Abstract
This study looked into the characteristics of participants in dance sports, which is being positioned to be one of everyday athletic activities among people, and investigated the actual purchasing of dance sports wear with the subjects of its participants as a preceding study for the development of dance sports wear to consider their characteristics. The questionnaire method was used, and descriptive and crosstabulation analysis was conducted with a spss 12.0. The findings are as follows. 1. As the results that examine general characteristics of dance sports participants, the number of those in their 20's was the largest, while the number of women was larger than that of men. Regarding the practicing period, those of one year or longer up to 4 years occupied the largest proportion, and the rate of Latin American dance participants was larger than that of modern dance ones. 2. As to the actual purchasing of dance sports wear, the purchase motivations were found to be in the 'contest participation' for teenagers and those in their 20's, while those in their 40's or over purchased their wear for the purposes of 'following the fashion' or 'club gatherings.' As for the sources of information at the time of purchase, teenagers relied on internet and those of 20's or over got the information through the persons nearby. As their ages got higher, the ready-made sports wear was preferred, while as their practicing periods got longer modern dance participants purchased the sports wear of higher prices. Participants in their 30's and those practicing 7 years or longer possessed a comparatively larger number of dance sports wear and they considered importantly of designs and fit at the time of purchase. Therefore, the development of dance sports wear designs should be made to accord with the participants' age groups so that they might be sensitive to the fashion and clearly represent their personality for the junior group and durable enough to last long for the senior group.
