• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.145-158
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• 2017

This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of the contemporary Chinese fashion market and the competitiveness of Korean fashion brands in China. Fashion professionals experienced in both the Korean and Chinese fashion markets participated to investigate the Shanghai market and consumers. The results of in-depth interviews show that Shanghai is the most favorable city among Tier 1 cities for Korean fashion brands planning on entering into the Chinese market. Shanghai consumers are open to international brands and highly prefer newness in fashion. Contemporary menswear was selected as a potentially big market due to the increase of unique, young, upper-middle-class male consumers. The Korean fashion brands' strength is that they are capable of satisfying Shanghai consumers with excellent product planning and sensory design capabilities. Their disadvantage is that their brand recognition is weaker than that of global and international brands, and their ability to localize to the Chinese market is weak. The opportunity comes is from the Korean Wave, which is a positive for Korea's products and has good geographical access. The threat is that the Shanghai market is fiercely competitive; having access to many worldwide brands, and the competitiveness of Chinese brands is on the rise. To enter the Shanghai market, creative design ability, trendy product development, skill, and appropriate PR methods such as using Korean culture contents would be required to satisfy the young, powerful consumers in Shanghai.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.107-118
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• 2014

Purpose - Due to the recent slowdown of growth in global luxury brands, which have been an engine of our domestic fashion market growth, there is an increasing need to develop a global market for domestic high-priced fashion brands. In spite of the large scale of trade between Korea and China with respect to fashion products, current trade concentrates on middle- and low-priced products rather than high-priced products. Diversification of the trade between Korea and China in terms of the price levels of trade products is needed. An understanding of Chinese consumption values and purchase intentions for luxury fashion brands will be very helpful for the establishment of strategies with the aim of increasing the level of trade with regard to high-priced fashion products. Therefore, the study aimed to identify the differences in the clothing consumption values of South Korean and Chinese women in their 20s, especially with reference to how those values affect their preference and purchase intention for luxury fashion brands. Research design, data, methodology - The study was implemented through a descriptive survey method using a self-administered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 283 Korean and 306 Chinese women in their 20s, residing in Seoul, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai. Data were collected from March 3 to 15, 2014. A total of 589 completed responses were analyzed. Data were analyzed by factor analysis, t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Results - Fivefactors for clothing consumption values were formulated: conspicuous/social value, fashionability value, personality expression value, hedonic value, and practical value. There were significant differences between Korean and Chinese consumers in clothing consumption values (except social value), preference, and purchase intention for luxury fashion brands. With regard to clothing consumption values, Chinese women attached more importance to fashionability value, personality expression value, hedonic value, and practical value than South Korean women. In addition, Chinese women's preference and purchase intention for luxury fashion brands were higher than South Korean women's. Second, in the case of South Korean women, social value, practical value, and fashionability value had positive effects on preferences for luxury fashion brands, while attractive/personality expression value and hedonic value had no influence. In contrast, in the case of Chinese women, social value and fashionability value had positive effects on preference for the luxury fashion brands. Third, in the case of South Korean women, social value and practical value had positive effects on purchase intentions for luxury fashion brands. In contrast, in the case of Chinese women, social value, personality expression value, and fashionability value had positive effects on purchase intention for luxury fashion brands. Conclusions - Considering the findings of the study, it is clear that differentiated marketing strategies are needed for luxury fashion brand markets in Korea and China. The results of the study could provide useful information that will help increase the effectiveness of luxury fashion brand marketing strategies in Korea and China.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2016

This study analyzes consumers' preference trend, positive and negative factors in regards to luxury brands by researching changes in the consumer awareness of luxury brands, preference trends and psychological awareness based on big data to suggest a creative business strategy for corporations that can help Korean brands enter global luxury brand markets. The study results are as follows. Preferred items (consumer) psychology, positive awareness and negative awareness were derived based on the last five years of social big data on Korean consumers' preferred brands. First, the Korean consumers' preferred brands for the recent five years indicated that Dolce & Gabbana (2013), ESCADA (2012), Gucci (2011, 2009) and Chanel (2010) were most preferred and Prada, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Burberry, Fendi, Givenchy and Dior were also shown to be preferred brands. Second, bags (such as shoulder bags) were shown to be the most preferred items for luxury brand items that consumers wished to own. Third, it was analyzed that keywords for consumer psychology in regards to luxury brands included: diverse, new, outstanding, overwhelming, luxurious, glamorous, worldwide, famous, success and good. Fourth, consumers' positive awareness regarding luxury brands included: diverse, luxury, famous, outstanding, perfect, bright and luxurious. Fifth, negative awareness included: price factors of expensive, high price and excessive as well as factors to be improved upon such as old, bland, flashy, crude, unfriendly and fake.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.158-175
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to provide basic information to Korean fashion designers who wish to advance to the overseas collection. This is done through analyzing the design characteristics of Japanese young fashion designers, Tsumori Chisato, Commuun, and Limi Feu, who have successfully launched their designs into the Paris collection and became global fashion brands. Collections of each brand were analyzed by the overall fashion style and design elements. For the overall fashion style, Tsumori Chisato used a romantic style using details with various ornaments, whereas Commuun shows minimal style with a simple silhouette. Limi Feu expressed avant-garde style with experimental patterns. Moreover, these brands expressed different style to other brands by applying Japanese traditional clothes, patterns, and Japanese techniques in modern view point. In terms of design elements, these three brands used the H-line silhouette. Tsumori Chisato used loose fit; Commuun, slim line; and Limi Feu, boxy silhouette. In the case of colors, materials, patterns and details, Tsumori Chisato showed mix & match with various colors, materials, patterns and details. Commuun used mono tone with black & white using only one or two materials. Limi Feu usually used the color black with cotton. According to the style of the brand and region of the collection, the main characteristics of the design and the application of Japanese traditional elements can be different.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-59
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to examine the design of Paul Smith based on characteristics of the Britishness. Britishness formed according to the national character to encompass the lifestyles and traits of individual people through a shared natural environment and historic experiences within the national boundaries of the U.K., amid current global trends toward gigantic single market. In every season, Paul Smith is presenting various authentic tailored suits, reflecting the empirical positivism, characterized by traditional conservatism through contemporary reinterpretation, characteristic individualism through a reproduction of the sub-culture, optimistic naturalism through fabric and printing on the basis of the Britishness. This study analyzed the characteristics of the Paul Smith brand distinguished through its unique highlights of strong symbolism of the well-balanced U.K., with very individualistic and innovative ideas presenting basic and methodical research of Britishness. Additionally, the results of this study are expected to facilitate in establishing the identity of the fashion brand and exploring its direction, and it will also provide a crucial basis to seek the methods to express the identity of Korean culture in this era of globalization, setting a new course for the fashion industry.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.439-449
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to identify the differences in persuasive effectiveness of visual merchandising between consumers in Korea and China including the moderating roles of shopping value in effectiveness of visual merchandising. For the cross-cultural experiment, 2(degree of sensuousness of VM: high vs. low)${\times}$2(involvement: high vs. low)${\times}$2(nation: Korea vs. China) factorial design were used. A total of 480 questionnaires allocating 60 students to each group were distributed. The results were as follows. First, Chinese consumers were likely to respond favorably regardless of the degree of sensuousness of VM, while Korean consumers were more positive in high degree of sensuousness of VM. Second, aesthetic cognition of VM and attitude toward VM had positive influences on brand cognition in both countries. Third, Korean consumers with greater recognition of aesthetic attributes of VM had more positive brand attitude, while Chinese consumers with greater recognition of utilitarian attributes of VM had more positive brand attitude. Fourth, there were moderating effects of shopping value in persuasive effectiveness of VM in Chinese consumer group, while there were no significant moderating effects in Korean consumer group. With the cross-cultural interpretation of the fin-dings, strategic implications and suggestions for the global fashion retailing, specifically fashion visual merchandising, are provided.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.73-93
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• 2021

This study typifies fashion mobile plays in a digital environment and explores the experiential value created by them through a case study of a fashion brand mobile app. For the case analysis, mobile plays were divided into four types: intrinsic motivation/active participation, intrinsic motivation/passive participation, external motivation/active participation, and external motivation/passive participation, depending on the mobile players motivation and level of participation. Among the global fashion brand mobile apps released from 2009 to 2019, 16 cases suitable for the analytical framework were used for final analyses. The main results are as follows. First, mobile play value include characteristics such as networkability, immersion, hyper-spatiality, and super-temporality in addition to the attributes of a traditional play such as spontaneity, uncertainty, regularity, and playfulness. Second, the four types of mobile play provide participants with an experiential value such as creative value, emotional value, social value, and exploitative value. This study has academic implications in terms of introducing a new framework that can typify mobile plays and suggest practical implications for what experiential value fashion companies can give consumers through mobile app marketing.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to determine which optional attributes are more important for the MZ generation when purchasing luxury fashion goods. Although sales are slowing down in all industries due to COVID-9, sales of luxury fashion goods are instead increasing, centered on the MZ generation. Companies are expanding online sales channels and transforming to gain more attention. Research design, data and methodology: Selection attributes are considered to be more crucial, when customers select luxury fashion products such as prestige image, brand awareness, reasonable price, and product quality, were researched and also find the correlation between satisfaction and purchase intention were analyzed. A survey was conducted focusing on the MZ generation, and the contents of the survey were analyzed using the SPSS 22.0 program and the Amos 26.0 program. Results: As a result of the study, selection attributes as prestige image, brand awareness, and product quality were proved to influence significantly on satisfaction. Moreover, the path of satisfaction to purchase intention proved significant. But reasonable price did not influence on MZ generations satisfaction. Conclusions: The research results present the selection attributes of luxury fashion products and provide significant implications when the MZ generation selects the attributes of luxury fashion products.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.35-48
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• 2010

Today, the fashion market challenged by a maturing retail market needs a new paradigm in the "evolution of brand" to improve their comparative advantages. An important issue in fashion marketing is lifestyle brand extension with a specific aim to meet consumers' specific needs for their changing lifestyle. For fashion brand extensions into lifestyle product categories, Gen Y and Baby Boomer are emerging as "prospects"-Baby Boomers who are renovating their lifestyle, and generation Y experiencing changes in their life stage-with demands for buying new products. Therefore, it is imperative that apparel companies pay special attention to the consumer cohort for brand extension to create and manage their brand equity in a new product category. The purposes of this study are to (a) evaluate brand equity between parent and extension brands; (b) identify consumers' perceived marketing elements for brand extension; and (c) estimate a structural equation model for examining causative relationship between marketing elements and brand equity for brand extensions in lifestyle product category including home fashion items for the selected two groups (e.g., Gen Y, and Baby boomer). For theoretical frameworks, this study focused on the traditional marketing 4P's mix to identify what marketing element is more importantly related to brand extension equity for this study. It is assumed that comparable marketing capability can be critical to establish "brand extension equity", leads to successfully entering the new categories. Drawing from the relevant literature, this study developed research hypotheses incorporating brand equity factors and marketing elements by focusing on the selected consumers (e.g., Gen Y, Baby Boomer). In the context of brand extension in the lifestyle products, constructs of brand equity consist of brand awareness/association, brand perceptions (e.g., perceived quality, emotional value) and brand resonance adapted from CBBE factors (Keller, 2001). It is postulated that the marketing elements create brand extension equity in terms of brand awareness/association, brand perceptions by the brand extension into lifestyle products, which in turn influence brand resonance. For data collection, the sample was comprised of Korean female consumers in Gen Y and Baby Boomer consumer categories who have a high demand for lifestyle products due to changing their lifecycles. A total of 651 usable questionnaires were obtained from female consumers of Gen Y (n=326) and Baby Boomer (n=325) in South Korea. Structural and measurement models using a correlation matrix was estimated using LISREL 8.8. Findings indicated that perceived marketing elements for brand extension consisted of three factors: price/store image, product, and advertising. In the model of Gen Y consumers, price/store image had a positive effect on brand equity factors (e.g., brand awareness/association, perceived quality), while product had positive effect on emotional value in the brand extensions; and the brand awareness/association was likely to increase the perceived quality and emotional value, leading to brand resonance for brand extensions in the lifestyle products. In the model of Baby Boomer consumers, price/store image had a positive effect on perceived quality, which created brand resonance of brand extension; and product had a positive effect on perceived quality and emotional value, which leads to brand resonance for brand extension in the lifestyle products. However, advertising was negatively related to brand equity for both groups. This study provides an insight for fashion marketers in developing a successful brand extension strategy, leading to a sustainable competitive advantage. This study complements and extends prior works in the brand extension through critical factors of marketing efforts that affect brand extension success. Findings support a synergy effect on leveraging of fashion brand extensions (Aaker and Keller, 1990; Tauber, 1988; Shine et al., 2007; Pitta and Katsanis, 1995) in conjunction with marketing actions for entering into the new product category. Thus, it is recommended that marketers targeting both Gen Y and Baby Boomer can reduce marketing cost for entering the new product category (e.g., home furnishings) by standardized marketing efforts; fashion marketers can (a) offer extension lines with premium ranges of price; (b) place an emphasis on upscale features of store image positioning by a retail channel (e.g., specialty department store) in Korea, and (c) combine apparel with lifestyle product assortments including innovative style and designer’s limited editions. With respect to brand equity, a key to successful brand extension is consumers’ brand awareness or association that ensures brand identity with new product category. It is imperative for marketers to have knowledge of what contributes to more concrete associations in a market entry into new product categories. For fashion brands, a second key of brand extension can be a "luxury" lifestyle approach into new product categories, in that higher price or store image had impact on perceived quality that established brand resonance. More importantly, this study increases the theoretical understanding of brand extension and suggests directions for marketers as they establish marketing program at Gen Y and Baby Boomers.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.307-331
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• 2008

The CEO and the Corporate Image is considered very important in the aspect of marketing. The fact that CEO image itself influences the company or value of the product directly and indirectly has been verified through many cases. Recently, the differentiation of products and services between companies became difficult because the disparity in technique between companies retrenched. As a result, the rate of people who decide to purchase or invest their money based on the corporate image or reputation has been increased. Also in the knowledge society like today, the talented employees are the company's customer and the company's necessity for managing those brains of marketing perspective on how to satisfy and attract the customers is being embossed. The Fashion industry is one of the most value-added industry and in those value-added businesses, the most important factor is the human resources' knowledge power. However the study of the relationships among the CEO image, the corporate image and employment brand value in fashion industry has not been carried out yet. This research considers that dynamic relationship exists among the CEO image, corporate image and employment brand value that affects a company's main goal of pursuing benefits and intends to investigate the relationships of the three concepts. The specific purposes of this study were, 1) to analyze the impact of CEO image on a corporate image, 2) to analyze the impact of corporate image on employment brand value, 3) to analyze the impact of CEO image on employment brand value, 4) to analyze whether corporate image plays a mediating role in the relationship between CEO image and employment brand value or not. A survey design with a structured questionnaire was employed for this research. A convenience sample of 398 subjects was selected from two groups, which are university students majoring in fashion and practitioners working in fashion industry. For the data analysis, descriptive statistic (i.e., frequency, percentage), factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis were used by utilizing SPSS 12.0 for Windows program. The results for this research are as follows, first, the study of the impact of CEO image (i.e., Managerial Competence, Reliability/Leadership, Personal Attractiveness) on corporate image (i.e., Product Image, Corporate Social Responsibility Image, Corporate Cultural Image) brought conclusion that the CEO image generally affected the corporate image in fashion industry. Managerial Competence and Reliability/Leadership affected Product Image, Corporate Social Responsibility Image and Corporate Cultural Image. However, while CEO's Personal Attractiveness affected Product Image and Corporate Social Responsibility Image, it did not affect Corporate Cultural Image. Second, the study of the impact of corporate image on employment brand value brought conclusion that corporate image (i.e., Product Image, Corporate Social Responsibility Image, Corporate Cultural Image) affected employment brand value. Corporate Cultural Image affected employment brand value the most and then the Corporate Social Responsibility Image and Product Image. Third, the study of the impact of CEO image on employment brand value brought conclusion that CEO image (i.e., Managerial Competence, Reliability/Leadership, Personal Attractiveness) affected the employment brand value. CEO's Reliability/Leadership affected the employment brand value the most and then CEO's Personal Attractiveness and CEO's Managerial Competence. Forth, the study examined whether corporate image plays a mediating role in relationship of CEO image and employment brand value and concluded that it does. Corporate image played a full mediating role between CEO's Managerial Competence and employment brand value while it played a partial mediating role between CEO's Reliability/Leadership and CEO's Personal Attractiveness. This study is meaningful in a sense that it examines the relationship among the CEO image, corporate image and employment brand value which has not been carried out yet in fashion industry. It will ultimately contribute to the success of a fashion company by providing useful information of establishing strategies for managing proper the CEO and the corporate image to the fashion company and operating the talented employees.