• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.160-174
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• 2005

Despite the decrease in the number of children due to low birth rate, the domestic children's apparel market has been achieving steady growth as family income is rising thanks to more opportunities for working women, parents spend more on their children, and they prefer brand products that make their children look special. In addition, the market is suffering from hard competition as large enterprises have joined the race. The present study purposed to survey the children's apparel market in Korea, which is in a transitional period, and to contribute to the development of the market with Korean brands. For this purpose, we analyzed the characteristics of children's apparel brands in the 21st century based on the current state of the domestic children's apparel market and, based on the findings, forecasted the future trend of children's apparel brands, suggested improvements for expected problems, proposed standards for coping with changes such as diversification, high quality and differentiation in the children's apparel market, and provided consumers with information on how to purchase products. According to the result of analyzing the characteristics of children's apparel brands in the 21st century, brands are categorized largely into four types - life cultural brands, functional product brands, character brands and brands advancing to China. Life cultural brands equipped with all necessities for children are expanding, and with the deepening social problems of environmental pollution and the reduction of the child population, functional products made of environment-friendly materials are spreading widely, targeting infants and children. Furthermore, for extending age targets and diversifying products, children's apparel is using characters. The use of characters is expected to have a considerable effect on the growth of brands because children are more subjective as consumers than before and they are more easily persuaded with characters. Domestic children's apparel brands advancing to China have a high expectation of success in overcoming the limitation of the local market that has reached its peak and growing into global brands. Korean apparel makers are struggling to overcome the depressed domestic market, to recover consumers' consumption, to cope with market opening, to pursue high value of sensibility and to expand the seniors' market, etc. In this situation, future trends of children's apparel brands will be the expansion of family brands, brand totalization, quality price, niche market (pre-teen market), etc. In response to these trends, we made the following suggestions for improvement. 1. Children's apparel brands are evolving into family brands as well as into total brands through voluming. Today, however, apparel makers are advancing to the children's apparel market with the concept of adults' apparel and, as a result, children's apparel is merely adults' apparel of reduced size, having problems in design, color and materials. Thus, apparel makers must develop design considering the wide range of size and the characteristics of children's apparel, strengthen sourcing abilities to create revenues, and make thorough survey of customers to find common denominators between adults' apparel and children's apparel considering that characteristic that the target class is different from the buyer class. Furthermore, they must make active investments in human resources, develop outstanding products through advanced planning and design, and support marketing techniques and management systems to stores. 2. As the declining birth rate will continue to have a negative effect on the market, it may be difficult to expand the market size but there is still a margin for growth through high-sensibility and high-quality products. The competitiveness of brands is determined by their market shares. Accordingly, concepts should be specialized according to lifestyle, customers' diverse needs should be satisfied, and cross-coordination should be achieved within a brand. 3. Considering Korean parents who do not spare investment in their children despite shrinking consumption, functional products must be high value-added goods that can enhance efficiency. However, in the current situation of the infants' apparel industry where a textile manufacturer supply its products to multiple brands, it is difficult to develop unique products only based on materials. Thus, it is considered urgent to appeal to consumers not by relying on materials only but by finding methods of applying their own characters to children's dress.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.3
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• pp.90-118
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• 2021

Gaeseong fostered the conditions necessary for modern capitalism, as huge capital was accumulated through the cultivation and trade of ginseng, which were activities that flourished in the 18th century. During the Japanese colonial era, ginseng merchants were not simply limited to acquiring landowner capital from ginseng trade but actively converted such resource to productive and financial capital, thereby becoming modern entrepreneurs. Ginseng merchants led the joint management and investment of Gaeseong Electric Co., Ltd., Daehan Cheonil Bank, Gaeseong Brewing Co., Ltd., and Songgo Textile Company, founded in the early 20th century. They pursued corporate profits and, as leading individuals of society, spearheaded regional development by supporting educational and cultural projects in Gaeseong. These projects included the establishment of the Gaeseong Commercial School, the publication of Goryeo Times, and the operation of the Gaeseong Jwa Theater. Although liberal economics prioritized shareholder interest, the 21st century witnessed an emphasis on social responsibility among stakeholders asthe major purpose of enterprises. A trend that emerged was ESG (environment, social, governance) management, in which non-financial factors are valued more highly than financial performance. A successful business, which was denoted only by high profits in the past, is now defined by whether a company fulfills its social responsibility. In the early 20th century, the corporate activities of ginseng merchants in Gaeseong reflected entrepreneurship and stakeholder-centered ESG management, which later emerged as essential elements of modern business management. The modern management philosophy ahead of its times stemmed from the regionality of Gaeseong. The political discrimination against Gaeseong residents in the Joseon Dynasty precluded them from becoming government officers, and under a strict social hierarchy, yangban ("noblemen"), the intellectuals of the Joseon Dynasty, were forced to serve as merchants. Son Bong-sang and Kong Seong-hak, aside from being representative ginseng merchants, were both Confucian scholars and writers. The second and third generations of ginseng merchant families who had received higher education abroad returned to Gaeseong to carry on with their family businesses, then established modern companies with capital accrued from the ginseng industry. An analysis of the commercial activities of ginseng merchants in the early 20th century confirmed that these individuals were pioneering entrepreneurs who adopted the ESG management philosophy. In ginseng merchants, one sees a dimension of capitalism with a human face, as with ginseng thatsaves human life.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2010

This paper describes a collaborative project between academia and industry which focused on improving the marketing and product development strategies for two private label apparel brands of a large regional department store chain in the southeastern United States. The goal of the project was to revitalize product lines of the two brands by incorporating student ideas for new solutions, thereby giving the students practical experience with a real-life industry situation. There were a number of key players involved in the project. A privately-owned department store chain based in the southeastern United States which was seeking an academic partner had recognized a need to update two existing private label brands. They targeted middle-aged consumers looking for casual, moderately priced merchandise. The company was seeking to change direction with both packaging and presentation, and possibly product design. The branding and product development divisions of the company contacted professors in an academic department of a large southeastern state university. Two of the professors agreed that the task would be a good fit for their classes - one was a junior-level Intermediate Brand Management class; the other was a senior-level Fashion Product Development class. The professors felt that by working collaboratively on the project, students would be exposed to a real world scenario, within the security of an academic learning environment. Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team has the advantage of providing experiences and resources beyond the capabilities of a single student and adds "brainpower" to problem-solving processes (Lowman 2000). This goal of improving the capabilities of students directed the instructors in each class to form interdisciplinary teams between the Branding and Product Development classes. In addition, many universities are employing industry partnerships in research and teaching, where collaboration within temporal (semester) and physical (classroom/lab) constraints help to increase students' knowledge and experience of a real-world situation. At the University of Tennessee, the Center of Industrial Services and UT-Knoxville's College of Engineering worked with a company to develop design improvements in its U.S. operations. In this study, Because should be lower case b with a private label retail brand, Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst's (1999) revised Retail Apparel Product Development Model was used by the product development and brand management teams. This framework was chosen because it addresses apparel product development from the concept to the retail stage. Two classes were involved in this project: a junior level Brand Management class and a senior level Fashion Product Development class. Seven teams were formed which included four students from Brand Management and two students from Product Development. The classes were taught the same semester, but not at the same time. At the beginning of the semester, each class was introduced to the industry partner and given the problem. Half the teams were assigned to the men's brand and half to the women's brand. The teams were responsible for devising approaches to the problem, formulating a timeline for their work, staying in touch with industry representatives and making sure that each member of the team contributed in a positive way. The objective for the teams was to plan, develop, and present a product line using merchandising processes (following the Wickett, Gaskill and Damhorst model) and develop new branding strategies for the proposed lines. The teams performed trend, color, fabrication and target market research; developed sketches for a line; edited the sketches and presented their line plans; wrote specifications; fitted prototypes on fit models, and developed final production samples for presentation to industry. The branding students developed a SWOT analysis, a Brand Measurement report, a mind-map for the brands and a fully integrated Marketing Report which was presented alongside the ideas for the new lines. In future if the opportunity arises to work in this collaborative way with an existing company who wishes to look both at branding and product development strategies, classes will be scheduled at the same time so that students have more time to meet and discuss timelines and assigned tasks. As it was, student groups had to meet outside of each class time and this proved to be a challenging though not uncommon part of teamwork (Pfaff and Huddleston, 2003). Although the logistics of this exercise were time-consuming to set up and administer, professors felt that the benefits to students were multiple. The most important benefit, according to student feedback from both classes, was the opportunity to work with industry professionals, follow their process, and see the results of their work evaluated by the people who made the decisions at the company level. Faculty members were grateful to have a "real-world" case to work with in the classroom to provide focus. Creative ideas and strategies were traded as plans were made, extending and strengthening the departmental links be tween the branding and product development areas. By working not only with students coming from a different knowledge base, but also having to keep in contact with the industry partner and follow the framework and timeline of industry practice, student teams were challenged to produce excellent and innovative work under new circumstances. Working on the product development and branding for "real-life" brands that are struggling gave students an opportunity to see how closely their coursework ties in with the real-world and how creativity, collaboration and flexibility are necessary components of both the design and business aspects of company operations. Industry personnel were impressed by (a) the level and depth of knowledge and execution in the student projects, and (b) the creativity of new ideas for the brands.

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.7
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• pp.133-162
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• 1995

Paderborn's companies, Wameling and Cassau, produce the liturgical vestments, which have much traditional artistic merit. And Kevelaerer Fahnen + Paramenten GmbH, located in Kevelater which is a place of pilgrimage of the Virgin Mary, was known to Europe, Africa, America and the Scandinavia Peninsula as the "Hidden Company" of liturgical vesments maker up to now. Paderborn and Kevelaer were the place of the center of the religious world and the Catholic ceremony during a good few centries. The Catholic liturgical vestiments of these 3 companies use versatile design, color, shape and techniques. These have not only the symbolism of religion, but also can meet our's expectations of utilization of modern textile art, art clothing and wide-all division of design. These give the understanding of symbolic meanings and harmony according to liturgical vestments to the believers. And these have an influence on mental thinking and induction of religious belief to the non-believers as the recognition and concerns about the religious art. The liturgical vestments are clothes which churchmen put on at the all ceremonial function of a mass, a sacrament, performance and a parade according to rules of church. These show the represen-tation of "Holy God" in silence and distinguish between common people and churchmen. And these represent a status and dignity of churchmen and induce majesty and respect to churchmen. Common clothes of the beginning of the Greece and Rome was developed to Christian clothes with the tendency of religion. There were no special uniforms distinguished from commen people until the Christianity was recognized officially by the Roman Emperor Constantinus at A.D.313. The color of liturgical vestments was originally white and changed to special colors according to liturgical day and each time by the Pope Innocentius at 12th century. The color and symbolic meaning of the liturgical vestments of present day was originated by the Pope St. Pius(1566-1572). Wool and Linen was used as decorations and materials in the beginnings and the special materials like silk was used after 4th century and beautiful materials made of gold thread was used at 12th century. It is expected that there is no critical changes to the liturgical vestments of future. But the development of liturgical vestments will continues slowly by the command of conservative church and will change to simple and convenient formes according to the culture, the trend of the times and the fashion of clothes. The companies of liturgical vestments develop versatile design, embroidery technique and realization of creative design for distinction of the liturgical vestments of each company and artistic progress. The cooperation of companies, artists and church will make the bright future of these 3 companies. We expect that our country will be a famous producing center of the liturgical vestments through the research and development of companies, participation of artists in religeous arts and concerts of church.