• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.486-502
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• 2018

Mass-production caused by industrialization has led to environmental pollution; however, a potential solution to this problem is the Up-cycling fashion design belonging to the sustainable design category. This study analyzed the material characteristics of each brand fashion product by selecting 21 domestic Up-cycling fashion brands. The product types manufactured by domestic Up-cycling fashion brands could be divided into fashion clothing, bag, and fashion accessories. The materials used for each item included special material, waste fiber, waste leather, waste paper, and others. In the results of analyzing the material characteristics into the external characteristics and internal characteristics, the external characteristics included the durability with less abrasiveness and deformation as well as a mixture with other different materials, while the internal characteristics included a story arousing consumers' empathy, and scarcity without the same design due to the limitation of material.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.101-107
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• 2003

In order to compare the sizes of infants;brands, the apparel size #70 and #80, #90 were surveyed, while upper body lengths, bust circumferences and waists, hip circumferences, shoulder length, sleeve length, neck circumferences of infants' underwears were examined. As a result, it was found that upper body lengths, chest circumferences and lower body lengths of infants' underwears differed more or by $2.0{\sim}3.0cm$ among brands than other sizes. In case of underwear size #70, the average upper body length was 32.8cm; the upper body size of "c" brand was longest or 33.5cm, while that of "e" brand was shortest or 32.0cm. In case of size #80, the average upper body length was 36.0cm; the upper body size of "a" brand was longest or 37.0cm, while that of "e" brand was shortest of 35.0cm. Such findings may be attributable to the fact that the main customers of "a" and "b" brands whose pattern sizes are larger are middle or lower class people who tend to buy larger infants' apparels than their children's actual body sizes. In contrast, "e" brand seems to target the upper class who prefers the apparels almost fitting their children's actual body sizes.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.206-221
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• 2019

This study examined the causal relations among brand personality, brand identification, and brand equity of Korean SPA brands that target Chinese consumers. Data were collected from 600 Chinese consumers residing in Beijing and Shanghai from August 15th to August 30th of 2015 by using convenience sampling; 561 of the questionnaires were used in the statistical analyses. Structural equation models were employed using AMOS 22.0. The results were as follows. First, the factors of Korean SPA brand personality, such as sophistication, competence, tenacity, and interest, exerted significant influences on the brand identification, while honesty had no significant influence on brand identification. Second, brand identification had significant influence on brand awareness, brand image, and brand loyalty. Third, brand awareness showed significant influence on brand image and brand loyalty. Fourth, brand image had significant influence on brand loyalty. These results indicated that brand equity can be strengthened by enhancing brand identification with the proper brand personality. This demonstrates that if Chinese consumers can associate Korean SPA brands with a sophisticated, attractive image, brand identification may be improved and brand equity may be strengthened in the long run, providing basic data for establishing efficient marketing strategies for Korean SPA brands in the Chinese market.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1063-1070
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• 2021

The study aims to investigate the role of consumer's social risk perceptions in retailing private label brands. Since private label brands are exclusively available at retail stores, consumers make their purchase decisions regarding them based on the image of that retail outlet. While buying them, risk perceptions are influenced by the retail store's image. The study identifies various retail store dimensions. For this purpose, primary data was collected using a survey questionnaire that was administered to a representative sample of retail store consumers in Riyadh. The data was analyzed and exploratory factor analysis was applied using SPSS 25 version to extract store image dimensions. The results showed six significant dimensions of retail store image namely 'Sales Staff', 'Promotion', 'Store Environment', 'Store Services', 'Product Assortment', and 'Customer Convenience'. Regression Analysis was performed and the effect of these retail store image dimensions was tested on social risk perceptions of consumers. Results indicate that store image dimensions significantly influence consumer's perceived social risk perceptions. However, the relationship is not consistent across all the six identified store image dimensions. The study brings forth several valuable consumer insights and the findings of the study have some very interesting and practical implications for retailers.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.64-69
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• 2021

Brands have begun to act without giving in to the challenges facing our society. Just like the slogan in the novel "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas proclaimed, "All for one, one for all!" in the age of transmedia the success of brand activism must reflect the same principle. Specifically, by embracing the big as well as the little stories of consumers scattered everywhere, each and every one should create a huge resonance. This means that brands should use the cultural lever of transmedia so that the various stories of consumers do not fade into oblivion and, furthermore, expand the brand's call to action. By analyzing brand activism cases in business, this study explores the effectiveness of brand activism for advertisers to develop a better understanding of brand communication strategy. Building on findings that show new young generation consumers to favor brands that respond to social, political, and environmental issues and conceptual implications of the snowball effect, this study emphasizes consumer participation in the brand story creation process and the need for brands to aim for high standards of professionalism and accountability, so that they can grow together with their consumers.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.222-239
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• 2021

In this study, six mainland Chinese designer brands-Xander Zhou, Sankuanz, Sean Suen, Feng Chen Wang, Pronounce, and Angel Chen-were selected that had their works presented at both Chinese and global fashion shows between 2016 and 2021. By analyzing the design characteristics of each brand, it is possible to understand the style characteristics and trends of Chinese menswear designs. A case study approach was adopted utilizing literature data, whereby 1663 photos were collected from the fashion information website POP (www.pop-fashion.com). Changes in Chinese men's image and the menswear market were identified. The design characteristics of modern Chinese menswear are as follows. First, the results from analyzing the target brands show that each brand has a distinct personality. Compared with the traditional or formal style, urban casual and sports styles (based on street style) account for a larger proportion. Second, the boundaries between different styles are becoming ambiguous, and contrasting styles are harmoniously expressed by breaking down boundaries through changes and combinations of colors, materials, and details. Third, after examining the overall trend, 2018 was a watershed point, after which the design trend has changed from either conservative or exaggerated to a practical and everyday style, demonstrating a genderless trend.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.427-436
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• 2022

Ethnocentrism in users plays an important role in predicting user behavior when deciding between imported and domestic goods. The purpose of this study is to look into the influence of ethnocentrism in customer behavior on brand image, perceived value, perceived quality, brand trust, and brand buy intention. Vietnamese customers prefer homegrown brands. The moderate role of consumer ethnocentrism in the conceptual framework emphasizes the country origin of the product is the most important factor. It also demonstrates how the intention of Vietnamese consumers to buy domestic brands is substantially influenced. To test the hypothesis, this article used a quantitative technique utilizing PLS-SEM software. With 917 samples, the study used the quota sampling approach to collect data from students at 10 universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The data suggest that all players have a positive association and that consumer ethnocentrism has a moderate impact in the Vietnamese brand context. Following that, suggestions are made to help Vietnamese firms create and retain their brands in the face of severe competition from global brands in the domestic market. To increase consumer intent in purchasing behavior, the Vietnamese local company needs to establish a strong brand.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.7-21
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• 2021

Purpose: Modern globalization and Western markets saturation has catalyzed the growth of culinary globalization into developing countries. The question was whether fast food consumers in frontier markets of Sub-Saharan Africa (Zimbabwe), either upholds national gastronomic tendencies in terms of consumer ethnocentrism and buy local or they adopt global fast food brands. Demographic consumer profiles were also analyzed as antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism. Research design, data and methodology: A sample size of 400 fast food-adult consumers was surveyed in the City of Harare. Data was captured on SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS). Hypothesis testing was done using sample t test (H₁), logistic regression (H₂) and multiple regression (H₃, ₄, ₅) analysis. Results: Consumer ethnocentrism in Zimbabwe was marginally above average and no statistically significant relationship between the levels of consumer ethnocentrism and adoption of foreign fast food brands was noted. Age had an inverse relationship; income had a positive association whilst gender had no statistical significance with consumer ethnocentrism. Conclusions: Despite the Zimbabwean consumers being marginally ethnocentric, international restaurateurs should invest in the Zimbabwean fast food market since their nature of being foreign has got an exotic appeal to the Zimbabwean consumers thereby enhancing their likelihood of success.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.102-120
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• 2022

With the growing importance of ESG as a must-have business strategy, this study attempted to analyze the current state of ESG practices in the Korean fashion businesses. The ESG cases of fashion business were collected from news articles searched on the largest Korean internet portal by November 2021 from October 2020 when the number of articles began to increase meaningfully. Three hundred ninety one ESG cases of 112 fashion manufacturing brands and 332 ESG cases of 49 retail brands were analyzed. Casual and outdoor/sportswear brands among fashion manufacturers were most active in ESG practices, and various online and offline retailers were practicing ESG. Approximately one-third of the fashion brands were positioned as eco-friendly concept. While environmental practices were the most practiced ESG, governance was the least practiced. Among environmental practices, fashion manufacturing businesses were most active in eco-friendly product development, while retail businesses were in eco-friendly campaign-event-service and eco-friendly packaging. The most active social practice was the contribution to communities, followed by retail businesses' sharing growth with partner businesses. Governance practices were focused on the structure and operation of the board. Various ESG collaborations with various partners were also observed. The research result is meaningful verifying and diagnosing the ESG practices of the Korean fashion businesses.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.408-417
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• 2022

This study developed a structural model to examine the relationships among consumer traits, self-brand connections, and purchase intentions for local fashion brands under "Guochao" consumption in China. An online survey with a self-administered questionnaire was undertaken through Chinese SNS tools to collect the data. A total of 276 usable responses were obtained from Chinese consumers who are residents in China. More females(n=174, +63%) than males (n=102, 37%) participated, and they were aged from 18 to 45 years old. The measurement model was confirmed to be reliable and valid. In the estimated structural model, the consumer traits of ethnocentrism and cultural affinity positively affected the self-brand connection, leading to purchase intentions for the local fashion brands. Specifically, the ethnocentrism factor indirectly affected the purchase intentions by mediating the self-brand connection, while the cultural affinity factor had significant direct effects on purchase intentions. Thus, a partial mediating effect of self-brand connection was found in the relationship between the consumer traits(ethnocentrism and cultural affinity) and purchase intentions of local fashion brands in the cultural "Guochao" consumption context. This study provides insights into extending the cultural theory of ethnocentrism relevant to self-brand connections and discusses the managerial implications for developing strategic global branding in the Chinese fashion markets.