Japanese suits: part 1 of 2
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[Last year I translated an interesting survey on kimono, so as perhaps a followup, DIMSDRIVE Research recently took a look at the other Japanese national dress, the suit.
Demographics
Between the 22nd and 31st of August 2007 6,366 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group successfully completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54.9% of the sample was female, 1.0% in their teens, 15.3% in their twenties, 35.8% in their thirties, 27.6% in their forties, 14.2% in their fifties, and 6.1% aged sixty or older. In addition, 39.0% of the sample were company employees (including contract employees), 1.6% were executive or board level, 4.2% worked in the public sector, 9.2% were self-employed, 12.9% were part-time or caqsual, and 33.1% were others, which included housewives, students and retired people.
I personally hate suits, but own two; one gets dragged out for the very occasional business trip, and the other one is in reserve for funerals. Our office is casual or company uniform, but I am about the only person in the office who wears a shirt (open-necked) on a daily basis, which is perhaps a bit odd.
For the purposes of this survey, a suit was defined as a matching jacket and trousers or skirt.
Research results
Q1: How many suits do you own? (Sample size=6,366)
One or two 26.7% Three to five 39.4% Six to ten 19.9% Eleven to fifteen 5.6% Sixteen to twenty 1.7% Twenty-one to thirty 0.9% Thirty-one or more 0.7% None (to Q8) 5.1% For men, about 90% of those in their twenties owned from zero up to five suits. As age increased, the number of suits owned also did, with less than 40% of those in their sixties having five or less. There was a similar trend for women, with nearly 95% of those in their twenties having five or less, down to about 57% of those in their sixties.
By employment, as one might guess, senior management owned the most suites, and part-timers the least.
Q2: When did you last buy a suit for yourself? (Sample size=6,040)
Within 3 months 8.1% Within 6 months 10.6% Within 1 year 17.5% Within 3 years 26.8% More than 3 years ago (to Q7) 36.0% Never bought a suit (to Q7) 1.0% I presume that the figure includes people who had suits bought for them, but had some role in the purchasing decision.
Q3: Within the last three years, where have you bought a suit? (Sample size=3,807, multiple answer)
Suit superstore 29.7% Department store 20.8% Hypermarket 20.6% Fashion mall 11.8% Fashion brand store 10.6% Select shop 6.3% Suit shop (to SQs) 5.9% Two price suit shop 3.8% Large clothes retailer 2.8% Other 3.1% Can’t remember 1.7% Two-price suit shops are slightly upmarket suit superstores, with only two basic suit prices for all their range.
Q3SQ1: How satisfied are you with the suit you purchase at a two price suit shop? (Sample size=145)
Very satisified 8.3% Somewhat satisified 72.4% Can’t say either way 17.2% Somewhat dissatisified 1.4% Totally dissatisified 0.7% Q3SQ2: What do you like about two price suit shops? (Sample size=145, multiple answer)
Cheap 75.9% Can safely buy 49.0% Wide variety of sizes 31.7% Easy to enter shop 31.7% Each to choose display 22.8% Wide variety of designs 20.0% Not pushy sales staff 19.3% Good designs 17.9% Can adjust size quickly 13.8% Can buy tie, shoes, etc at the same time 12.4% Other 0.0% Nothing in particular 2.8% Q4: About how much do usually pay for a suit? (Sample size=3,807)
Under 10,000 yen 12.6% Under 20,000 yen 29.1% Under 30,000 yen 24.7% Under 50,000 yen 21.5% Under 100,000 yen 8.3% Under 150,000 yen 1.4% Under 200,000 yen 0.1% More than 200,000 yen 0.3% Can’t remember 2.0%
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