Abstract
Since the late 1980's, the number of research papers published in the Journal of the Korean Society of Costume(JKSC) has increased. The JKSC is usually known for its focus on issues relevant to the aesthetics of dress, fashion design, and the history of Western or Oriental dress. The main goal of this paper is to link the academic importance of the fashion marketing field to the expansion of the journal and society. First, we defined the scope of the fashion marketing field, based on a literature review and general practices of other competitive societies and journals. First, we reviewed the curricula of the fashion marketing field from 49 universities in Korea. Next, we examined the research topics and methodology of 271 papers in the fashion marketing field published in JKSC since its first issue in 1977. By comparing the findings from the curricula and research, we drew conclusions for the fashion marketing field of the journal and society. We found that the approximately 80% of the fashion marketing courses provided at the undergraduate level are related to merchandise planning and selling processes from the company perspective. However, in more than 85% of the research papers, consumer characteristics and decision-making processes were the main focus and were used as key variables. These findings imply that more various methodological approaches are required for the research to enrich the theoretical background which, in turn, can support curricular development in fashion marketing field. The fashion marketing field in JKSC and society should make the most of accumulated knowledge in product design, symbolic aspects of fashion, and the qualitative approach in the research topics of the JKSC and society.
