Abstract
This study was conducted to analyze the actual wearing conditions and body fit preferences of the middle-aged women's ready-to-wear lower body clothing. The aim was also to analyze lower body recognition, lower body satisfaction, fit preferences and size satisfaction according to age and degree of girth size. A questionnaire was developed and administered to 300 middle-aged women aged 34 to 59. Statistical tests such as descriptive analysis, crosstabs, and X²-tests were conducted to analyze the data and ascertain the differences between the ages. Lower body satisfaction and recognition were compared by T-test. Also, Anova was used to analyze lower body recognition, satisfaction, fit preferences, and size satisfaction according to age and degrees of girth size. The results indicated that women aged 50 to 59 were more dissatisfied with the ready-to-wear sizing system and because of their body shapes had changed, their need for a larger size range system had also increased. Moreover, the element that most affected their purchase of ready-to-wear lower body clothing was the design followed by the size. The women, especially of the ages 50 to 59, showed a tendency to he dissatisfied with their lower bodies and they recognized that their lower bodies had thickened compared to women aged 34 to 39 and 40 to 49. Analysis of body satisfaction, recognition, and fit preference according to girth size showed that the group of larger girth size recognized that their lower bodies were thicker and were more dissatisfied and preferred looser fittings than the groups of smaller women.
