• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.130-143
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• 2010

Hanbok industry is not based on a consumer-oriented market system, which is related to poor competitiveness in various areas, such as product planning, marketing, and flow of raw materials. The purpose of this paper is to design and conduct an empirical study on important aspects of consumers. experiences and perspectives about Hanbok, and thereby aims to provide much-needed guidance about ways to promote the Hanbok market. Out of 1065 questionnaires distributed, a total of 1039 was returned with responses and used for analyses. The respondent sample included consumers of various background characteristics in their residential areas, age, gender, education levels, and income levels. Cronbach's alpha and a factor analysis were employed for the reliability and the construct validation of the survey instrument. One-way ANOVA associated with post-hoc comparison tests was used to investigate differences across different demographic subgroups of consumers. The results show that consumers generally view Hanbok as one of the formal dresses, worn one or two times per year for traditional events or ceremonies. Consumers tend to show negative opinions about the pricing, and the inconvenience in cleaning and wearing Hanbok. However, consumers think very highly of the aesthetic values, the gracious styles, and the iconic identity of nationalism of Hanbok. This study suggests that Hanbok for modern consumers should be considered as clothing for a ritual, rather than clothing to reconstruct to be fitted to modern daily lives. Hanbok should be promoted as part of up-scaled and differentiated traditional cultures, as clothing that represents and enhances the traditional elegance and beauty unique to the Korean people.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.75-92
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to prove how sociocultural perspective of obesity, differences in consumers' perception of body and attitudes of accepting obesity affected individuals' clothing behaviors through cross-cultural studies. The data collected were composed of 612 Korean and US consumers in the 20's and 30's that had experiences in purchasing plus-size products. The results were as follows. First, BMI index was lower in Korean consumers than the US consumers, but Korean consumers received more stress from being overweight compared to the US consumers, and had a more negative attitude about their body. Second, although Korean consumers had lower BMI index and degrees of obesity than US consumers, they were severely stressed by obesity and were found to have a higher level of dissatisfaction with their bodies. Third, Korean consumers responded more sensitively to obesity and had a tendency to display a more negative attitude regarding obesity, and a more passive dependence on clothing. Forth, differences in the body shape were reflected even in wearing evaluation, and US consumers showed a more positive attitude toward evaluations of size suitability and fitness. Fifth, the plus-size market for Korean consumers was still not active, and most products purchased were generic brands obtained from online shopping malls through the Internet. However, in the case of the US, in which the ratio of obese people is high and the plus-size market is growing, consumers were purchasing plus-size brands through various distribution online and offline channels. Sixth, Korean consumers were less satisfied than US consumers with shops, sizes and fitness; however, they were more satisfied with design factors. Finally, it is expected that this study can offer practical implications for marketers and product developers running plus-size market for young obese consumers in their 20 and 30s.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2020

In this study, among the new industries that are attracting attention as a new industry to lead the 4th Industrial Revolution era, Korean traditional culture and arts are being promoted in the context of local community efforts and collaboration between industry and academia. It aims to create jobs through local traditional culture, arts, tourism events and design product development, while seeking ways to secure labor force that can save and revitalize high value-added industries in the community. In particular, in the current situation where the era of change and the education of traditional techniques are increasingly ignored and neglected, this study is a traditional cultural art through natural dyeing education and cultural and art events conducted by industry, regional universities, and research institutes in Pyeongtaek for many years. It is expected to be used as a basic data for the transmission and creation of high value-added jobs.

• 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 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.