Acceptance of Smart Clothing Based on Outdoor Consumption Behavior

Abstract

Recently, following the commercialization and market entry of smart clothes with diverse functions, smart clothes have been changing from technology-centered products to user-centered products. However, the analysis of consumer demand centered on actual commercialized products is lacking. Therefore, this study classified commercialized smart clothes by func tion and analyzed the demand and requirements of smart clothes according to sports/outdoor clothes consumption behaviors. As a result, consumers were classified according to their sports/outdoor clothes consumption behaviors into an outdoor leading group with high consumption propensity, an outdoor pursuit group with medium consumption propensity, and an outdoor fol lowing group with low consumption propensity. Among the commercialized smart clothes, those with a heartbeat measuring function, those with a heating function, and those with a light-emitting function were presented and demand analysis was con ducted. According to the results, the outdoor leading group and the outdoor pursuit group had higher levels of awareness, pref erence, and purchase intentions than the outdoor following group. In addition, the outdoor leading group showed the highest level of purchase price acceptance while the outdoor following group showed the lowest level of purchase price acceptance. However, this study has a limitation that the acceptance for smart clothes were analyzed with consumers who had experience in sports outdoor clothes consumption. Therefore, in future, studies will be conducted with a wide range of consumers.