• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.41-55
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trends of product design for textile convergence wearable smart textile fashion products according to college students' fashion life style. In this study, we used information obtained from a questionnaire issued to 201 female college students who were 20 years old for the final analysis. The questionnaires were to classify female college students groups according to the fashion life style, to examine characteristics, needs and wants of each group. The survey on the tendency of wearable smart textiles consisted of 22 items about concept and type of smart clothing product, functional material and intelligent material, recognition, preference, purchase intention, purchase factor and brand preference tendency. A total of 201 samples were analyzed by factor analysis, cluster analysis, ANOVA, crosstabs and $x^2-test$ using SPSS package program. 'brand preference oriented type was found to be interested in 'wearable' smart clothing product with monitoring function of bio-signal' and 'high functional fiber and textile product', but the credibility of 'smart clothes that can be worn and smart textile products to be useful in modern life' was low. 'fashionable individuality oriented' type showed interest in 'smart clothing and smart product', 'intelligent fiber' and 'wearable smart clothing product with monitoring function of bio-signal', but the preferences of 'light emitting fiber products' was low. 'practically purchasing-oriented' type was very interested in 'high-functional fiber and its textile products', but had inadequate knowledge on 'smart clothing and smart textile product' and showed low interest. Despite the fact that 'wearable smart clothing and smart textile products' are expensive, they were willing to purchase considering practicality and sophisticated style.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.186-191
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• 2018

Smart textile industries have been precipitously developed and extended to electronic textiles and wearable devices in recent years. In particular, owing to an increasingly aging society, the elderly healthcare field has been highlighted in the smart device industries, and pressure sensors can be utilized in various elderly healthcare products such as flooring, mattress, and vital-sign measuring devices. Furthermore, elderly healthcare products need to be more lightweight and flexible. To fulfill those needs, textile-based pressure sensors is considered to be an attractive solution. In this research, to apply a textile to the second layer using a pressure sensing device, a novel type of conductive textile was fabricated using vapor phase polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). Vapor phase polymerization is suitable for preparing the conductive textile because the reaction can be controlled simply under various conditions and does not need high-temperature processing. The morphology of the obtained PEDOT-conductive textile was observed through the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). Moreover, the resistance was measured using an ohmmeter and was confirmed to be adjustable to various resistance ranges depending on the concentration of the oxidant solution and polymerization conditions. A 3-layer 81-point multi-pressure sensor was fabricated using the PEDOT-conductive textile prepared herein. A 3D-viewer program was developed to evaluate the sensitivity and multi-pressure recognition of the textile-based multi-pressure sensor. Finally, we confirmed the possibility that PEDOT-conductive textiles could be utilized by pressure sensors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1262-1272
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the development trend of smart fiber by textile companies in Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province. This examination includes the development fields of smart fiber, investment size, information sources and the use degree of those, research-related infrastructure, relationship between companies' characteristics and their interests in smart fiber. Research data were collected by a survey. The definition and classification(4 areas and 12 development products) of smart fiber followed ones of Smart Fiber Technology Roadmap by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 program for frequency, means, t-test, and $X^2$-test. Among respondents, the numbers of dying and finish companies and export traders were the highest. It revealed that 19.6% of companies were developing smart fibers. Within 12 development products, vapor permeable/waterproof fiber showed to be most being developed, while medical fiber for human has not been developed and wasn't made an investment plan for developing. It was discovered that the biggest problem of smart fiber development was the lack of experts and the best outcome of smart fiber development was preoccupation of future market. It showed that companies got information from textile fairs but didn't often use information sources. The companies appeared to have a weak intention about research of smart fiber. The more important a company considered functionality of textile products and the more innovative and stabler the company was, the higher interest in smart fiber companies had. It was concluded that textile companies in Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province were aware of the importance of smart fiber development but they were not strongly interested in it and not enthusiastic in taking action on it.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.420-426
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• 2006

Korean prior studies on smart clothing seeking complete mixture of clothing and computer with diverse functions in the ubiquitous environment were so mere, while there have been aggressive activities to develop diverse smart clothing products led by the relevant industries and universities in foreign countries. Given prospective growth of the smart clothing market, there should be customers' evaluation of functions and utility of and sensitivity to smart clothing as well. This study conducted a questionnaire to Korean customers in their twenties regarding their perception and liking of and willingness to use smart clothing, and examined the needs of new functions of smart clothing. As a result, the customers in their twenties turned out to like well-designed and comfortable clothing, and be exposed to diverse and continuous computing environment. Also, they have relatively low perception but considerably high liking of smart clothing, indicating their high willingness to use smart clothing products. They cited 'selectable functions' and 'mobile and convenient ' as merits, and 'too expensive' and 'easy to wash' as demerits of smart clothing. In the respect, they proposed many interesting smart clothing ideas, such as 'clothing with automatic temperature-sensing function, which gets higher heat- insulating function by tightening the textile structure in winter and higher ventilating function by loosening the textile structure in summer.' We hope the results of this study will serve basic data for development of more efficient smart clothing in the future.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.398-408
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• 2023

Smart clothing products can experience a decrease in performance and reliability due to various mechanical, biological, and chemical stress factors that occur throughout their life cycle. These issues can hinder consumer acceptance of the products. This study aims to enhance the reliability of smart clothing and facilitate quality control by analyzing and identifying the current status of international standardization for smart clothing and electronic textiles (e-textiles). The focus of this analysis was on the durability test methods in the use environment. Furthermore, similar standards published by different standardization organizations for durability tests were compared in depth. The study showed that a total of 27 international standards have been developed or are currently under development. The current standardization efforts mainly aim to develop functionality and durability test methods for smart clothing and e-textile products. A detailed comparison was made between two international standards (IEC 63023-204-1:2023 and AATCC TM210:2019) specifically in relation to the washing durability test method and the electrical resistance measurement standards (BS EN 16812:2016 vs AATCC EP13-2021), before and after the environmental exposure tests. Based on this comparison, several suggestions have been made and discussed for the future revision of these international standards.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.304-314
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• 2023

The rapid development of digital technology is diversifying the fashion industry by influencing both the manufacturing processes and the characteristics of fashion products. Although various smart clothing technologies are being developed as part of the government's technology development policy, the number of smart clothing products available to consumers in stores remains very limited. To address this issue, this study analyzes the key attributes of smart clothing as expressed in consumer language. The CIT (Critical Incident Technique) research method was used, and data were collected through an online survey. The study focuses on identifying potential factors that may influence the development direction or strategy of smart clothing. By classifying past experiences and attitudes towards smart clothing into positive and negative categories, it was found that positive responses to smart clothing were heavily influenced by expectations from technology and convenience. Participants' experience with smart technology has had a positive impact on their evaluation of smart clothing. Consumers with negative attitudes towards smart clothing expressed expectations for new benefits resulting from technological development, and indicated that they would consider purchasing such clothing in the future when design and technology improve. Ultimately, this study provides a valuable reference for the development of smart clothing products in Korea by analyzing consumer experiences and acceptance conditions towards smart clothing.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.209-221
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• 2020

Recently, following the commercialization and market entry of smart clothes with diverse functions, smart clothes have been changing from technology-centered products to user-centered products. However, the analysis of consumer demand centered on actual commercialized products is lacking. Therefore, this study classified commercialized smart clothes by function and analyzed the demand and requirements of smart clothes according to sports/outdoor clothes consumption behaviors. As a result, consumers were classified according to their sports/outdoor clothes consumption behaviors into an outdoor leading group with high consumption propensity, an outdoor pursuit group with medium consumption propensity, and an outdoor following group with low consumption propensity. Among the commercialized smart clothes, those with a heartbeat measuring function, those with a heating function, and those with a light-emitting function were presented and demand analysis was conducted. According to the results, the outdoor leading group and the outdoor pursuit group had higher levels of awareness, preference, and purchase intentions than the outdoor following group. In addition, the outdoor leading group showed the highest level of purchase price acceptance while the outdoor following group showed the lowest level of purchase price acceptance. However, this study has a limitation that the acceptance for smart clothes were analyzed with consumers who had experience in sports outdoor clothes consumption. Therefore, in future, studies will be conducted with a wide range of consumers.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.616-620
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• 2018

Recently, many researches have been conducted to improve the performance and wearability of smart wearables. In this study, we designed and fabricated the signal and power transmission textile cables for smart wearables which have excellent wearability, durability and reliability. For the signal transmission textile cables, conductive yarns for the signal line and the ground line were developed. Three types of signal transmission textile cables have been developed using the conductive yarns. Linear density, tensile properties, electrical resistance and RF characteristics were tested to characterize the physical and electrical properties of three signal transmission textile cables. The conductive yarns have the very low resistance of $0.05{\Omega}/cm$ and showed excellent uniformity of electric resistance. Therefore, the electrical resistance of the signal transmission fiber cable can be reduced by increasing the number of conductive yarns used in signal and ground lines. However, the radio frequency (RF) characteristics of the signal transmission textile cables were better as the number of strands of the conductive yarns used was smaller. This is because the smaller the number of strands of conductive yarn used in signal transmission textile cables, the narrower and more parallel the distance between the signal line and the ground line. It is expected that the signal and power transmission textile cable for signal and power transmission will be utilized in smart wearable products.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.115-122
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to develop the fabric electronics-based safety protection smart athleisure fashion for night riding. Based on the characteristic analysis of products being used during night riding, the fabric LED Display and fabric type capacitive touch sensor to emphasize human friendliness were designed in detachable form through an intuitive interface to develop the smart athleisure fashion of prototype. This is meaningful in that it proposed smart Athleisure fashion products differentiated from existing products, considering the functional aspects based on fabric electronics that emphasized human friendliness and the design aspects of the customized system that can diversify design through exchange and compatibility with other Athleisure products due to detachable form. Follow-up study will focus on the improvement of textile sensor fit for the physical properties of a textile with reinforced wearability and flexibility by using Fabric Electronics and proposed customized smart fashion based on it.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.427-440
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• 2020

This study developed a vest prototype capable of monitoring body temperature using textile electrodes to prevent the sudden death of babies as well as to determine the quality of developed products by evaluating usability with commercial products. Based on the results of the 7th Size Korea Project, a basic pattern for a vest prototype was drafted by applying the average size of two-year-old Korean babies. Two prototypes were the detachable (VEST I) and integrated textile electrodes vest type (VEST II), which followed the same design. The materials were 100% cotton single jersey (SJ) and double jersey (DJ). Six experts evaluated the usability of the developed vests (VEST I & VEST II) and commercial product (VEST M). The single-layer woven textile electrode appeared to have a slightly higher conductivity than the double-layer one. There was no statistical difference in the body temperature sensing function between VEST I and VEST II. Finally, the superiority of the VEST I was verified through a comparison with commercial products (VEST M). The usability test suggested that a wearable smart clothing system of the integrated conductive textile could be further commercialized for bio-monitor applications in Ubiquitous-health care.