• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.754-769
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• 2015

Global sourcing refers to activities performed to acquire materials, finished products and apparel production all around the world. The purposes of the study were to examine basic job requirements and primary skills of sales team and supporting team in global sourcing companies, to investigate educational programs provided by the companies or other educational institutions, and to examine courses to be newly established in the curriculum of clothing and textile majors. The results of the study found that the ability to use English and communication skills were important to perform their tasks (sales and supporting teams). The results revealed that fabric and textile, sewing, and apparel production process were the most frequently taken educational programs provided by global sourcing companies and English classes were the most frequently taken educational programs in the other educational institutions. The results also found that the clothing and textile curriculum need to add classes that help sales and supporting teams perform global sourcing tasks, such as fashion practical English, fabric and textile, apparel production processes, textile and apparel trades, fiber and fabric testing, and presentation skills. The study suggested educational directions for developing curriculum contents of clothing and textiles and cultivating professionals in the global sourcing industries.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate social support buffering stress symptoms and the relationship between stress symptoms and job performance. The data were obtained from questionnaires completed by 529 workers employed in textile or clothing companies. The SPSS package was used for data analysis which included t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis. The results showed there were significant differences in the perceived levels of social support according to individual differences such as gender, marital status, length of service, title of current position, and division of responsibility. Workers with a high level of supervisor or co-worker social support were found to have the lower levels of stress symptoms. Social support appeared to moderate the relationship between stress symptoms and job performance.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.125-141
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• 2011

This paper is to focus the financial ratio analysis of the Korean textile and apparel companies due to fast changing domestic industry. Financial ratios are playing a pivotal role in management analysis to assess the present conditions to predict the future. Subjects are belonging to textile and apparel manufacturers based on Firm Classification Standard while registered as securities listed-firms or Kosdaq-listed firms under the Electronic Notification System of Korean Banking Supervisory Authority. 41 companies' data have been analyzed including 17 apparel companies and 24 textile companies. 14 representative financial ratios are analyzed. In this paper, financial ratios can be classified into four categories as follows: stability ratios, profitability ratios, growth ratios and activity ratios. The independent t-test was performed using SPSS 18 for a 10 year simple arithmetic average. The following conclusion has reached regarding aspects of management conditions and performances. When compared the ratios indicating stability, textile and apparel companies did not show much difference in debt ratio and the ratio of earning to interests. However, when compared the profitability ratios measuring the ability to produce incomes, apparel companies showed higher ratios than textile companies. Thus it is important to recognize financial characteristics of each industry.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.162-171
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• 2010

This study aims to discuss what changes Korean clothing companies and manufacturers have undergone with production facilities moving abroad due to offshore outsourcing and examine what conditions the clothing manufacturers are facing and how the clothing companies recognize those manufacturers. For these purposes, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 firms with annual production capacity of more than 200,000 pieces among clothing brands for the domestic market, clothing exporters and promotion agencies. Those interviewed firms were the companies who were found to produce more than 200,000 pieces of clothing per year, and the interview-based survey was conducted from December 18, 2008 to January 30, 2009. The key findings from this study are as follows; first, a high percentage of interviewed firms were producing only a small number of items in Korea with a large part of their production line transferred abroad or outsourcing all of their production abroad only with their headquarters in Korea. Second, many were employing contractors rather than their own factories. Third, when asked about the wage levels of clothing manufacturers, many of the clothing companies gave responses such as: 'They are just our contractor, so we respect their decision,' 'We don't know because it's none of our business,' or 'We don't know at all.' Fourth, when asked about the work environment of clothing manufacturers, the clothing companies gave responses such as: 'We know in part,' 'To our knowledge, they conform to the Labor Standards Law,' or 'We don't know at all.' Fifth, the production line of clothing manufacturers featured straight-line systems, specialization, pairing and compounding/mixing. Sixth, it was found that clothing companies had interest in mass customization but their preparations were not satisfactory.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.291-301
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• 2010

Today Korean clothing companies are experiencing difficulties in the global market due to unfavorable business conditions including poor production environments, labor shortage, rising costs, the further opening of the domestic distribution market, and increased competition among them. As a result, this has caused many of Korean clothing companies to transfer their production bases abroad in search of relatively inexpensive labor force, instead of using domestic plants. This study attempted to examine how Korean clothing companies perceive production environments and labor standards with regard to their offshore outsourcing. In such an attempt, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 brand-name clothing firms. Those interviewed firms were the brands for the domestic or foreign market that were found to produce more than 200,000 pieces of clothing per year, and also the group of interviewees included some promotion service providers. The key findings from this study are as follows: First, a large number of the interviewed clothing companies were found to manage their foreign contract manufacturers by "visiting their factories regularly on a seasonal basis" or "stationing their personnel in factory for management purposes." Second, in relation to quality control in their foreign manufacturers, the most frequent response was to "have personnel stationed in those manufacturers." A smaller number of the clothing companies answered that they had "engaged their production management teams in quality control from time to time," or "used their inspectors to inspect products." Third, when asked about labor standards in foreign contract manufacturers, the largest number of the clothing companies responded, "we apply our own standards." The results of this study suggest that most of domestic clothing companies still use offshore sourcing just as a means of reducing their initial labor costs. However, in the continuously changing environment of the global clothing industry, clothing businesses are required to escape from the early phases of their manufacturing environments and set up more globalized standards.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 1997

The main purpose of this study was to examine the sectors of Korean textile complex based on various economic characteristics and performances. The sectors in the textile complex differed in many aspects. Man-made fiber industry showed capital-intensive characteristics even though most of the sectors in the textile complex were labor-intensive. Textile industry is composed of weaving and spinning, knitting, dyeing and finishing sectors and even within the textile industry, each sector had different characteristics from each others. Weaving and spinning sector seemed to require relatively high capital investment, while dyeing and finishing was very labor-intensive. Labor-intensive apparel industry has faced decrease in labor-productivity while wage has increased. Slow growth in labor productivity in Korean textile complex was shown to be a more problem than increase in wage or ratio of labor cost to value added. Apparel companies appeared to be in better financial states than the textile companies, even though the exports of apparel products have decreased in the 1990s. However, in overall the financial states of the Korean textile complex were not as strong as those of the other manufacturing sectors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.243-253
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• 2011

The outdoor sportswear market in Korea has received increased attention due to the interest in health and leisure activities promoted through the well-being trend. This study examines the merchandising process for outdoor sportswear brands and focuses on textile planning in order to identity the opportunities for Korean textile companies. Data were collected through an interview method of nine outdoor leading brands (six national brands and three license brands). The interviewees were merchandisers with two to nine years of career experience in the company. The majority of interviewed brands implemented a merchandising plan twice a year. Basic goods took 80% and reorder or spot goods took 10-20% of the total quantity, which possessed a substantial possibility to substitute imported textiles for Korean ones. After the 2008 global economic crisis, outdoor brands have increased the quantity of Korean textiles up to 70% of the total amount of sales because of low price per quality, lead-time accuracy, convenience for handling, and communication. The most important factors when selecting materials were functionality, quality, design, price, and lead-time for orders. The managerial implications for Korean textile companies were also discussed.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.888-899
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• 2011

Fashion companies make use of diverse strategies to have a competitive edge as there is a growing fierce competition. According to earlier studies, consumers prefer the products and services of companies that direct their energy into CSR activities if there's little disparity in quality of products and services among the companies. The way consumers look at the CSR activities of businesses is very important for the companies since it is linked to their evaluation and image of the companies and indulgencies on their word-of-mouth, purchase and loyalty. It's not quite advisable for fashion companies to make an investment in CSR activities without any specific plans or conviction of the effectiveness of the activities. Actually, lots of domestic companies fail to success their CSR activities, despite of their hard efforts. This study was to examine the appropriateness of corporate CSR activities, the attitude of customers to companies and their intention of recommendation and purchase in detail, and to provide some information on strategy setting for the CSR activities of fashion businesses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.916-926
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to examine the workers＇ attitudes toward textile industry. Also the attitude was investigated how to be correlated to job stress symptoms and job performance. The data were obtained from questionnaire completed by 529 workers employed in textile or clothing companies. The SPSS package was used for data analysis which included t-test, ANOVA, mean, correlation, and factor analysis. The results showed that workers＇ attitudes toward textile industry were neither positive nor negative. The attitudes revealed to be divided into two components-cognition, affect/behavioral intention. Cognitive attitude was observed to be more positive than affective/behavioral intention attitude. The attitude differed according to personal characteristics such as sex, educational status, position, period of one＇s service, types of industry and job specifications. The attitude were correlated with job stress symptoms and job performance. The more positive the workers＇ attitudes were, the lesser job stress symptoms and the higher job performance were. As the two components of the attitudes are in the same way, the attitude toward textile industry exhibited to have higher correlation with job stress symptoms and job performance.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

Design patent is a type of industrial design right that is granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. We analyzed domestic design patents that were applied from 1965 until 2008, to the field of functional clothing. Since the year 2000 the number of design patents of functional clothing progressively increased. Design patents applied to the functional clothing field includes sport wear (47%), working clothes (34%), and leisure wear (19%). Design development of the sports wear from the latter half of 1990's has shown a continuously increasing tendency. The most patent applications belonged to the companies(51.4%), followed by individual applicants (46.6%), and the universities or laboratories had the least number of applications (2.0%). In case of working clothes or the leisure wear, the number of design applications focusing on the functional characteristic is higher than that of aesthetic characteristic, however, the number of design applications focusing on the aesthetic characteristic is higher in sportswear.