHSCP for management due to their various exposure routes and types. In this study, we investigated the exposure assessment of EHSCP as well as relevant policies implemented in domestic and foreign countries. Domestic and foreign cases of detection of EHSCP were reviewed in the literature and websites of related agencies. Due to the lack of reference values for child-specific toxicity of EHSCP, those for adults and regulatory status of EHSCP were also investigated and reviewed with literature. The related agencies of foreign countries provided 13 child-specific reference doses (RfDs), 76 RfDs, and 42 reference concentrations as toxicity reference values of the EHSCP. Among substances investigated in the studies to assess exposure of hazardous substances in children's products by the Korea Ministry of Environment, 23 substances were included in 135 EHSCP. The same studies identified 9 substances which were excluded from the 135 EHSCP. For regulatory status for hazardous substances in children's products, 44 substances (32.6 %) and 84 substances (62.2 %) of 135 EHSCP were under regulation in Korea and foreign countries, respectively. In the present study, we found that a list of 135 EHSCP should be revised to ensure children's safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2014

As increasing concerns about potential risks and hazards in children's products, the laws and regulations for heavy metals and phthalate retardants contained in the children's products have been reinforced in many countries. Especially, in Korea, environment and health laws and regulations for children's products was declared in 2009. This study was researched in terms of contents and migration of phthalates and heavy metals in 124 children's products sold in the Korean market. The results for contents of heavy metals showed that 123 products contained different 14 heavy metals depending on kinds of products. As the results of migration by sucking, the heavy metals in the products such as black, plastic dolls, wood toys, and bottom mat for swimming were transferred into extraction solution. Ba, Cu, Zn, and Sn were transferred from most of these products into the extraction solution and Co, Ni and Pb were additionally transferred into several products. As the results of migration through a skin, while Ba, Cu, and Zn were transferred from most products containing the heavy metals, as for accessories, Cr, Ba, Ni, Zn, and Cu were migrated. The results of contents of phthalates presented that 21 products contained DBP, DEHP and DINP. Only 2 products showed the migration of DEHP by sucking. DEHP in most products were transferred and DBP for 2 products and DINP for 7 products were migrated.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2021

Objectives: Phthalates, which are widely used as plasticizers, have been recognized as endocrine disruptors. In the present study, we provided information on the regulation of these chemicals and summarized the information available on their detection and toxicity in children's products and those of their alternatives. Methods: The regulatory frameworks related to phthalates in children's products in Korea, the United States (US), and the European Union (EU) were compared. Data on the detection concentration of 16 phthalates and seven phthalate alternatives that could be used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic products for children as well as on their toxicity classification and endocrine disruption toxicity were collected from the literature. Results: Korea adopted US and EU chemical standards for six phthalates (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DINP, DIDP, and DNOP), but not others (e.g., DIBP, DPP, DHP, and DCHP). Among the ten phthalates and seven substitutes for which regulatory standards were not determined, DIBP, DHP, DEHA, DIBA, DINA, and DEHT were detected in children's products made from PVC plastic. DIBP and DHP, which have a reproductive toxicity classification of 1B, were frequently detected in PVC toys. The reproductive toxicity, estrogenicity, and anti-androgenic activity of the unregulated phthalates and their alternatives have been reported in diverse in vitro and in vivo assays. Conclusion: The use of unregulated phthalates and their substitutes in children's products is increasing. Further monitoring and toxicological information on phthalate alternatives is required to develop proper management plans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.704-714
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• 2013

Diverse characters have been recently used in fashion products for children. The degree to which parents accept children's opinions or attitudes when they engage in dialogue may be connected with consumer socialization and affect the criteria for the evaluation of character fashion products. This study examined the effects of mothers' childrearing attitudes on consumer socialization and the evaluation criteria for character fashion products for children. A questionnaire was conducted via the Internet on 310 mothers with children aged between four and twelve. The results of the study showed: First, childrearing attitudes were divided into four dimensions: hostility, autonomy, acceptance, and control. Consumer socialization was divided into communication in regards to consumption, consumption control, and the awareness of social relations. The evaluation criteria for character fashion products for children were divided into educational/utilitarian values, emotional values, and social values. Second, mothers were divided into an acceptance group, a moderation group, and a hostility group based on childrearing attitudes. The group with hostile childrearing attitudes had control over their children's consumption and were conscious of others in the process of consumption. The group with accepting childrearing attitudes considered educational/utilitarian values and emotional values when they purchased character fashion products for children. The group with hostile childrearing attitudes considered social values. Third, autonomous childrearing attitudes had the largest influence on communication in regards to consumption. Controlling childrearing attitudes had the largest influence on consumption control and the awareness of social relations. Controlling childrearing attitudes had the largest influence on social/utilitarian and emotional values; however hostile childrearing attitudes had the largest influence on social values.