The recent resurgence of knitting is an ambiguous social phenomenon because it has pre-industrial connotations in late modern society. Knitting is inherently an ambiguous practice which blurs the boundary between production and consumption, the material and the mental and subject and object. This paper explores Korean knitting practice from the angle of social practice. An examination of knitting practice in Korea revealed that the inherent heterogeneity is intricately intertwined with the complex landscape of knitting practice, which is dispersed in a range of different forms of subgroups. Also, the multifaceted aspect of these subgroups which combines consumption, production, education and socialization, refers to the complicated and contrasting aspects of contemporary consumption and consumers. This paper particularly pays attention to the role of practical understanding as a form of skill, know-how and knowledge in the formulation and transformation of knitting practice. It also examines the emotional landscape of knitting practice, which is constructed and mediated in close interconnection with the material dimensions of the practice.

It is necessary to focus on a VR environment centered on a tangible interaction (TI), which provides and interacts with the user experience (UX) with various sensational forms. Therefore, this study attempted to present UX evaluation items for VR fashion product shopping environment through focusing on the TI. In addition, the developed factors were evaluated for validity through empirical experiments and attempted to explore the possibility of using a VR shopping UX evaluation methodology. As a result of factor analysis of items related to VR shopping, six factors were extracted, and each factor was named as intention to use, playfulness, sharpness, telepresence, interactivity, and usability, respectively. As a result of a t-test for the difference in UX between immersive VR and non-immersive VR, it was found that there were significant differences in intention to use, playfulness, sharpness, and telepresence. As a result of performing a multiple regression analysis to analyze the effect of TI on the VR fashion shopping UX, it was found that interaction, playfulness, and telepresence are UX factors that are formed under the influence of TI in an immersive VR. In addition, intention to use, sharpness, telepresence, and usability were found to be factors experienced as an effect of TI in a non-immersive VR.

One of the main topics in acculturation is a reaction of immigrant group to clothing culture of the new society (Berry 1997). Clothing culture of a society is connected to visual tradition and cultural custom (Johnson et al. 2014; Yen and Hsu 2017), so it affects the members' appearance consequently (Jung and Hwang 2016). When immigrants enter into a new society, their appearance-not only physical attributes but also their clothesmakes a distinguishable or sometimes subtle distinction between new settlers and natives. The immigrants' behaviors of selection and compromise between two clothing cultures are related to factors such as aesthetic taste, consumption value, and clothing norms. The purpose of this research is to observe North Korean female defectors' clothing acculturation process in South Korea so that discussion about effective supports for their cultural settlement can be conducted. It is revealed that North Korean defectors typically undergo the acculturation period in South Korea because of cultural differences of two Koreas. Therefore, this research conducts in-depth interviews to investigate the whole clothing acculturation process including the topics like the attitude toward South Korean clothing culture, assimilation pressure, and the ways to adjust South Korean

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Virtual technologies such as haptic devices and virtual try-ons have been developed to bring more certainty to the non-touch shopping experience; however, they are still no substitute for the in-person experience. In order to resolve the current limitations of haptic technology, it is necessary to carry out fundamental research on the ways in which humans perceive and discern different tactile properties. This study investigated how vision and physical touch affect the evaluation of the tactile properties of knitwear and discovered factors that affect tactile evaluation in a non-touch environment. The result of this study proved that humans can perceive tactile properties similarly when they are able to physically touch the fabric, whether their vision is obstructed or not. However, participants were unable to accurately perceive the tactile properties of knitwear when they evaluated fabrics using only visual materials, especially stretchiness and flexibility. It is confirmed that a surface haptic experience could increase the accuracy of stretchiness and flexibility evaluations, but it did not help in the evaluations of fabric thickness and heaviness. Findings from interviews suggested that the shape, width and number of folds, density, and thickness of the yarn are all major factors that influence the tactile perception of knitwear when participants could only evaluate properties through on-screen visual materials. Findings from this study contributes to the improvement of the consumer experience in the contact-free shopping environment and can be used as a fundamental guide to human perception of clothing, which can support technologies such as haptic devices.

The purpose of this study is to observe the similarities and differences between contemporary Chinese and Korean fashion designers in understanding the concept of national identity. To achieve this objective, the literature review and in-depth interview were conducted. The results are as follows: Firstly, the model that interprets the influence factors of designers' awareness of national identity was built. Under the social background of national identity, including governmental role, features of culture, openness of social system and the international and economic status, features of fashion and fashion designers influence on national identity expressed in designers' fashion works. Secondly, three main similarities between fashion designers' awareness have been found. The first is that both Chinese and Korean fashion designers emphasize broader regional concept about national identity; the second is that influence of national identity is subtle and not obvious; the third is that fashion designers have mixed consciousness of self-identity and national identity. Thirdly, there are three main differences between Chinese and Korean fashion designers' awareness. The first is that the adoption of ethnic national identity in fashion design is more related to the traditional ethnic elements in Chinese while modern elements were favored more by Korean. The second is that Chinese designers as a whole showed a deeper comprehension of traditional ethnic culture or philosophy than Korean designers do. The third is that more solid and positive attitude toward the government caused Chinese designers to have a more intensive civic national identity.

This study analyzed Korean middle-aged men's fashionable styles according to ageless trends as their representative characteristic and deriving their special features from men's magazines. Literature and case studies were conducted together. The research findings are as follows. First, it showed uniformity, conformity, passive clothing selection and consumption in 1990s as characteristics of middle-aged men's wear by period. However, clothing became an expressive way to pursue individuality and an ageless trend gradually, and middle-aged men positioned themselves as subjects of a consumer market for men's wear after 2010 through active clothing selection and consumption. Second, along with a trend change preferring a comfortable and active to formal atmosphere, it showed that casual style became diversified and segmented gradually in Korean middle-aged men's ageless trend and fashionable style. Third, as for formative characteristic changes in middle-aged men's fashionable style by period, it contained a slim silhouette, bright and splendid colors and patterns, increase of light, active and functional materials, generalization of casual items and pursuit of individuality by various mix & match styles. Fourth, in Korean men's ageless trend and changing fashionable style, four kinds of special characteristics were derived that included a change of the traditional clothing symbolism, weakened conformity & pursuit of personality, obscured boundaries between age and wearing style, and active embracing of a trend.