Perception of Apparel Sustainability Based upon Cultural Differences among Design Students

Designers need to understand the breadth of strategies for developing more sustainable solutions (Shedroff, 2009). Design students’ concepts of sustainability are different depending on their cultural contexts and approaches to sustainability issues that universities have taken that vary across cultures. In this research, we examine how American and Korean design students perceive the importance of sustainability regarding their apparel as a user and professional and how they strategize sustainable practices. This cross-cultural comparison of American and Korean students perceptions of sustainability can provide valuable insight regarding how cultural factors shape and influence a group’s sustainable behavior and can help the instructor who wants to educate students as broadly as possible