The purpose of this study is to supply available data for men's fashion design planning by analyzing the trend and design tendency of the preppy look in the domestic men's collection. In the men's collection of Seoul fashion week from 2011 S/S to 2015 S/S, 494 photos judged to be the preppy look by three design specialists were chosen in Seoul fashion week and style.com’s web-site. Design analyses were compiled based on year, season, brands, item, color, material, and silhouette. The preppy look was found often in S/S season, three piece combinations were the most common, and “H”, “I” silhouettes were also popular. Refined black and refreshing orange were used with traditional preppy colors like navy, beige, gray, and white. Contrast color arrangement and neutral, moderate tones were seen repeatedly. Two-thirds of fabrics were pattern-less with clean, bulky, and soft textures. Coordinating accessories like hats, backpacks, books, headsets were used frequently. Among the various preppy fashion types, there were ‘traditional preppy’ faithful to tradition, ‘sophisticated preppy’ with refined semi-formal look, ‘sportive preppy’ with active sports sense, and ‘natural preppy’ with natural and comfortable senses. In a contemporary preppy look, traditional and practical senses are combined with casual and sportive pieces. This study can provide the data for design planning, interpreting, and applying the fashion themes along with contemporary sensibilities since the preppy look is based on cultural history.

This study aims to suggest the proper ease for slim-fit jackets according to the number of buttons from a one-button jacket to four-button jackets for men in their 30’s. The researchers carried out both an appearance evaluation and movement functionality evaluation. The results are as follows: When conducting the appearance evaluations, meaningful differences were found. The one-button jacket showed high scores for the 7.5 cm ease. The two-button jacket and the three-button jacket showed high scores for the 10.5 cm ease. The four-button jacket showed a high score for the 13.5 cm ease. Next, the results of the movement functionality evaluation showed the same trend; as the ease was increased from 7.5 cm to 13.5 cm, the scores increased. This is because if the garments offer more ease, this gives room for actions. Additionally, it showed that if there were fewer jacket buttons, then the results showed a high score. The researchers believe that if the number of jacket buttons is lower, then the area of the V-zone increases, so that there is more room for movement. The study suggests a proper chest ease of 7.5 cm for the one-button jacket, 10.5 cm for the two-button jacket and three-button jacket, and 13.5 cm for the four-button jacket, respectively.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how clothing retail buyers (i.e., retail buyers, merchandisers, and storeowners), who are involved in assortment planning and retail buying use assortment criteria in their decisions. Comparisons are made between criteria used by men’s wear and women’s wear retail buyers as well as criteria used by male and female retail buyers. Research design, data, and methodology – A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data both in English and Korean. After conducting two pilot tests, the survey was conducted in Seoul, South Korea. Mantrala et al.’s 17 inputs of product assortment planning model with 23 assortment criteria from other previous studies were used. Results – Significant differences existed in consideration of assortment criteria between men’s wear and women’s wear retail buyers as well as between male and female retail buyers. Men’s wear retail buyers rated the importance of sales history criteria (i.e., sales history, previous year’s sales of same/similar styles) significantly lower than women’s wear buyers did. Female retail buyers rated sales history criteria and weather criteria (i.e., unpredicted weather change, forecasting information of weather) significantly higher than male retail buyers did. Conclusions – This study provides guidelines for retail buyers regarding what criteria to use in what situations and how to organize assortment criteria from the most important criterion to the least one. In addition, the findings help them understand other retail buyers’ buying behavior.