• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2000

The purposes of this thesis are to investigate characteristics, environment of characters through comprehensive approach to analyze its use and strategies in apparel brands. As a method to accomplish this research, fashion related articles, documents and magazines are used along with marketing references forecasting 21st century market changes. The character industry has diverse application to different medias and also intimacy and absorbtion beyond sex, age, generation, nationality. The cultural background of character fashion is based on casual clothing caused by wide spread pursuit of sports and leisure culture, indivisualization and diversification of clothing, customer-made marketing atmosphere and tendency of pursuit of fun and humor. In case of domestic young casual market, own characters are developed for creating differentiated it's own brand images. Characters are applied as an design details or cyber fashion models standing for the image of it's own brand and take a part in other events and visual parts as well. Characters not only limited to clothing items but also further usages of characters extended to stickers and other related stationary goods are necessary. A 'Character multi shop' can be one of good methods to maximize synergy effect.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.135-147
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• 2020

This study explored students' online fashion studio class experiences, and investigated the factors affecting their class satisfaction. An online survey of college students who were enrolled in online studio classes within apparel and fashion-related departments during the spring of 2020 was conducted in June 2020. Responses from a total of 213 participants were included in the final data. Respondents rated lecture clips as the most useful, followed by teacher demonstration and feedback, PowerPoint (PPT) supplements, and Q&As. Frequently mentioned areas of improvement were online platform stability and video quality. Many respondents also stated that more streamlined teacher-student communication channels, immediate and meticulous teacher feedback, the adoption of course contents developed specifically for an online environment, and provisions for equipment usage would be desirable. Student satisfaction of an online fashion design studio class was significantly affected by teaching presence, social presence, online learning system stability, perceived usefulness of teacher's demonstration, and affective response toward COVID-19. Students satisfaction of an online garment construction studio class was significantly affected by teaching and social presence, online learning system stability, and perceived usefulness of teacher's demonstration. Based on these findings, we recommend developing teaching contents and methods that allow students to feel included in class and establish an online system with various functions to enhance the sense of social connection that can enable two-way communication.

• The International Journal of Costume Culture
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 1999

The category killer that has been rapidly growing mainly in advanced countries since early 1990's, is a mew distribution model which aims for obtaining market controlling power by surpassing competing businesses in a specific area of products. The domestic situation of category killers is very different from that of advanced ones abroad since it has just been introduced into the Korean market. At the moment, there are only 10 or so companies operating in the market : Geopyung's , Taeheng's , Midopa's , of Sinsegye Department store, adn of Yerim International. The purpose of this study is to examine problems of domestic companies in the present market by analysing the operation status of category killers in domestic markets as well as foreign ones, and to suggest a counter-strategy of category killers for the distribution environment of the 21st century to improve the competitiveness of Korean distribution industry. The competitiveness of category killers lies above all in products lines. Category killers are equipped with the greatest number of products lines among those of competing businesses due to maximized product selections in an limited range. Another source of competitiveness may be found in balanced strategy positioning. That is to say, category killers are in a position where they can adjust policies towards any of the three purposes while aiming at them altogether : prices of discount stores, products range of specialty stores, and customer service level of department stores. It is also necessary for efficient store operation to use information technology such as electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic pose system(EPOS) and electronic funds transfer (EFTPOS). As for the cost structure, category killers can gain an advantage over other business since operating cost of various sections can be saved. There are, however, certain risks that category killers with strong competitiveness may influence on other businesses a great deal and even facilitate their decline. Yet it seems that the growth of category killers will be more viciously restrained by continuous challenges from other businesses. The distribution industry is supposed to develop through such competition and restraint.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.5-29
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• 2018

Models of South-North Korean economic integration have the problem of circular reasoning. While many studies argue that South-North Korean economic integration would contribute to alleviate security risks in the Korean peninsular, they emphasize the success of any economic model of inter-Korean economic integration is subject to favorable geo-political and security environment. It is a failure in distinguishing between goals and constraints. After identifying three major goals of South-North Korean economic cooperation, this study shows the trilemma among the goals; they are 1) formation of a complete economic community, 2) maintaining independent sovereignty of the two Koreas, 3) promotion of mutual economic interests. The trilemma suggests that it is theoretically impossible to achieve the above three goals at the same time. Only two goals are achievable simultaneously. This study argues that the most practical option is to pursue the combination of goals 2) and 3) considering the complex political and security environment around the Korean peninsular. Recognizing that North Korea is the least developed country in the Northeast Asia region, South Korea's initiatives for inter-Korean economic cooperation should focus on assisting industrialization and integration of the North Korea economy into the Northeast Asian regional production sharing structure. In view of the 'flying geese model' of the sequential industrialization in the region, the least developed economic status of North Korea can partially be explained by its failure to participate in the production network in the region as well as lack of effective implementation of appropriate industrial policy. Therefore, promotion of industrialization of North Korea should be the immediate goal of economic cooperation between North and South Korea. It is an interesting fact that North Korea has rapidly expanded its apparel exports in recent years. It could mean that the North Korean economy is actively responding to the dynamics of international comparative advantage structure, although the production activities are limited to exports to China since the closure of the Gaesung Industrial Complex. The recent increase in apparel export is a starting point for incorporating the Easy Import Substitution fulfilling both domestic and neighboring regional demand of North Korea. It could help integrate North Korea's industry into the production network of Northeast Asia. An immediate policy implication is that the economic cooperation between the two Koreas should focus on facilitating this process and supporting North Korea's industrial policy through South Korea's contribution of capital, technology, and service intermediary inputs.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.71-84
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• 2018

This study presents a case of a visual merchandising course adopting a problem-based learning (PBL) model, as a part of shop manager training program for high school students. Various vocational training classes are actively developed for vocational high schools, yet programs in the home economics area are relatively lacking. In particular, education programs for shop manager training are urgently required due to the high demand of this job in the fashion industry. The PBL model, which reflects constructionist learning theory, is considered for this visual merchandising course in order to help develop the ability of students to creatively apply their knowledge on real-world problems through self-driven learning. For the purpose of job analysis, two problem areas were identified through interviews conducted with shop managers who work for apparel shops in department stores. Based on the results of the interviews, professors and high school teachers developed two PBL instructional modules. The developed module courses were implemented with 2 classes of vocational high school students. The learning outcome was examined through the analysis of a student survey and reflection journals. It was apparent that the PBL courses effectively attracted the interests of learners in vocational training and improved their understanding of the contents as well as cooperation skills. The results of this study indicate that implementing the PBL model for the training of store managers can contribute to the vocational training programs for high school students.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.85-98
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• 2009

Advance development of the internet has brought significant changes to the distribution structure of the fashion industry, resulting in decreased sales in Road shops and sudden growth of online fashion specialty shopping malls. As detailed analysis on internet fashion shopping malls is necessary in order to make a future projection on changes in the fashion industry, this thesis aims to study the color, fabric / pattern, silhouette, item / detail, image, etc of 2008 S/S apparel fashion style sold in the top ten shopping malls, selected in terms of sales volume and awareness. The results were further analyzed to characterize each individual shopping malls, upon which the design was compared with the five main trends for the season provided by three fashion research agencies in order to study the level of trend acceptance. Studies showed that 'Romantic Sake' trend was most widely accepted, followed by 'Eco Nature' which most reflected the characteristics of Spring. 'Modern Ethenic' trend was most aggressively accepted at more upscale shopping malls targeting older demographic, while " Play Urban' was highly accepted by shopping malls specializing in young casual. Due to the disadvantage of not being able to try on the items before purchase, styles following the 'City Luxe' trend featuring fitted suits showed the lowest trend acceptance. Amongst the design elements, color was most widely accepted.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.143-152
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• 2015

The 'Quality Competitiveness Index' (QCI) is defined as an quantitative and disinterested indicator that measures and compares the quality of products across the world. The purpose of this study is to suggest the 'Quality Competitiveness Assessment Model' (QCAM) and calculate QCI of a popular UHF RFID Label tag (Global ISO 18000-3C supported) available these days in a global apparel market. The model was based on KS-QEI(Korean Standard-Quality Excellence Index), and was composed with the following 4 evaluation categories, a process capability test, an environmental reliability test, a durability test and a design margin test. The QCI score can be calculated with the following formula, using the weighted arithmetic mean between a score of each evaluation category ($X_1$, $X_2$, $X_3$, $X_4$) and each weight($w_1$, $w_2$, $w_3$, $w_4$). The actual weights was determined by an result of AHP survey to which was conducted for the related Industry-University-Institute experts. The proposed index shows the results of comparisons with global competitor's products as well as the high-quality domestic RFID label tags. In addition, it will play an important role for manufacturers when developing their future products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1554-1564
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• 2007

In apparel industry, the production of clothing for the global market, has it#s origin in its characteristics depending on hands on working style, according to the globalization of a fashion industry. These days, however, the globalized production is unable to keep pace with the short cycle of production due to the unpredictable change of the taste or demands in the local area, as a result, the industry has come to take a focus on the production and consumption in the circumscribed region. In this stream, the northeastern area, specially, Dalian which is renowned for a center of fashion was designated as a city of this study as a representative. The cultural, racial and geographical uniqueness, asks for the analysis, based on the individual local area on the part of Korean fashion company desiring to launch into China fashion market. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the style, color, and items of street fashion in Dalian. I would contribute to the understanding the preference of fashion in northeastern area, thereby, affording a fundamental resources for designing strategies for Korean fashion brands in China. The period of investigation is about 5 weeks from 14 May 2006 until 18 June 2006, with combined use of camcorder and digital camera. The site was Victory Shopping Plaza, in center of city, also with Mycal, Ansung, Dasang department store situated in the Economic Development area. The result of this study are as follows: 1. Preferred clothing styles are casual styles(68%) rather than formal styles(32%). In the casual styles, sports casual(36.0%), character casual(29.5%), jean casual(2.6%) were listed. All kinds of clothes are tightly fitted due to the stretched fabric and knit fabric. 2. Preferred colors are white(31.1%), red(16.6%), black(15.8%) khaki(7.8%) and blue(7.6%) for tops, and black(34.6%), blue(27.2%), white(15.4%), brown(14.6%) for bottoms. 3. Preferred clothing items are T-shirt(36.5%), jumper(33.6%), jacket(20.0%), blouse(8.7%), etc.(1.2%) for tops, pants(91.4%), skirts(8.6%) for bottoms. In the pants, cigarette pants(34.6%), bell bottom pants(21.0%), cargo pants(19.9%), straight pants(15.9%) were listed respectively. In the skirts, flare skirt(3.9%), tight skirt(2.2%), semi tight skirt(1.7%), pleats skirt(0.8%) were listed.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.797-807
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• 2013

This study aims to provide basic information that would be useful to develop more specialized fashion design products for launching Korean Wave fashion, especially in Singapore market where Korean Wave culture has been expanding significantly. To identify recognition level of Korean Wave fashion, customer survey was conducted to females in their late 10s to early 20s. The analysis on the current fashion market also was made, which showed the result that the elegant style was dominant in the local fashion market. According to the customer survey result, K-pop was the most influential on Korean Wave. Amongst the female K-pop stars, 2NE1 was ranked the first who most of those surveyed wanted to copy her fashion style, and the ranking followed by Girl's Generation and BoA. With this result, it would be recommended to reflect K-pop star's style in designing fashion products as design and style turned out to be the most important factors that those surveyed considered upon clothing purchase. However, there should be various promotion activities in order to make Korea fashion brands known to the public because only 24.6% of those surveyed responded that they were aware of Korean fashion brands launched in Singapore market. Nevertheless, as those respondents were willing to buy Korean fashion brand products, there would be plenty of potential to succeed in Singapore market if there would be continuous efforts to raise Korean brand awareness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.131-145
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to provide preliminary data on strategies to create a domestic prestige brand based on Korean traditional designs. This study also deals with how to promote this brand around the world. The two points mentioned above will be accomplished by examining the characteristics of the brand '3.1 Phillip Lim' which succeeded in both design and marketing during a short period of time. The method of the study will be followed. Firstly, the basic design and philosophical background of Phillip Lim was investigated, after reviewing the global luxury market and current status of overseas expansion of Korean designers through paper study and antecedent workups. Secondly, for the practical stage, design characteristics and marketing strategies were reviewed with the collections of '3.1 Phillip Lim'. Three factors found in '3.1 Phillip Lim's design success are as follows: First, practical and simple designs using fabrics of high quality. Second, handcraft elements and interesting details that differentiates his design identity. Third, femininity expressed in the feminine silhouette and color. The marketing elements that made '3.1 Phillip Lim' as a successful brand are: First, differentiated positioning as a luxurious contemporary brand. Second, brand promotion through various collaborations. Third, the gradual expansion of women's, men's, kids' apparel to accessory, lingerie and the stable flagship stores. Thus, '3.1 Phillip Lim' has combined modern and classic styles using high quality fabrics and practical designs with unique details. Through it's differentiated marketing strategy targeting New York's market, which prefers popular 'luxury contemporary brand's rather than high-end luxury brands, this brand's creativity and commercial aspects contributed to make '3.1 Phillip Lim' into a luxury brand that represents New York fashion. Korean designers who seek to enter the global fashion industry should consider applying Korean traditional designs on global designs to make favorable products and localize these products according to regional characteristics.