Abstract
The purpose of this study was to better assess and understand current needs and wearing sensation, including clothing behavior for early elderly women in the Korea and USA. The subjects in this study were 135 and 173 early elderly women in the Korea and USA. This research was done by a survey method and chi-square test. The major objectives of this study were as follows; First, it was found that the early elderly women of Korea utilize mostly human information as information source when purchasing clothing, whereas those of USA mostly media information. The women of Korea were found to put most emphasis in esthetic aspects of clothing, whereas those of USA in comfort. The most frequently worn clothes by the early elderly women of Korea were jumper, T-shirt and slacks, whereas jacket, sweater and slacks by those of USA. As for skirt, flare skirt was highly preferred in Korea, whereas A-line skirt in USA. Second, regarding the wearing sensation of ready-made clothing, the wearing sensation of jacket was found to be worst on the shoulder in Korea, whereas on the waist in USA. And the early elderly women of both Korea and USA had poor wearing sensations due to the length of sleeve, of trouser, of skirt and of one-piece dress. The comparison of the clothing behavior and wearing sensation of the early elderly women between Korea and USA showed a greater difference in clothing behavior than in wearing sensation.
