• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.49-61
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• 2022

Advancements in technology and the proliferation of digital services have highlighted the importance of luxury brands in service environments. Based on the social exchange theory, this study investigated the interaction between customers and luxury brands in a traditional offline service encounter and a digital online service encounter. The interaction area was classified into three parts: human-human, human-digital, and human-physical environments. We qualitatively investigated the practitioners' working experiences with luxury brands. The study determined that both online and offline service encounter interactions between luxury brands and customers have become diverse. First, forming a special relationship with customers and frontline employees in traditional service encounters is important. Second, luxury brands should focus on the interaction among customers. Third, various digital tools should be considered to provide information about the brand to customers. Fourth, the exclusive benefits of offline service encounters should be maximized to stimulate positive experiences. The findings provide valuable insight to scholars and marketers on the new interaction phase between customers and luxury brands in the digital age.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.101-116
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• 2014

In the year 2013, Warren Buffett was named one of the most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. When people are exposed to such news, they show strong interest in who the influential people are and how those people became so successful. Likewise, people show strong attachment to other prominent figures as well. This social phenomenon indicates that people perceive well-known persona like business leaders, TV stars or sports stars etc. as human brands of intangible assets. As the role of these human brands is becoming more important, people tend to develop stronger attachment toward them. Another notable modern social phenomenon is people's pursuit of life-satisfaction and social well-being. People desire to increase their quality of life by having quality time with family and friends, and also by building attachment towards celebrities, sports stars, and so on. The main objective of this study is to examine how attachment toward human brands affects quality of life. While existing studies on human brands examined antecedents of attachment, e.g., some needs fulfillment such as A-R-C needs (autonomy, relatedness and competence needs) fulfillment, this study focuses on the outcome variables of attachment, e.g., how attachment toward human brands affects stress relief and life satisfaction through self-efficacy. Based on previous research, we divided human brands into two types: heroes and celebrities. Heroes are defined as people who have considerable and lasting importance on both societal and individual levels, and celebrities are defined as people who are well-known but have little or no short-term impact on society and individual levels. This study focuses on how attachment toward each type of human brands, celebrities and heroes, affects the quality of life or well-being. This study focuses on three important outcome variables; stress relief, life satisfaction, and self-efficacy, (three variables) which have been recently gaining importance, especially in the domain of positive psychology. Major findings from the present study show that although celebrities draw attachment from people by providing fun and entertainment or providing stress relief, they have weak influences on the wellbeing or efficacy of individuals at a deeper level. In contrast, attachment toward heroes helps people live better by providing meaning and positively influencing life satisfaction through self-efficacy (Frankl 1997). These results are consistent with the main tenet of 'positive psychology' which seeks "to find and nurture genius and talent and to make normal life more fulfilling" (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Considering the fact that certain celebrities are perceived as heroes to some, we can conclude that celebrities can become heroes if they provide meaning and value to the lives of people. This study contributes to the research stream of human brands since the most current leading research (e.g., Thomson 2006) indicated the need to look at the resulting effect of attachment on life satisfaction through self-efficacy. Another important contribution is that we empirically documented the different effects of celebrities and heroes. As expected, this study shows that heroes more deeply influence the lives of individuals in the long term while celebrities do so rather shallowly in the short term. The issues of the influence of heroes on the individuals' lives need to be further investigated in relation with the perspective of positive psychology.

• Fashion, Industry and Education
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2018

Recently China has become one of the major markets for luxury brands. In addition, practicing social responsibility by manufacturers of luxury brands has become ubiquitous because consumers' perception of such practices may affect their purchase decisions positively. This study explored Chinese shoppers' perception of luxury brands' social responsibility practices and their information seeking behavior. In this study, value congruence was used as a theoretical framework. Twelve participants were selected out of customers in a shopping mall in Beijing, and they were subject to in-depth interview. The interview consisted of open-ended questions about perception of luxury brands' social responsibility practices, sources to access such practices, and the degree of personal value congruence to such practices as well as demographic information. Qualitative approach was used to analyze the data. Half of the participants indicated their awareness of the social responsibility practices of luxury brands, which sets up a foundation for understanding importance of luxury brands' social responsibility practices. Approximately half of the participants preferred to learn about luxury brands' socially responsible practices online especially via social media. These findings imply that Chinese luxury shoppers' trust and preference for the companies would be enhanced by effective development and advertisement of companies' social responsibility practices, and thus provide luxury companies with useful information on marketing strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.1-14
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to provide specific size data for developing a standard dress form for Korean Females between the ages of 18 and 29. Differences in sizes between dress forms used in 18-24 year-old target brands and 25-29 year-old target brands and the human body were ascertained through direct anthropometric measurements. In the 18-24 year-old target brands. 83.0-83.8cm is suitable for the bust circumference of the dress form, while in the 25-29 year-old target brands, 85.0-86.0cm is suitable. The waist circumferences of most dress forms are similar except for the Japanese C form, and there is no difference between the two groups. For hip circumference in the 18-24 year-old target brands, about 90.0cm is suitable while the 25-29 year-old target brands use additional dress forms of 91.0-92.0cm. The center front length, neck tc waist length, and front interscye breadth is 1cm shorter and the back interscye breadth is 1cm longer than indicated by the 1997 National Anthropometric Survey data.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.523-534
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• 2009

The purposes of this study were to identify brand equity factors influencing on brand preference and to investigate the effects of preference, price acceptability, distribution proximity, and appropriateness on brand performance of domestic and imported cosmetics brands. A total of 300 women aged between 20 and 49 years were surveyed on two domestic brands and two imported brands that were well-known to consumers during the month of September, 2006, in Seoul, Daejeon, Gyeonggi-do, and Chungcheong-do. The data were analyzed with factorial analysis, multiple regression analysis, ANOVA, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, etc., using the SPSS 12.0. The result of the study included: 1) Four factors of brand equity were identified: brand image, social reputation, quality, and brand awareness. 2) Brand image, quality, appropriateness, and brand performance of the domestic brands were higher than those of the imported brands. But brand awareness of the imported brands was higher than that of the domestic brands. 3) Brand preference of the domestic brands was affected by social reputation, quality, brand image, and brand awareness in order of significance. And brand performance of the domestic brands was affected by brand preference, appropriateness, price acceptability and distribution proximity in order of significance. 4) Brand preference of the imported brands was affected by brand image, social reputation, brand awareness, and quality in order of significance. And brand performance of the imported brands was affected by appropriateness, price acceptability, brand preference, and distribution proximity in order of significance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.760-777
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• 2023

Fashion brands seek guidelines for effective green advertising messages, considering benefit appeals, brand types, and construal level. However, few studies have explored their simultaneous interplay. Thus, the present study conducted an experiment with a 2X2X2 between-subjects design to investigate how brand type and construal level moderate the mediating role of ad-brand congruency between benefit appeals and purchase intention. A total of 245 Millennials and Generation Z participants completed an online survey, and the data were analyzed using SPSS. A significant three-way interaction was revealed. Low-construal-level messages with concrete content showed disparities between aspirational and accessible brands concerning other-benefit appeals: Accessible brands utilizing other-benefit appeals demonstrated higher ad-brand congruency, while aspirational brands had lower ad-brand congruency. Furthermore, within aspirational brands, self-benefit appeals resulted in higher ad-brand congruency than other-benefit appeals. Finally, a moderated mediating effect was discovered, indicating that brand types and construal level moderated the mediating effect of ad-brand congruency between benefit appeals and purchase intention. The mediating effect was prominent in the context of self-benefit appeals, aspirational brands, and low-construal-level messages. This study highlights the intricate dynamics of the three factors in green advertising, providing valuable insights for crafting more targeted green advertisements.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.537-550
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• 2023

This study investigates the impact of Hallyu human brands on consumer behavior, given the increasing influence of Hallyu human brands due to their global spread and the limited academic discussions surrounding this topic. The research examines the role of self-congruity, human brand attachment, and brand equity factors. An online survey was conducted, targeting Chinese consumers who are highly engaged with the Korean Wave. Data from 403 respondents were analyzed. The results reveal that both ideal and actual self-congruity with the Hallyu human brand significantly affected attachment to the brand, while social self-congruity was found to be insignificant. Furthermore, attachment to Hallyu human brands positively influenced brand recognition, perceived quality, brand image, and brand loyalty.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.181-190
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• 2008

Active exploitation of experiential marketing is now practiced in diverse range of apparel brands such as luxury, sports and casual brands. Under such a market environments, this study attempts to verify the effects of consumer's experiential marketing perception by analyzing the formation process of brand attitude. The path from experiential marketing strategic modules (sense, feel, think, act, and relate) to brand loyalty is mediated by brand affect and brand trust. Two sports brands were selected as stimuli brands, and a survey was conducted on 286 consumers in their 20s and 30s. The study validates the importance of sense/feel marketing for apparel brands as it had extensive effects on brand affect which is highly significant in the formation of brand loyalty. As a result of comparative analysis of brand attitude and the path model of its formation for two brands which were different in consumers' perception of experiential marketing brand activities, the study realized that the higher the level of perceived experiential marketing, the higher the levels of brand affect, brand trust and brand loyalty. In particular, for brands perceived as actively engaged in experiential marketing, the path from the perception of experiential marketing activity to brand loyalty was clearly segmented between sensibility and rationality as sense/feel marketing had significant effects only on brand affect, and act/relate marketing only on brand trust. This study verifies the positive effects of perceived experiential marketing activities of apparel brands on brand equity, and proposes the strategic appropriateness of experiential marketing that embeds sensibility and feeling appeals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.63 no.7
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• pp.1-16
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• 2013

The objective of this study is to analyze the characteristic of a functional design for a commercial outdoor brand jacket based on 3 types of functions : windproof, waterproof, and cold proof. To analyze the design and fabric characteristics of outdoor jackets by function, 903 men's and women's outdoor jacket images were selected from the catalogues during S/S 2009 - F/W 2011 of the 6 brands: The North Face, Columbia Sports Wear, Kolon Sports, K2, Arcteryx and Mont-Bell. These brands were selected based on their high market share and brand awareness of the outdoor brands in Korea. In this study, design elements analysis was conducted as following 8 elements: hood/collar height/central front flap/waistline/pocket location/ventilation for the body part/sleeve patterns/cuff for the sleeve part. Fabrics were analyzed by the frequency of fabric types used in the 3 jacket types. According to the result derived from the analysis of the six brands of outdoor wear jacket design trends by year, detachable hood and a co-use of velcro and elastic bands have been mainly designed for all of windproof, waterproof, and cold proof jacket to all in order to respond quickly to changes in the external environment. For reinforced storage function on trekking, the number of pockets has been gradually growing, and a function was being developed to connect an electronic device to a pocket. The method, result, and collateral observations relevant to each of these phases are described. Outdoor jacket design characteristics were investigated for outdoor brands, which can provide data to suggest more accurate functional design, and satisfy functional design needs. In this regard, this research was significant in the sense that it suggested preliminary data to reconsider competitiveness of the brand products.

• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-79
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• 2013

This study takes a look at the distinct and exclusive culture of Latin America, with a specific focus on Mexico, and attempts to understand its unique cultural identity by comparing, analyzing, and evaluating the characteristics of the Mexican fashion brands, Taller Flora and F$\acute{a}$brica Social, which are brands that have actively used the Latin American cultural identity in its designs. The research method was as follows: 1) performing literature research with specialty publications and thesis that dealt with the two brands 2) analyzing the contents of various articles from the Internet and interviews related to the brands. Thus, this research attempts to understand the characteristics of the fashion brands that use the cultural traits of Latin America in order to dissect its methods and find a way to apply it so that it can be used in different cultures, and in effect, lead to the advancement of the fashion industries, in general. Taller Flora and F$\acute{a}$brica Social are two brands that are able to stand out with a distinct identity by applying traditional native Latin American qualities in its products, as well as its products reflecting a respectful and balanced relationship between people and nature. The characteristics of the two brands are as follows: 1) showing the concept of "the coexistence of diversity" by expressing "the old and the new", "simplicity and flash", and "melding of the Western culture via colonialism and traditional cultures of the aboriginals and other diverse native cultures" 2) achieving "the recovery of the human dignity" by protecting the human rights of the native female artisans and building a network for equality 3) pursuing "free naturalism" by balancing the natural provision of nature and man in addition to promoting environmental protection and conservation of goods 4) becoming "the bridge between communication and exchange" by connecting the artisan, the designer and the consumers together, or the producer and the market, as well as the different cultures of markets from diverse countries.