OVERVIEW OF THE KOREAN APPAREL INDUSTRY
SUMMARY
Korea's apparel industry has shown steady growth over the past few years with the rapid embrace by its consumers of foreign fashions, an increasingly wider variety of apparel in the marketplace and evolving industry marketing channels. The emergence of new distribution networks for apparel has occurred in tandem with changing consumer tastes and purchasing patterns, most notably through E-commerce, TV home shopping, fashion outlets, and discount stores, which for the most part, weren't in existence before the 1997-98 economic crisis. These new channels now account for 40% of all apparel sold in Korea, while traditional channels, such as department and chain stores, comprise the remaining 60%. It is expected that these relatively new marketing options for apparel companies will become even more important in the near future, as Korean firms strive to meet their consumers' increasingly demanding preferences for a wider variety of purchasing options. At the same time, a more diverse selection of apparel has become available for consumers, especially with the larger number of Korean firms offering imported fashions. As a result, more and more Korean consumers have been switching from domestic apparel to foreign brands, while they also have shown greater interest in foreign-labeled apparel that is produced locally. In 2002, the total market size of this industry was USD 15.9 billion, up 5.5% over 2001, and it is forecast to grow by 3%, to USD 16.4 billion, in 2003. END SUMMARY
MARKET ASSESSMENT
A. Apparel Market Profile
In 1975, a "ready-to-wear" Korean clothing industry first developed, providing momentum for Korea's emerging domestic fashion/apparel industry. With the increase in Korea's ...