Consumption of Foreign Fashion Brands in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

• In Event: 240 - Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 07. Fashion as Lens

Abstract

Focusing on the role and production landscape of contemporary consumer brands, this paper examines consumption patterns of fashion brands in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. While domestic apparel brands dominate Korea’s and Japan’s markets compared to Taiwan’s, successful foreign apparel brands that penetrated South Korea and Japan are either (1) higher up in the hierarchy of the global fashion brand-scape or (2) position themselves as upmarket brands compared to the successful foreign apparel brands in Taiwan. I explore the source of this variation by examining three interrelated factors; First, the evolution of the domestic apparel production landscapes that shape the activities of producers, second, activities and strategies of apparel merchandisers and retailers that determine the lineup of available products and third, the variation in the place-specific conceptions of self and relational methods of association that inform individuals how to consume and. This simultaneous consideration of the local conception of self, production landscape, and retail strategies provide a novel attempt at understanding how distinct systems of consumption form in the era of globalization.

Author

• Solee Irene Shin, University of Washington