| Author: | Feng, Qilong |
| Title: | Apparel for wheelchair-bound user in Hong Kong : empirical study of business model |
| Advisors: | Hui, Chi Leung Patrick (ITC) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | People with disabilities -- Clothing Clothing trade Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Institute of Textiles and Clothing |
| Pages: | xiv, 216 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The fashion industry has developed and differentiated various niche markets for different groups of consumers types. The industry also adjust the combination of the elements in the supply chain including product design, R&D, manufacturing, logistics and retailing, with the support of advanced technology and service to react to the demand of the customers. Hong Kong as the center of fashion industry in Asia, has integrated multi-variant industrial models into the market operation. However, among the comprehensive target customers, a group encompassing the disabled people, especially wheelchair users, seldom receive the attention from the fashion industry. There lacks a niche targeting business that offers specially-made apparel product and service to meet the demand of the users while keeping a certain profit from the sustainable business. When the local disabled consumers are struggling to look for a suitable apparel product from the mass market, there is already mature pattern of business in other countries that could provide professional designs and services supported by efficient operation of fashion supply chain. With the accumulating concerns from the society on the well-being of the disabled people as the minority group, the business of adaptive apparel with both functional fulfillment and aesthetic improvement is imperative but currently lacks in the local market. Understanding the target consumer of the disabled people could help identify the proper construct and strategy of the relevant business. The disabled people in Hong Kong take up approximately 30% of the total residents. Plus the large population in the mainland China which have similar requirement and lifestyle, the potential consumers of the adaptive apparel products are considerable, hence anticipating a substantial demand and possible to form a sustainable business of the niche market. Among the disabled population, wheelchair users have more critical requirements on the apparel design, also share concentrated barriers in daily activities such as in dressing and purchasing. The demand from the wheelchair users could effectively influence the model of the business and corresponding strategies. Unfortunately, existing literatures focusing mainly on the clothing designs as the concept research, but lacks relevant exploration from the perspective of a consumer of a new market. In the academic area in Asia, even fewer studies could be found about the business for the wheelchair users. This study aims at to investigate how to provide a business model of apparel for the wheelchairs in Hong Kong. To fulfill the research aim, a two-stage research approach is designed to achieve several objectives. The project adopted the mixed-mode method that incorporate both qualitative study and quantitative study, in order to explore the lifestyle, expense pattern, and clothing needs of the target consumers that related with the demand of clothes, as well as to investigate the connections between the consumer demand and the elements in the industry. A theoretical framework is developed to guide the exploration and investigation, so the study could finally obtain a synthetic business model to suggest influences of both the consumer side and the industry practice. The most effective elements extracted from the analysis are considered as the major determinants for improving the relevant business. Moreover, a measurement model between the demand from the consumer side and the elements from the industry side is developed on the basis of the literature review and multiple-case study, and was validated using the data collected from the survey study. The findings about the clothing needs of the wheelchair users are in accordance with previous studies, and further revealed the purchase pattern of the local disabled consumers. The result from the systematic framework has demonstrated that the clothing needs of the wheelchair users are significantly related to the industry regarding the product design, research and development, as well as the business operation in all the elements of the supply chain practice. Specifically, the consumer demand is proved to be significantly related with the product complexity in the domain of functional design and fit. It is also related with business operation in the elements of production, merchandising, delivery and consumer-supplier communication. In the exploration of the possible attributes to affect the consumer demand, results demonstrated that the assumed attributes of disability level would influence the consumer demand but perceived quality of life are not significantly related to the adaptive apparel products. The result could be explained that the disability condition is one of the possible reasons for disabled consumers to choose the apparel. But those who have the demand of the specially-made apparel will also demand the correspondence investment in the product design, technology application and service. This study sheds light on the understanding of apparel business for the wheelchair users, and the connection between the demand from consumer side to the industry practice. The findings of this study presented the understanding about the unknown field about the local consumers living with wheelchairs for the niche market of adaptive apparel. Further, the results of the study indicate that the success of business requires the integration of both the product complexity and the business operational strategies of the industry. The result and discussion also provide valuable insights to the practitioners who are interest in the new area of fashion market expansion. Future study is also introduced about the exploration of structure design of the fashion supply chain, as well as a proper strategy to achieve a sustainable business. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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