A 23 page overview of the practicality of introducing Japanese fashions into the Western market. A review of basic marketing premises is provided along with a short history of the evolution of Japanese clothing design. The author of this paper emphasizes that in order for such a venture to be successful a number of factors must be carefully assessed. These include the clothing preferences of both the very rich and influential and such components of the buying public as college students. A proposal is introduced for assessing these preferences using interviews and an e-mail based survey. Bibliography lists 16 sources.
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that even in Japan traditional clothing styles such as the kimono is now reserved to special occasions such as holidays and funerals, Japanese fashions as a whole has the potential
to appeal to massive Western markets. A number of considerations must be addressed by a company, however, that is interested in integrating Japanese fashions into the Western world.
These include cultural concerns as well as basic business concerns. Clothing is one of the most obvious manifestations of culture. Clothing is,
in fact, often symbolic in nature. That is, it conveys meaning. Dress has the capability of providing the most visual element of all symbols. It has the
capability of allowing an individual to express their social identity, those self-categorizations that allow an individual to denote their sense of belonging to a particular group. A persons dress
is often therefore a statement as to who that person is. Through an individuals dress one gains knowledge regarding the central
and most enduring and distinctive characteristics of the group to which the individual belongs (Pratt and Rafael, 1997). This is quite clear in some instances but it can
become muddled in meaning when multiple identities are involved within the context of one symbol and one organizational setting (Pratt and Rafael, 1997). The practicality of introducing Japanese clothing
styles into a Western market would presumably vary in accordance with the precise situation. In many instances, for example ones clothing is chosen on the basis of an organizational
identity. Pratt and Rafaeli (1997) define organizational dress as: "...the clothing (e.g., jacket, skirt,