Publication Date

1981

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Paek, Soae Lee||Kwon, Yoon-Hee

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Home Economics

LCSH

Children's clothing--Pattern design; Children's clothing industry

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the consumer segments in the market for young children's clothing, and to design and construct children's clothing to satisfy the demands of each segment. Market segmentation is the identification of customers and prospects in such a way that they can be classified into groups of consumers having similar buying characteristics. A six-step procedure was followed to segment the children's wear market. Three potentially attractive market segments developed from the segmentation process: (1) "Shoestring Fashionables," (2) "Quality Sophisticates," and (3) "Impulsive Grandmothers." Four garments (a dress, a top, a jumper, and an overall) were designed to satisfy the children's clothing needs for each of the three segments. The twelve garments were constructed in a toddler girl's size 4T. The four garments designed for each segment were presented to children's wear buyers from chain, department, and specialty store outlets. Each buyer was asked to select the one group of garments most representative of the type of garments their customers would buy. The chain store buyers selected the group of garments designed for the chain store segment ("Shoestring Fashionables"). The specialty store buyer selected the group of garments designed for the specialty store segment ("Impulsive Grandmothers"). The department store buyer selected the group of garments designed for the specialty store segment ("Impulsive Grandmothers"). Although the department store buyer did not select the clothing designed for the department store segment ("Quality Sophisticates"), she was able to distinguish the clothing most appropriate for her typical customer, a grandmother. The results indicated that a market-oriented design process can help increase the acceptance of the garments by the appropriate retail buyer.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations.

Extent

vi, 45 pages, 13 unnumbered pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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