As the global community is aging, so is Korea changing into an aging society of which the populational proportion of the elderly increases with the advanced modern medicine-based average life span elongation and a low birth rate. This aging society ma...
As the global community is aging, so is Korea changing into an aging society of which the populational proportion of the elderly increases with the advanced modern medicine-based average life span elongation and a low birth rate. This aging society makes the elderly desire to plan their healthy and pleasant declining years in general, and rapidly grows a silver business of products and services that satisfy aged people's desires. In addition to that, such user-centered designs as a universal design appear to satisfy diverse and specified life desires of human beings, based on the deep understanding of its users.
Thus, the alteration of populational composition, due to aging, has brought a lot of changes to the fashion business. Having been led by the younger generation in the past, the fashion business now becomes a promising growth and sensitive business that satisfying aged people's increasing purchase of clothes, and making carry out a variety of studies on the physical characteristics of the elderly, in order for its marketing pattern to satisfy aged people's preferred styles. In addition, with the increase of aged people's consumption power and their diverse desires, the vision of underwear is evaluated very positively even to the extent that it is selected as a promising business category in the elder-friendly business.
Although underwear is a primary clothing that supplements physical functions, its production has not been fully based on the design that taking aged people's ever-changing physical conditions into consideration.
In this vein, the aim of this study was to examine silver generation's aging-oriented physical changes, and then work out their underwear production process and design modality by introducing a universal design principle and process―a general design concept of underwear.
Study findings are as follows:
First, an underwear market must be shaped in consideration of silver generation's physical conditions.
Second, the production process of universal design must be applied to silver generation's underwear design as a basic concept.
Third, the principle of universal design can be applied to silver generation's physical characteristics-considered underwear design in a concrete manner.
Coming to the fore as a social issue due to aging, the silver generation cannot but experience a lot of physical, mental, and psychological problems in their everyday life. In this regard, the universal design, which is based on the understanding and consideration of users, can be a foundation to settle silver generation's problems and satisfy their diverse desires.
A necessary thing to do so through design will be the communication between consumers and business entities. The universal design can solve aged people's physical problems and provide an opportunity for the expansion of other markets of which users are people in every walk of life as well. And it will achieve business entities' fundamental purpose of profit creation and enhance their corporate image, on the basis of reliability.