With the diffusion of smart-phones and mobile equipment, as well as the emergence of consumption patterns like showrooming and reverse showrooming, not only online shopping, but also offline stores are becoming important. For this reason, a multichannel which simultaneously runs both offline and online channels is getting the spotlight. A multichannel means a series of activities related to selling goods and services to consumers via more than one channel (Levy & Weitz, 2011). To adapt to this change of the retail environment, the Dongdaemun market, the source of Korean mass fashion, is introducing a multichannel to manage online and offline channels together. ‘Style Nanda’, based on Dongdaemun, is a representative branding case. Having starting with an online shopping mall, ‘Style Nanda’ is now running offline stores and is planning to enter overseas markets. Another example is that of Roompacker which has grown up from an offline store in the Dongdaemun Doota Shopping Mall launched in 2005 and is now emerging as the online and offline powerful actor in the market. As mentioned above, Dongdaemun fashion market-based brands are competitive when they have a multichannel to simultaneously run offline channels, online, and mobile channels. The existing Dongdaemun fashion market-related research has been limited to the analysis of Dongdaemun market’s structural characteristics or the consumer perception of the shopping conditions (Hong & Lee, 2007; Choi & Choo, 2005). Also, most multi-channel studies have focused on the consumer perceptions depending on the channel characteristics; therefore, the studies that measured consumer responses depending on the brand characteristics are very scarce. With the change in the retail environment and the increase in the necessity of revitalizing Dongdaemun commercial districts, a study on the multi-channel properties of the Dongdaemun brands would provide many useful implications. In this context, this research aims to analyze the characteristics of the Dongdaemun market, which is offline-optimized, as well as the utilities and attributes of multichannel shopping services of Dongdaemun fashion brands. Our second aim is to provide implications for marketing. In particular, this research is focused on the effects of these attributes on value equity, relationship equity, and brand equity which are customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun fashion brand consumers. Furthermore, this research explores the effects of customer equity drivers on customer satisfaction and purchase intention. A total of 200 samples were collected to examine the effects on customer equity drivers of Dongdaemun multichannel attributions by consumers in Dongdaemun Fashion Market. The collected data were then analyzed statistically (exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics) with SPSS 21.0. Furthermore, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this research will serve as a foundation for a distribution channel research to measure the characteristics of Dongdaemun and customer equity regarding a multichannel. They will also be practically helpful in establishing a strategy to introduce a multichannel of offline-centered brands.

Dongdaemun Fashion Town, a representative clothing wholesale and retail market in South Korea, is a traditional market that was formed in the 19th century in the late Chosun Dynasty. Since then, the market system has strengthened and, as of now, Dongdaemun Fashion Town can produce various products in batch production and is characterized by a quick market response (Jung, Choo, & Chung, 2007). Furthermore, all fashion-related functions are available, making Dongdaemun Fashion Town an industrial cluster where all related businesses and services are locally concentrated (Ko, Choo, Lee, Song, & Whang, 2013). These characteristics of Dongdaemun Fashion Town relieve market trade cost and build a unique production system. It is positioned as a central clothing wholesale and retail district with the function of a national wholesale market. This Dongdaemun Fashion Town system creates services that customers demand through cooperation, partnership, or outsourcing between various suppliers and various resources (Nam, Kim, Yim, Lee, & Jo, 2009). Thus, Dongdaemun Fashion Town is a system space composed of subordinate markets with unique taste functions; here, a systematic network between the suppliers is significant. It produces value co-creation through collaboration with suppliers. However, few previous studies have investigated co-value created through co-production or co-innovation from Dongdaemun Fashion Town. Also, the shift from product-centered thinking to the customer-centered thinking implies the need for an accompanying shift to the customer-based strategy. It also refers the necessity of strategy to improve customer equity (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004). Therefore, further study is needed on co-creation research to make cyclical growth of traditional market and customer equity. The structure of this study is as follows. First, the characteristics of the Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation are investigated and each of the subordinate aspects is investigated. Second, the influence of co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity driver is analyzed. Third, the moderating effects on the types of suppliers’ (wholesale/retail) influence relationship are analyzed. In total, 300 samples by wholesalers and retailers were collected for the final analysis. Data analysis was performed used SPSS 21.0 for exploratory factor analyses, reliability analysis, and descriptive statistics. Based on the results, AMOS 18.0 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis. The results of this study provide an insight into the influence of Dongdaemun Fashion Town’s co-production, co-innovation, and value co-creation on customer equity by wholesalers and retailers. The study concludes with outlining future directions of research that can be used in the development of marketing strategies.

Consumers and sources are embedded in cultural contexts that influence how those sources are read. We examine how consumers stigmatized for being fat collectively read advertisements for luxury fashion brands featuring plus-sized sources. We unveil individual and cultural resources stigmatized consumers rely on to collectively develop readings of advertising sources.

Luxury consumption is intrinsically related to unusual expectations from the consumers, among which some are equally shared around the globe. For instance, Europeans, Americans and Asians claim that luxury products should be flawless and their producers (i.e. the luxury brands) should have some history and heritage (Wiedmann et al., 2007). What they put behind these two last notions can fluctuate, but they are systematically stressed out in studies, be they academic or applied, qualitative or quantitative. Therefore, it sounds fundamental for the luxury Maisons to communicate on their heritage and history (Wiedmann et al., 2012). While until the end of the XXth century brands could rely upon different message content and copy to do so, due to localized options of communication, the Internet has implied to complete revision of their approach. The Maisons’ websites, even if available in different languages, are unique platforms to showcase the brand’s history, ambience and offering to a worldwide audience. They should be able to reach consumers, both cognitively and emotionally, recreate the store atmosphere, while simultaneously stimulating some desire to discover new collections. They stand for an open-window on a boundary-free world, be it from the geographical or from the time point of view. However, as pointed out by academics and professionals from the very beginning, the road is paved with risks, especially in terms of brand image management (Geerts & Veg-Sala, 2012). This comes from the apparent non-compatibility between luxury and the online environment. However, such discrepancies have led to a complete redefinition of the luxury concept, with its new semiotics economy (Maman & Kourdoughli, 2014). Part of it is ‘heritage and history’, with little surprise. We can therefore raise the issue of a lack of academic research regarding how such Maisons communicate about their history (even if short) and heritage on their website, be it an institutional or a transactional one. The only studies we have found deal with the automotive sector (Wiedmann et al., 2011) or watch one (Baum, 2011), the second one being a Master’s thesis. It is the objective of the present study to fill in this gap, and to uncover the various ‘signs’ used by luxury brands to communicate their heritage and heritage to their worldwide audience. Besides, we wanted to understand whether different semiotic systems were used by French vs. Italian luxury brands, and whether other variables such as the place of origin or the ‘age’ of the Maison would lead to different signs. To reach this goal, we used a two-pronged approach. First we gathered data from 56 websites of fashion luxury brands, using an inductive approach of content analysis (Kim & Kuljis, 2007). A coding grid was thus built while data was collected, with a back and forth coding process. We also built upon the Gestalt principles to ‘judge’ whether the websites were more focused on 1) current fashion trends, 2) the brand itself or its designer(s), 3) the products offered, or 4) the past of the brand. A first researcher built the grid and filled it in, while a second one directly used the grid for coding. The two coding outcomes were confronted and discrepancies discussed until agreement was reached. Then, major trends and clusters were identified from the data, leading us to understand the various sign-systems used by the Maisons, using Peircian semiotics. We end-up our study with theoretical conclusions regarding the online communication of luxury fashion brands, and with practical recommendations for luxury brand managers.

Fashion brands are influenced by multiple identities. Even though, for example, the brand name might still be associated with one or more creative founders (Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Hermès, Adidas, Joop) the brand image, and moreover the overall brand reputation are influenced by many different identities. For instance, a specific product identity (e.g., Gucci’s Bamboo Bag), the identity of the city or country of origin (Florence, Italy), the identities of well-known key customers as brand ambassadors (Sophia Loren, Vanessa Redgrave, Lady Diana, Naomi Watts etc.). Of course, also fashion brands who are not directly associated with the name of creative founders are composed of the effects of several identities. In the case of e.g. Nike especially successful athletes (Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan etc.), specific sports and sport events, and product lines tailor-made for them did help to build a strong brand reputation. All in all, it seems to be expedient to understand fashion brands as more of less complex systems composed of several identities. To deal in more detail with such “brand systems” is becoming particularly important against the background of several strategic challenges – e.g., when fashion brands are growing older and the creative founders lose their specific gravitational power, when in the process of internationalization new countries gain more and more importance who’s citizens might not have a strong access to the existing brand reputation drivers, or simply when in the context of the growing global competition the fashion brand needs to be “refreshed”. Against the background of cultural differences, or even - as within countries - lifestyle differences between different groups of customers, it can also be quite possibly that very different reputation drivers account for the success of a brand. Thus, it is necessary to identify, in different contexts, the relevant reputation drivers, and to analyze which interplay of those drivers might be particularly promising. Is it the creative founder, the corporate heritage, the country and/or city of origin, a special designer, a specific corporate culture, an outstanding product design, attractive key customers etc.? Which combination of such identity factors leads to what kind of success (e.g., brand loyalty, brand trust, price premium)? Will, for instance, heritage especially lead to brand trust, whereas an outstanding product design and specifically attractive key customers create the readiness for a higher price premium? And, is it necessary to create sub-brands to especially highlight specific identities in the process of building a brand system (e.g., the sub-branding of a Michael Jordan product line in the case of Nike)? Or is sufficient to only communicate an alignment with the brand (e.g., ads showing Naomi Watts wearing a Gucci Bamboo Handbag)? In other words, which kind of brand system, and which kind of brand communications has to be designed to attract specific target groups and to sustain competitive advantages? The present contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for analyzing “brand systems” in the fashion industry. Concomitantly, an approach of measuring such brand systems will be presented. Furthermore, a concept for analyzing the impact of several sub-identities on the development of the overall brand reputation and brand success against the background of existing contingencies will be outlined. With the introduction and discussion of such a conceptual framework it especially is intended to initiate the launching of an international research project which attempts to find an answer basically to the following question: Which via an integrated branding and brand systems communication carefully crafted composition of sub-identities might be how successful under what kind of situational conditions?

Corporate reputation is one of the most important assets for a firm. Literature has widely investigated on how corporate reputation affects competitive advantages and marketing strategies, thus improving customer loyalty and brand’s image. Specifically, scholars have focused on reputational loss event’s linkage with both financial performance and cushion effect on stock price fall during economic crises. Corporate reputation can be divided into three interrelated elements: managerial, financial, and product reputation. Main critical drivers that characterize corporate reputation are, firstly, the quality of product, management, and employees; then, organizational attractiveness, social responsibility and financial performance. Reputation loss may have different nature, resulting both from critical events that deeply affect customers’ perception, and from organizational drivers that are not significantly considered by customers although important for corporate social responsibility. To our best knowledge, while much effort has been given to positive effects of reputation, scarce attention has been given to the typology of reputational loss event impacting on firm’s financial situation. Thanks to multiple case studies in global fashion industry, the authors assess market reactivity after corporate loss of reputation. The focus is on critical drivers that may damage a brand’s image, consequently causing a financial loss. In addition to this, the paper highlights the nature of main reputational risks that mostly impact on stakeholders’ perception of firm’s reputation in fashion industry.

The fashion supply chain, even if represents one of the most important economies of the European industry, is one of the most polluting industries in the world, being a huge consumer of water, electricity and chemicals, and discharging massive quantities of wastes to land. Despite this fact, only few contributions have offered an analysis of the practices adopted by fashion companies to reduce its environmental impact. This paper present an empirical study on the sustainability practices adoption of Italian companies in the fashion Clothing, Leather industries. The research has been conducted through an online survey submitted to a sample of 192 Italian companies, having respectively the 14 and 15 ATECO 2007 code in the AIDA database, with a response rate of 13%. The results have been analyzed through the statistical software SPSS, in order to conduct a cluster analysis and 6 different clusters have been identified. Companies belong to cluster 1 do not apply any sustainability practices, even if they are coherent with what they declare on their website. Companies of cluster 2 adopt some practices, but sustainability is not integrated into their culture. Cluster 3 is composed by companies that declare a high interest to the environment, mainly for marketing reason. This way, companies of this group represent the ones more misaligned and not consistent from the practices declared on their website and the one really implemented. Cluster 5 is composed by companies endorsing environmental sustainability as a part of the company values and a high level of practices implemented is reported. Last, companies belonging to Cluster 6 have the environmental sustainability as a strategic objective and implements sustainability practices in a consistent and coordinated way.

The more the marketplace become competitive, the more clear and distinct market segments the marketers need to identify. A minority of consumers takes important roles in the marketplace as market influencers or diffusers of information to others, for instance, market maven or opinion leaders. Market mavens tend to have overall market-related knowledge, while opinion leader and fashion leader possess product class-specific information. Fashion leaders are more likely to adopt a product at the early stage, but opinion leaders or market mavens are not necessary. Despite significant roles as reference groups, limited research has examined the differences in the essential traits of three influential groups. The purpose of this research is to examine and compare the differences of psychological attributes in market maven, opinion leaders, and fashion leaders with respect to consumer self-confidence, clothing involvement(INV), status consumption(STATUS), and price consciousness(PRICE). The instrument was modified based on the previous studies(Bearden, et al., 2001; Clark & Goldsmith, 2005; Feick& Price, 1987;Goldsmith, et al., 1991) and each item was measured by seven-point Liker type scales. A total of 857 data were collected through the internet survey method. About 50.3% of respondents were female, 39.2% were single, and age ranged from 20 to 59 years old. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the differences of the measurement in three influential groups, explaining 70.76% of variances. Consumer self-confidence was generated into five factors, information acquisition & consideration-set formation (IA&CF), personal outcomes(PO), social outcomes (SO), persuasion knowledge(PKN), and marketplace interfaces(MI). Cronbach's alpha was ranged between .78 and .93. In order to investigate the effects of psychological attributes on three influential groups, five factors of self-confidence (IA&CF, PO, SO, PKN, and MI), INV, STATUS, and PRICE were entered as the independent variables in the regression model respectively. In explaining market maven, IA&CF(β=.37) and SO(β=.35) showed the strong positive effects, and STATUS, PKN(-), MI(-), and PRICE were also significant in order (F=107, adj. R2=.498). Opinion leaders were significantly related with SO(β=.84), and PO, INV, and PRICE presented the minor effects(F=496.2, adj. R2=.822). SO(β=.38), STATUS(β=.37), INV(β=.34), and PKN were significant predictors for fashion leaders (F=289.3, adj. R2=.729). When analyzing the influence of market maven, opinion leader, and fashion leader on buying behaviors, market maven and fashion leaders were significantly, positively related with impulse buying behavior (F=69.28, adj. R2=.193), and overall satisfaction(F=38.21, adj. R2=.115). The implications were discussed.

The information technology has affected many aspects of retail world as in other areas of human life. This makes understanding consumers’ acceptance and usage of such technological innovations a critical task for both retail businesses and scholars alike. The technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis 1989) is one of the most widely adopted theoretical frameworks for explaining and predicting consumers’ acceptance of technology. Implementing the meta-analysis method, this study aimed at testing the validity of TAM for understanding consumers’ attitudes and behaviors toward the various technologies adopted in fashion retail stores and online commerce sites. Specifically, the effect sizes of two TAM antecedents of perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEOU) were estimated and compared. Moderating factors that affect the effect sizes of PU and PEOU on attitudes and behaviors were also explored. A meta-analytical SEM methodology was expected to deliver more thorough and valid test of the model than single sample studies, because accumulation of multiple samples through meta-analysis would bolster the test's statistical power (Hom et al., 1992). A sample of studies on consumers’ acceptance of retail technology in fashion retail context that adopted the TAM model were collected through a systematic search through the databases such as EBSCO, Google Scholars, and Dissertation Abstracts. Efforts were made to include unpublished studies to avoid publication bias. A total of 31 published and unpublished research reports that allowed the calculation of effect sizes of the key paths in the model were included in the final analysis. The effect sizes were calculated out of the identified samples, and the homogeneities of the effect sizes were tested using comprehensive meta-analysis software. The types of technology, product type (apparel vs. general merchandise), subject characteristics (gender; country; student vs. general), and study setting (actual experience vs. simulated situation) were considered as moderators to explain for the variances in correlations among variables. Finally, a meta-SEM model was tested on the aggregated data using AMOS.

Expensive handbags, in particular, luxury designer handbags are incredibly popular among fashionable women. This is why many fashion houses such as Chanel and Hermes offer handbags as another product line as part of their accessories category (Juggessur, 2011). Some retailers claim that owning a luxury designer handbag worth more than £1,000 can make financial sense to middle-class women, who may not spend as much on clothing, but view an expensive luxury designer handbag as an investment piece which can be used every day, adding a touch of glamour (Juggessur, 2011). The global handbag market encompasses exceedingly dynamic players and an expanding consumer base, which is expected to flourish due to increasing demand from emerging markets and strong performances by the international luxury brands (Digital Luxury Group, 2013). The top 10 markets for luxury handbags, collectively gathered over 120 million online searches, demonstrating substantial global demand for the world’s most covetable luxury items (Digital Luxury Group, 2013) (see Figure 1) . Figure 1: demand of luxury handbag globally (Digital Luxury Group, 2013) The country subjects are UK and Indonesia. Despite the fact that both of Indonesia and UK are reflected as positive luxury market (Digital Luxury Group, 2013; Euromonitor, 2014), both of the countries have differences which may lead to different motivation of luxury purchase. Indonesia is emerging market, while UK is a mature market. The rise of emerging market makes difference. Back then, individualist country is more refer to western developed countries, while collectivistic country is refer to eastern developing countries (Hofstede, 2011; Shukla, 2012). Nowadays, emerging countries are catching up with developed countries (Nielsen, 2013). Increasing exposure to global media and the depiction of western lifestyles in local media seem to have increased the desire for high-quality goods and services among consumers in emerging markets (Belk, 1999). With regards to luxury products and services, studying the consumption patterns in emerging markets is particularly important due to the phenomenal growth of luxury consumption among consumers in these markets (Shukla, 2012). For example, according to Bain and Company (2012), 85 per cent of all luxury stores will be opening in emerging markets over the coming decade. Moreover, recent studies highlight the significantly strong influence of the materialism trait with luxury consumption in emerging markets (Lertwannawit and Mandhachitara, 2011; Podoshen et al., 2011). As predicted by BCG (2010), in 2015, emerging-market cities will account for around 20 per cent which is $2.6 trillion of the total global consumption of clothing and house as a priority of future expenditures. The key consumer base for luxury goods has long since left Europe, moving West to the United States, but also East to the Gulf States and Asia, and South to Latin America, particularly Brazil (Business of Fashion, 2014). Luxury companies are no longer focusing for mature market. However, luxury goods enable consumers to satisfy their material as well as socio-psychological needs to a greater degree than regular goods (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004; Wiedmann et al., 2009). Luxury brands are one of the most profitable and fastest-growing brand segments, yet at the same time, the social influences associated with luxury brands are poorly understood and under investigated (Shukla, 2010; Wiedmann et al., 2009; Tynan et al., 2010). Increasing exposure to global media and the depiction of western lifestyles in local media seem to have increased the desire for high-quality goods and services among consumers in emerging markets (Belk, 1999). With regards to luxury products and services, studying the consumption patterns in emerging markets is particularly important due to the phenomenal growth of luxury consumption among consumers in these markets (Shukla, 2012). From those passages, it can be inferred that emerging market countries are the targets of luxury brand companies to invest in the market. Culture is changing: The rise of Emerging Market As previously discussed in the second chapter, when the political, societal, and economic environments change, people's cultural values also change. Thus, many cultural theories should be updated and re-evaluated periodically. Hence, Wu (2006) said that Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Dimension theory is no longer applicable. Additionally Saiq et al. (2014) said that Hofstede’s Individualistic Dimension work is too old and can’t be effectively implemented in the era of rapidly changing environment, convergence and globalization. The arguments by Wu (2006) and Saiq et al. (2013) is supporting Bian and Forsythe (2012) which argue that culture is changing as a consequence of the increasingly global economy especially in emerging market, converging in the direction of greater individualism. As a result, collectivist societies might adopt some individualistic elements, but this would not change their societal identity or their social label as a collective society (Bian and Forsythe, 2012). The contrasts between few contemporary studies of luxury value perception in Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Country (Bian Forsythe; 2012, Li et al, 2012; Shukla and Purani, 2012) (see Table 1) are leading to confusion in understanding value perception on luxury purchase between individualistic country vs. collectivistic country. For an instance, according to Li et al. (2012), a collectivistic country (China) has high consideration of functional value dimension for luxury purchase, but according to Shukla and Purani (2012), a collectivistic country (India) has low consideration of functional value perception for luxury purchase. Another example, according to Bian and Forsythe (2012), an individualistic county (US) consider high personal and social value dimension for luxury purchase, but according to Shukla and Purani (2012), individualistic country (UK) consider low personal and social value dimension on the luxury purchase. The study results were supporting a statement of Shukla (2012) that culture is not static and it keeps changing Table 1: The contrast between study results about value perception across culture Impact on the Future Brand Strategy Consumer value plays as critical role at the heart of all marketing movement and hence undoubtedly deserves attention of every consumer scholars (Holbrook, 1999) especially, in the next decade, customer is predicted as the key orientation of luxury business (BCG Report, 2014) (see Figure 2). The current crisis in luxury marketing area is encouraging companies to look more deeply into the links between consumers and luxury brands (Godey et al., 2013). Consumption of luxury products is based on two main reasons: the purchase for one’s self, for pleasure and purchase as a symbol of success (Godey et al., 2013). Nevertheless, whatever the perspective chosen, the brand remains the main vehicle for connecting with the consumer (Godey et al., 2013).To understand the right brand strategy, the purpose of this study is to identify the constructs of perceived peer communication in social media activities of luxury fashion brands, and to evaluate the influence of those activities on purchase intention in the UK and Indonesia. This research will propose a strategy to enhance brands' performance by defining specific factors relating to purchase intention. Moreover, the findings will enable luxury brands to forecast customer purchasing behaviour. The full conceptual model of this study can be found on Figure 2. Figure 2: The conceptual model of the study Methodology Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) suggest using a structural equation modelling approach for cross-culture study. SEM analysis has been successfully applied by many scholars to measure luxury value perception (Bian & Forysthe, 2012; Shukla, 2012; Casidy, 2012; Monkhouse et al., 2013; Hennigs et al., 2013). The structural equation design of this study is illustrated on Figure 3. The method of self-completion questionnaire allows for a greater geographical coverage than face-to-face interviews without incurring the additional costs of time and travel and they are particularly useful when carrying out research with geographically dispersed populations (Seale, 2012). Self-completed questionnaires were distributed to thirty students with snowball sampling by online survey to each country (UK and Indonesia) and twenty valid samples were utilised from each country. Criterion sampling strategy reviews all cases that meet predetermined criteria (Patton, 2002). Both criterion and snowball sampling techniques were components of a purposeful sampling strategy designed to identify participants with this criteria: A. Originally from and live in Indonesia or originally from and live in the UK. B. Having experience in purchasing at least one of luxury handbag. Figure 3: The structural equation design of the study Result There are significant differences of value perception on luxury handbag between Indonesian consumers and UK consumers. Indonesian consumers are highly influenced by Social Value Perception while British consumers are less influenced by Social Value Perception when buying luxury handbags. British luxury handbag consumers are more focusing on the Functional Value Perception which is not much considered by Indonesian consumers. However, consumers from both countries are highly influenced by Personal Value Perception.

Exhibitions are becoming a new important marketing tool in the fashion industry. Consumer’s interest in the haute couture and arts is increasing in parallel to the increase of the need of museums to attract visitors. While many fashion brands have been holding exhibitions, very few studies have investigated the effectiveness of exhibitions. This study aims to obtain practical implications which can be applied to further exhibition marketing processes. To this end, the main goals of this study are thus as follows: (1) to analyze the fashion exhibition cases by categories; and (2) to examine customer satisfaction by the fashion exhibition types and to determine how customer satisfaction affects the brand image. In order to classify the fashion exhibition types, a total of 160 cases held in the last five years in all over the world were collected and the range was set to the B2C fashion exhibition practices. For quantitative analysis of the customer recognition, the survey was distributed to total of 309 participants. Each of respondents evaluated three stimuli therefore the nine stimuli were respectively evaluated by 103 people. As a result of our analysis, nine types of fashion exhibitions were derived by two criteria, namely, (1) the main purpose of an exhibition and (2) the contents of an exhibition. Most fashion exhibitions are held with the goals of aesthetics, sociability, and remembrance. Exhibitions display various fashion products, such as apparel, shoes, bags, and jewellry, fashion photography, as well as various artistic media, such as video, drawings, and installation arts. The nine types of fashion exhibitions were used as a stimulus to quantitatively verify the effectiveness of fashion exhibitions. According to the results of the statistical analyses, customer satisfaction and brand image were significantly different in the fashion exhibition type but the exhibition type does not directly affect the brand image. This study provides a better understanding of the growing influence of factors on the fashion exhibitions and extends the limited research area by verifying the response of fashion exhibition visitors on the marketing level. Moreover, our results provide practical implications for fashion brands to establish successful exhibition marketing strategies.

With limited intellectual property protection of fashion products, copying is a pervasive trade practice in the US fashion industry. Fashion majored undergraduates’ evaluative judgment on similar fashion products, their future intentions to purchase copied products and to copy others’ design were examined. Evaluative judgment significantly related to retail work experiences.

Research aim and objectives Fashion blogs are personal online diaries created in order to collect and spread information about fashion trends, products and brands for a community of followers. Since their advent, fashion bloggers became key players in the field of fashion (Rocamora, 2011). Some fashion blogs achieved so much fame and notoriety to establish themselves as crucial reference points for consumers, fundamental spaces for “the production and circulation of fashion discourse” (ibidem, p.409). This exponentially growing phenomenon revolutionized the world of fashion and the concept of fashion industry itself: fashion bloggers have been included in the institutional system of fashion, beside the traditional media industry and considered together with the fashion journalism (Pedroni, 2014). The relevance of this research field is proved by the fashion bloggers’ copious and promising revenue. It is estimated that the most successful bloggers have incomes which soar into the million-dollar range annually (Blalock, 2014). According to Forbes (2015), Chiara Ferragni, the owner of ‘The Blonde Salad’ which became the Harvard’s Business School case study, is on track to take in $8 million in revenues this year. The most of the revenue comes not only from website advertisement but from celebrity appearances, partnership with luxury brands and bloggers’ handbag, shoes and clothes line collections (Keinan et al., 2015). However, despite it constitutes an extremely appealing domain for marketing studies (Kim & Jin, 2006), research on fashion blogging is still incipient (Rocamora, 2011). As the bloggers are brands themselves, the aim of this research is to deepen the fragmentary understanding of this phenomenon through the adoption of a personal brand perspective, i.e. personal branding. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives have been set: - How do the fashion bloggers develop and turn their personal identity and value into a personal brand? - What are their communication strategy? - What are their interaction strategies? Personal Branding: an overview The expression “personal branding” was introduced for the first time by Tom Peters (1997) in his article emblematically entitled “The brand called you”. In his contribution, considered to be the manifesto of personal branding, Peters points out the dramatic changes that affected the labour market, suggesting that the only way for people to succeed in a highly competitive scenario is to transform themselves into Chief Executive Officers of their own company and promote themselves learning from some of the most successful brands as Nike, Coke, Pepsi (ibidem). Personal branding (also known as self-branding, cf. Kaputa, 2003) is based on the idea that it is possible to apply to people the same marketing and branding principles originally developed for products and companies (Sheperd, 2005). It can be defined as a process by which individuals recognize their strengths and uniqueness and promote themselves to a target audience. In other words, building a personal brand means to identify what makes a person unique and different from their competitors or peers, but it also refers to the ability to communicate, in an effective way, your own source of competitive advantage (Centenaro and Sorchiotti, 2013; Kaputa, 2012; Labrecque, Markos & Milne, 2011; Shepherd, 2005). Although Peter’s (1997) original idea of personal branding was more generally based on individuals facing the “off-line” labour market, this approach can be used also to explain some “on-line” phenomenon. New technologies, in fact, created computer mediated environments, resulting in virtual spaces where people can present and express themselves using digital traces (Schau and Gilly, 2003). Research Methodology Using in-depth interviews and netnography, this work examines how a group of popular Italian fashion bloggers managed to build their personal brands and grow their value. A multi-methods research based on the combination of no-structured interviews (conducted both face-to-face and through Instant Messaging channels) and a netnographic approach1 was used to analyze the fashion blogging phenomenon. The in-depth interviews involved four Italian fashion bloggers selected with a snowball sampling. These interviews, performed in the explorative phase of the research, in addition to provide a preliminary exploration of the fashion blogging scenario and first empirical evidence, favoured the development of categories of analysis that have been successively deepened through the netnographic approach. The netnographic analysis, started in April and still in progress, has been applied to fifteen Italian fashion blogs, selected among the 100 most followed blogs indicated by Les Cahiers Fashion Marketing, an online fashion marketing magazine. Among them, the blogs selection was performed following the criteria suggested by the literature about netnography (Kozinets, 2010): the presence of relevant information related to the research focus and questions; the presence of recent and regular communication and a large interactivity between the blogger and other participants2; the occurrence of detailed and descriptively rich data. Drawing lessons from the literature (ibidem)3, data collection was performed trough a non-participant observation approach, that has allowed researchers to collect data in a completely unobtrusive manner and work on naturally occurring texts, not distorted in any way by the analyst’s presence. The collected data included both bloggers’ posts and audience’s comments. Moreover, in addition to textual material, visual and audiovisual data have been collected and analyzed. During the analysis, two different processes of netnographic analysis, analytical coding and hermeneutic interpretation, have been usefully combined and performed. In the following paragraph, the first results obtained, until now, through a combined analysis of excerpts of interviews and netnography will be shown. Results Preliminary research evidence shows that the success of a fashion blogger depends mainly on: • A clear definition and development of a personal identity; • The effort to coherently convey the personal identity through an effective management of different communication and interaction tools; • The development of a network that can maximize blogger’s visibility and notoriety. Identity and value dimension: self-presentation strategies Blogs are usually presented as spaces in which an authentic personal style can be expressed. Analyzing the bloggers’ entries, it is possible to recognize how the concept of personal style plays a fundamental role, representing the main element on which the blogger’s identity is based (Kulmala, Mesiranta and Tuominen, 2013). The most important tool for the expression of the blogger’s personal style is posting the outfit of the day: i.e. an outfit worn on a particular day or during a particular event or occasion, based on the combination of different brands and products. As bloggers and readers’ attention is not focused on specific products and brands, but, rather, on how single pieces of clothing are assembled and combined together, every daily outfit works as a style statement expressing and reinforcing the blogger’s personal identity and, at the same time, provides inspiration and identification by his followers (Pihl, 2014). Communication strategy: style and tools The netnographic analysis shows how the starting level of the published contents is very amateur, where the bloggers usually lack a well-defined communication strategy. However, observing the sampled blogs through a diachronic netnographic approach, it is possible to recognize a gradual change involving both the writing style and the visual elements. Texts became better-finished, effective, studied in detail, with continuous intertextual references to older posts about similar or related topics. The products or brands presentation and description are never de- contextualized, but always inserted within a narrative structure. In other words, fashion bloggers make use of the potentials offered by visual storytelling, presenting products as a part of bloggers’ daily life, always intertwined with bloggers’ autobiographical information (Rocamora, 2011). Simple and interesting personal stories are displayed in order to allow readers to identify themselves with the blogger and his core values. Moreover, pictures are taken in a very professional way, paying close attention to every element as light, colours, and locations. In addition to the daily update of the blog, bloggers’ communication strategy embraces the logics of a pervasive personal branding by managing different platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram in order to build a strong and coherent diffused identity on the net. Interaction strategies: network and partnerships The relational dimension involves three main types of relations. First, with readers: bloggers try to ensure audience’s engagement and loyalty, encouraging readers to express their opinions about the proposed outfit; provide customised advice and suggestions; promote their active participation through contests and giveaways. On the other hand, users use comments to support the blogger’s activity, show their approval for the proposed outfits or suggest modifications and variations to the blogger’s proposal. Secondly, the relational dimension concerns the connections with other bloggers: fashion blogs define together a community of style (Pihl , 2014), a real network characterized by continual mutual references among its nodes. It is especially through the tools of comments that bloggers promote each other, posing at the bottom of the comments links to their blog and inviting other readers to visit it. Finally, the relational dimension concerns the relationships between bloggers and fashion brands. The analysis of the in-depth interviews puts in evidence that collaboration dynamics frequently established between fashion brands and bloggers can take different forms: from inviting the blogger to choose specific brand products and give them visibility through a review on the blog, to invite the blogger to take part as a guest or model in a fashion parade or new collection presentation or in a brand photo shoot. These forms of cooperation can take more structured forms and transform into more complex co- branding strategies: there many examples of bloggers that, in partnership with well- known brands, realize and launch limited or special products edition. Implications and limitations According to our preliminary results, the success of a fashion blogger depends mainly on his ability to transform the blogging activity into a personal brand. In some cases, the branding process reaches its highest fulfilment when the blogger launches and promotes a personal collection resulting in an independent fashion brand. The interest in the phenomenon for marketers mainly derives from the different forms of collaboration that can be established between bloggers and fashion companies. For bloggers, those partnerships represent important occasions to enrich their portfolio and increase their reputation and credibility by the target audience. On the other hand, fashion companies can use blogs as a tool to collect decisive information about consumers (cf. Kulmala et al., 2013), exploit the visibility and reputation of fashion bloggers and benefit of an extremely powerful communication means. In fact, as bloggers use their own language, their messages are considered to be more direct, intimate and authentic by readers. As this study has an explorative nature, it is not aimed at generalizing its results, but rather at deepening the knowledge about a still underdeveloped and uncertain phenomenon, i.e. the Italian fashion blogging. However, the research has been performed following the evaluative criteria proposed by literature about netnography (Kozinets, 2010), i.e. coherence, rigour, verisimilitude and innovation.

A fashion social platform is a system that leverages the power of social connectivity to enable individuals to interact, accumulate information and create social values in fashion marketing. Fashion social platform participants, through their collective intelligence, give social platforms essential competence to solve economic and social issues, gather social capital, and create customer value. This study highlights the critical value of fashion social platforms and explains the relationships between knowledge sharing, social capital, and sustainable customer value. They examine (1) the effects of social network properties on knowledge sharing in fashion social platforms, (2) the effects of knowledge sharing on social capital, and (3) the effects of social capital on customer value in fashion social platforms. In the context of social platforms, this study clarifies the concept of customer value, the role of knowledge sharing, and the relationships between social capital and customer value. The study constructs a theoretical model regarding fashion social platforms and sustainable customer value that offers possible implications for fashion marketing practitioners.

The present study aimed to figure out current situation and consumer perception on the advertising of functional climbing wear in Korea. Advertising is about showing consumers how products meet their needs. In case of functional clothing, the most basic need of consumer should be a functional need (Lee, 2014;Shimp, 2010). However, research on advertisement of functional clothing, especially focused on the functional information, has not carried out in Korea. Recently research by Liu and Yoo (2014) investigated changing patterns of magazine advertising of functional climbing wear from 2008 to 2013. It is found that advertisements of professional climbing wear had been changed like fashion apparel ads in terms of functional information, celebrity model dependence, and appeal type (Liu&Yoo,2014). On 2013, over 70% of functional climbing wear ads did not provide any functional information and percentage of celebrity model dependence was dramatically increased from 1.48%to35.30%. In this study, 388 adults in their 20-50’s were surveyed in order to figure out general satisfaction on advertisements of functional climbing wear. The survey consisted of eight questions including satisfaction with reliability, communicability, type of expression, model, and contents of functional climbing wear advertisement. For analysis of characteristics of respondents, years of climbing experience, frequency of climbing, average expenses per single purchase, and frequently exposed advertising media types were asked as well as demographic characteristics. Most of respondents (83.85%) were in their 30-50’s and had 3-5 years climbing experience (29.50%).Frequency of climbing was ‘once every two months’ (35.70%) and ‘1~2 times every month’ (25.26%), and the most frequent average expenses per single purchase was ‘100~300 thousand won’ (65.25%). Frequently exposed advertising media types were TV commercials (33.60%), magazine (23.10%), and internet (9.50%). Purchase frequency was ‘once every two tears’ (31.14%), ‘3~4 times in a year’ (29.11%), ‘1~2 times in a year’ (25.06%). Results showed respondents want ‘more precise information for better understanding of performance of functional climbing wears’ (4.22point out of 5.00). Significant differences in ‘advertisement of functional climbing wear is reliable’ were observed across age and gender; male rather than female group and ages 30 are than other age groups showed higher average value. Age 40’s significantly more wanted to be informed precise information via advertisement and preferred celebrity model than other age groups. Overall, ages 20-30’s were more satisfied with the advertisement of functional climbing wear than age 50’s. The results from this study could provide practical insights to establish guidelines for providing product information in the functional clothing industry.

The rapid development of digital technology makes it possible for fashion to combine new materials and technologies that maximize visual effects. In particular, the development of various fashionable technologies, which advocate a strong experimental nature of forward-looking images, have appeared in various ways by varying costumes with multi-functional concepts which have never seen so far, or interactive fashions. This study identifies formative features and the implicative meaning of inflatable fashion by escaping from traditional methods and function of costumes to analyze various types of inflatable wear that have function and form vary depending on the situation. Since the 1960s, new PVC and polyurethane materials and the development of high-frequency sewing technique enabled the mass production of inflatable products in rides and household goods that produced inflatable costumes to trigger a new visual interest in fashion. Inflatable wear, launched from a space look, has combined with digital technologies since 2000. Inflatable wear, one of various concepts of shifting wear, can transform function and form using a sensor in given circumstances that enable a focus on transformation. Therefore, it has been changed using multi-functionalities that can cope with a varying environment. The first type of inflatable wear, which represents an expansive simple costume image, is expressed as a swollen and expanded type such as part of skirt or jacket or dress. The representative work is ‘Kinship Journeys’ (2003-4 A/W Collection) published by Hussein Chalayan, which expresses the extension of simple forms and the extension of concepts. The second type of inflatable wear is a form conversion by remote control where the form was expanded by air insertion. However, this type has been produced by performance costumes that focus on immediate variability through digital technology. Diana Eng’s ‘Inflatable Dress’ is a work that shows a visual form conversion that highlights soft silk chiffon materials to plastic-looking materials with improvements in a flat silhouette to an extended three-dimensional structure. The third type of inflatable wear is the usage conversion type of multifunction concept. It is expressed by a function shifting design that uses a multipurpose concept through a conversion of usage and form. A sleeping bag, the representative work developed by C.P Company, can be used for multiple purposes such as a parka that wraps the full body or also acts as an up-and-down separable jumper; a sleeping bag form at bedtime and a bag form when moving. An analysis of inflatable wear types showed the following results. First, inflatable wear is an enlarged concept of costume different from traditional conventional costume stereotypes that creates an expanded communication and exchange space to express the garment of wrapping human bodies in liberal and various ways. Second, fashion combined with technology acts as a multifunction that actively introduces mobility and variability in costumes and expands the meaning and concept of fashion. Third, inflatable wear fashion is expressed as a performance arena moving forward from an experimental fashion show form that shows a distinctive difference before and after air insertion. Fashion design is identified as a method to stimulate human emotion and exchange mutual feelings and as a multi-purpose device that allows the protection and concealment; consequently, it is the best method to create visual stories that express the socio-cultural trends and conditions.

The purpose of this study is to identify mobile commerce characteristics and their influence on consumer’s purchase intention in mobile fashion shopping mall. To figure out the path of influence, TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) was applied. This model explained attitudes and behaviors of users toward acceptance of innovation technology like information technology. Davis (1989) proposed perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) as belief variables affected attitudes of users and the attitudes in turn affected the intention of acceptance in acceptance of information technology. However it is necessary to incorporate additional constructs to the original model in the quest for increased predictive power to explain consumer’s purchase intention (PI) in mobile shopping mall. Clarke (2001) suggested constructs of mobile commerce characteristics as ubiquity, convenience, localization, personalization and so on differentiated from internet commerce. Therefore, ubiquity, personalization and enjoyment were included as external variables to explain mobile commerce characteristics besides PEOU and PU in this study. 436 adults in their twenties and thirties which were included in panels of specialized Internet research institutions nationwide were answered on questionnaires about mobile commerce characteristics, PEOU, PU, PI (Purchase Intention) and demographics. Structural equation model was made to examine the entire pattern of inter-correlations among the constructs and the hypothesis of each path was verified using AMOS 16.0 package. As a result, the fitness of the extended TAM to explain the influence of mobile commerce characteristics on consumer’s purchase intention in mobile fashion shopping mall was proven.

Based on the research finding, the conclusions are as follows: 1. According to the result of questionnaire survey, at present the apron material that chef wear does not have fire retardant function, chef expect apron material can add this function, they think apron material adding this function can protect physiological health, proving the necessity for developing fire retardant apron. 2. This study use the result of chef’s need expectation, and combine ergonomics data to adjust existing apron structure design, then this study use fire retardant cloth to develop fire retardant apron to meet chef’s need expectation. 3. Through the sensibility evaluation test of fire retardant apron developed by this study, those who exposed to higher temperature fry stove fire, charcoal fire or caldron cook in specific kitchen infield for a long period of time have higher preference and feeling.

In the age of hybrid, the fashion industry has created multiple patterns of hybrid fashion due to mixed styles and genres. Fashion mixed with tradition and future and various cultures is emerging as a trend so that Asian cultures are reinterpreted in a modern way(Samsung Design Net. 2014). Korean images also change every year into a new type of cultural hybrid. This study aims to present esthetic and trendy hybrid outer wear designs applicable to the fusion of tradition and present and the west and the east as well as diverse life styles for the major target of consumption, the senior generation with young sense. This study conducted both theoretical and empirical study. The theoretical study looked into the characteristics of digital fashion illustrations using Sumuk technique and of senior outer wear through the precedent study and literature. In the empirical study, fashion illustrations were made according to the characteristics of digital fashion illustrations with Sumuk technique, and then fabric was made through digital printing. By doing so, hybrid outer wear designs for the senior generation were developed based on the characteristics of senior outer wear, and the real artwork was made. The findings are as follows. First, the characteristics of digital fashion illustrations using Sumuk technique are the hybrid expression where the spirit of inner feeling of oriental thinking, implications of symbolism and metaphor through blanks and lines, and fortuity of ink blurs and lines are recreated in a modern way through digital fashion illustration characteristics such as hybridity of multi-cultures and heterogeneous factors, expandability of blurring boundary, human-oriented playfulness, and sensibility of inner expression. Second, outer wear for the senior generation puts the most emphasis on aesthetic factors including designs, styles, youth, and complement of figure, followed by symbolism such as convenience of dressing or undressing, comfort, functionality of flexible size, trend, express of individuality, and dignity. In addition, this generation prefers outdoor wear for social, cultural, and casual activities and demand hybrid city wear designs adding the characteristics of outdoor wear that is highly worn for various city life styles. Third, the design motifs of fabric made by digital printing of Sumuk technique-based digital fashion illustrations include traditional ornaments of Joseon Dynasty such as norigae(Korean traditional ornaments worn by women), binyeo(Korean traditional ornamental hairpin), and ddeoljam(ornamental hairpin), mix traditional and Korean spirit with modern sensibility, and connote esthetic beauty of ornamental effects for women’s beauty and symbolism of lucky signs and wishes. Fourth, senior outer wear was designed using the made fabric. Work 1 arranged prints with the motif of traditional norigae in a spaced pattern. Hybrid outer was designed with comfortable, light, and reversible functions by using A line silhouette considering the senior generation’s figure, single buttons for easy clothing change, and outdoor wear materials and highlighted the utilization of city wear. Work 2 used border pattern of fashion illustration prints that use binyeo as its motif, and it was designed for social and cultural life styles with the fusion of tradition, which uses tent silhouette durumagi(traditional Korean outer coat) and composition lines that are plane and straight lines, and modernism. It highlighted functionality by using zippers and single buttons for each clothing changing and outdoor materials. Work 3 arranged fashion illustrations made by the motif of ddeoljam in a spaced pattern. This is a balloon silhouette considering the senior generation’s figure and a urban, modern design with unbalanced hem line with asymmetry of light and left. A zipper was attached, and a light and flexible outdoor material was used to emphasize its functionality. Work 1, 2, and 3 made the fabric of cultural hybrid sense using Sumuk technique-based digital fashion illustrations and used the design considering the senior generation’s figure and an outdoor material, and expressed easy clothing change and design of city wear. This is a hybrid senior fashion design expressing the fusion and coexistence of traditional and modern beauty, Korea’s oriental beauty and modern western beauty, and outdoor wear’s functionality and city life styles. This study will contribute to the invigoration of the senior fashion market that is newly emerging and the development of high-value added products as it presents hybrid outer wear adding functionality applicable to various life styles for the senior generation with the young sense.