A Study on the Development of men's Wear in Korea

남성복의 변화에 관한 연구

the present thesis aims to contribute to the further development of the men's wear indus-try in Korea which now confronts the need to adjust itself more actively to the conditions of the coming age of internationalization and free trade. To achieve this this thesis suggests the trade should provide for the changing domestic needs on theone hand and refine its wares as high value-added products in compe-tition with those from the advanced countries in fashion industry on the other, The history of the 'suit' the standard men's attire dates back to 1850 when the 'Ditto suit' was introduced composed of coat waist coat vest and trousers to remain virtually unchanged till the end of the nineteenth cen-tury and the modern men's wear originated in Britain. In Korea since the introduction of western clothes from 1876 custom-made suits had been dominant until 1944 while western clothes earned popular currency between 1945 and 1964 and ready-made suits began to spread with their advantages recognized in terms of practicality convenience and functionality The next phase from 1965 to 1985 witnessed the establishment of a number of ready-made brands although custom-made suits stayed in their height of prosperity until 1975. The turn-ing point for the men's wear industry came in 1975 when high-calss ready-made brands be-gan to turn up with the arrival of large companies in the market matching the change in consumers' life style. The men's wear market went through further diversification and specialization dur-ing the years between 1985. and 1990. Around the year 1990 however the expansion of the business suit industry came to slow down ac-companied by an oversupplied market. The fashion of pragmatism in the 1990s called for the growth of the casual wear department and as consumers' life style became more and more individualized conscious dressing in accord ance with T.P.O established itself as an important branch of culture, Such casual boom is likely to aid in promoting Korea's men's wear indus-try to peer with that of advanced countries. Consumers' fashion sense is now ahead of the trade's as well as being shortcycled highly individualized stylized and diversified. To meet consumers' demands under such circum-stances each company is required to develop its unique soft Know How based on accurate information and strategically specialized plan-ning. The trade should convert its hithero producer-oriented strategy to a new consumer oriented one and actively lead the needs and purchasin g pattern of consumers by providing an efficient and reasonable price policy with optimum supply of merchandise and also by presenting 'our' trend suited to our circum-stances.