2000 Volume 51 Issue 7 Pages 595-603
The purpose of this study is to acquire the basic data on the purchasing and wearing habits of the elderly and to improve the standard of clothing to meet their need.
A questionnaire was administered to three groups (1, 117 subjects total) of elderly men, elderly women and young women (250 subjects). From the questionnaire responses on the present supply and demand conditions for the elderly, the following four points became clear.
(1) Seventy percent of both the young and the elderly want to purchase well-fitting clothes. Fifty percent of the elderly want unrestraining clothing and thirty five percent want comfortable clothing. Forty percent of elderly women want easy-care clothing.
(2) Forty five percent of elderly men don't buy their own clothes. The group of eighty-year-old men want to buy their clothes in the elderly selection of stores, but elderly women do not. Elderly participants desire clothing that is proportional to their body shapes and have a comfortable fit.
(3) Hayashi's Quantification Method III was applied to 25 items related to clothing selection. Four axes were interpreted. Axes I and 11 deal with clothing preferences and with purchasing clothes. Axis III deals with cost or quality. Axis Nis related to age. The means of the sample scores were caluculated on each axis and statistical tests related to sex differences and age differences were applied to the means. The results of axes I and II were negative for elderly men and positive for elderly women. Men are most concerned with quality and women with cost.
(4) Among the elderly, alteration expenses were of concern, due to the constant need to have most clothing items fitted to a smaller size (e.g., trouser, skirt, sleeve length).
Therefore, free alterations were deemed desireable and necessary. Elderly women also indicated a desire for a larger inseam, so as to allow for easier expansion for larger-sized women.
