Hae Jin Gam

Are fashion‐conscious consumers more likely to adopt eco‐friendly clothing?

Purpose – Previous studies regard purchasing of environmentally friendly clothing (EFC) as a subset of environmental behavior. However, like all clothing, EFC also reflects a consumers fashion choices, and the many variables that influence EFC purchase decisions must be understood for apparel companies to effectively market eco‐friendly products. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify whether fashion and shopping orientation are determinants of EFC purchase intention.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted to examine the effects of fashion orientation, shopping orientation, and environmental concern and eco‐friendly behavior on purchase intention of EFC. A total of 329 usable questionnaires were collected from young female consumers aged 18‐25 years.Findings – Factor analysis was used to evaluate both independent variables – predictors: fashion orientation, shopping orientation, environmental concern, and eco‐friendly behavior – and the dependent variable – purchase intention re...

C2CAD: a sustainable apparel design and production model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and implement a new sustainable apparel design and production model, cradle to cradle apparel design (C2CAD), that provides guidelines for apparel designers and manufacturers to solve some of the sustainability problems related to apparel production.Design/methodology/approach – The C2CAD model was developed by integrating McDonough and Braungarts “cradle to cradle” model into existing apparel design and production models. Knitwear design and production was used to implement the C2CAD model as a proof of concept. The performance and cost of the C2CAD knitwear were evaluated.Findings – The C2CAD model has four main steps: problem definition and research; sample making; solution development and collaboration; and production. Following the four steps and with an international collaboration similar to current apparel industry practices, “Four‐season sustainability” childrens knitwear prototypes were developed. Produced with an acceptable manufacturing cost, ...

Application of design for disassembly in men's jacket

Purpose – Combining of natural and synthetic materials in apparel products caused problems with material recovery, reuse, recycling, or composting at the end of product life. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of design for disassembly methods in the design and construction of mens jacket. With this type of design, consumers and manufacturers can easily compost, recycle, or reuse different materials and components at the end of the garments usable life.Design/methodology/approach – After analyzing the mens jackets available in the market and identifying obstacles to disassembly, the authors designed and constructed a mans jacket that can be easily disassembled. The jacket design for disassembly focused on material selection, jacket design, and stitch evaluation and selection. The disassembly time was also measured.Findings – It was found that minimizing material diversity and sewing similar materials together whenever possible, replacing fusible interfacing with blind hemming ...

Evaluating Thermal and Sensorial Performance of Organic Cotton, Bamboo-Blended, and Soybean-Blended Fabrics:

In recent years, consumers have begun showing an increased interest in environmentally friendly fibers along with growing concerns about environmental problems. This trend encourages the development and use of fibers from renewable sources as substitutes for petroleum-based synthetic fibers in the textile and apparel industry. Though renewable fibers have already been used for many purposes and will become an important element of the apparel industry, there lacks the objective performance evaluation of fabrics made with renewable sourced fibers. This study evaluated comfort and sensorial performance of knit fabrics for young childrens clothing made with renewable fibers. In this research, organic cotton, bamboo viscose blended, and soybean blended fabrics with jersey, French terry and 1x1 rib knit structures were investigated. Effects from fabric thickness, fiber content, and knit structure on comfort and sensorial performance were assessed. Appropriate fabric choices for different apparel applications were also suggested.

Perceived ease of use and usefulness of sustainability labels on apparel products: application of the technology acceptance model

This study explores consumers’ perceptions of sustainability labels on apparel products and examines sustainability labels as an effective means of determining consumers’ purchase intentions, using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the foundation. Data were collected via self-administered web-based surveys from 903 randomly selected shoppers throughout the United States (U.S.). Findings validated that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes, and purchase intention were associated with consumers’ use of sustainability labels. Within those four variables, sustainability label users exhibited significantly higher scores than non-label users, though the path relationships among those variables were not different between the two groups. This study is one of the first to use TAM to understand how consumers perceive and use sustainability labels for apparel products. Through this application, label reading behaviour is viewed similarly to how consumers use new informational sources for their decision making process. The findings provide practical implications for business marketers and managers of sustainability apparel products. As this study focused on sustainability labels and apparel product shopping among U.S. consumers, it may be limited to apply findings to other product categories and may be limited to consumers outside the U.S.

Implementation of lean production and environmental sustainability in the Indian apparel manufacturing industry: a way to reach the triple bottom line

ABSTRACT In response to global environmental issues and general business competition, the last few decades have seen a tremendous increase in the awareness of the environmental impact and the usage of production management systems such as lean production (LP). To examine these strategies in the Indian apparel manufacturing industry, this study examines the extent and impact of cost-of-production and waste management practices, as well as barriers in the implementation of LP and environmental sustainability (ES) practices. Research was conducted and a total of 51 respondents working in the Indian apparel manufacturing sector were surveyed. According to the results, there is room for improvement in the implementation of LP and ES practices in the Indian apparel manufacturing sector, which could be achieved by effectively tackling the barriers identified in the research. Common and divergent factors for LP and ES regarding cost of production and waste management were also found in the research.