Fashion and the contemporary environment as a whole, is a complex environment that requires retailers and wholesalers to adapt to the changes that constantly occurring. This adaptation is in a bid to ensure that more profits than loses are realized by the company. For this reason, companies have to use various methods to determine the best ways to improve their products. Companies resolve to introduction of new product to the market but the acceptance of new products to the fashion industry is not an assured factor but rather a gamble. This is mainly because of the industry’s characteristics. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the methods that may be used to improve the accuracy of new products. The fashion industry has characteristics that may be considered as challenges because for instance, when a product is launched, one has to determine whether it is by a reputable designer or whether it is a trend, and with the fashion industry, trends are mainly turned into such by celebrities who introduce a certain design to the world for adoption. These challenges or characteristics are carefully analyzed and examined with the necessity of the introduction of new products analyzed. Data collection, being the main backbone of this thesis and multiple-case study method, is used to answer the research question as “How can structured analogy method be used to improve the forecast accuracy for the footwear products in the fashion industry “.Samples for case study have been chosen from footwear category. Structured analogy method is used to determine the accuracy of the information gathered from literature review.

Some urban centres in KwaZulu -Natal are threatened with loss of function due to economic restructuring. Many studies argue that the problem of declining centres can be mediated by programmes of Local Economic Development. However it. is important to note that economic restructuring is a complex process that needs an understanding of broader economic processes as most of the problems are created by global forces that are outside the control of localities. The research aims to investigate the factors that underpin t he threat of function in an attempt to establish whether centres have a future potential. Directly linked to this is the level of awareness and readiness of development institutions to these changes, as this is important if they are going to make appropriate and strategic responses. Using the case of the manufacturing sector in Pietermaritzburg a twofold approach to the study was adopted. The f irst part examines the impact of restructuring on localities. vthis is used as a framework to interpret the threatened status of the ' manufacturing sector in Pietermaritzburg. The conclusion reached is that the footwear sector is threatened by global competition. The second part of the dissertation attempts to investigate how Pitermaritzburg-Msunduzi Transitional Local Council is responding to the challenge posed by economic restructuring. In this regard it is concluded that Pietermaritzburg's ability to respond appropriately is hampered by the problems within the local government. / Thesis (M.T.R.P.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

A company without proper strategy is like a person without sight. The research deals with identifying the lost market that the company could not yet replace due to border conflict with Ethiopia, and with recommending future actions. The main goal of this research is to assess and analyze the external and internal situations of Dahlak Share Company. In order to formulate the best strategy, the company resources must correlate with the macro and microenvironment situation. Dahlak Share Company operates in Asmara, capital of Eritrea and it sells its products in local market and foreign countries, mainly in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Therefore, assessing and analyzing Eritrean and relevant other countries' situation, information regarding the footwear industry, stakeholder's interest and the company's capacity lends significance to the quality of the formulated strategy. The discussion on the research objective is based on the strategy formulation process. This research is a case study and is qualitative in nature. Therefore, financial reports, and other relevant company documents are used to collect the secondary data. Interviews have also been conducted with the company's management body to collect the primary data. According to the study findings the company has the opportunity to increase the demand of the Great Lakes region of African market and consciousness of Eritrean customers insistence on best quality products. The company is well branded in the region and it is known for its long time experience in shoe production. Moreover, the company has a strong management staff. Though there is tough competition in local and international market, Dahlak Share Company is able to succeed by minimizing unnecessary cost and improving the quality of its products. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

While the South African footwear industry is a relatively modest contributor to both GDP and employment in the South African economy, it has historically played a dominant role in the economy of Pietermaritzburg. The opening up of South Africa's markets to the import of cheap shoes from the Far East, particularly China, together with large quantities of shoes smuggled into the country, has had a catastrophic impact upon the South African footwear industry. Due to its relative concentration of footwear manufacturers, the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry has been particularly hard hit by these developments and has suffered a decline in both production and employment. The well-documented success of footwear clusters in Italy, Brazil and Mexico have lead local researchers and policy-makers to conclude that clustering provides a potential solution to the challenges facing the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry. The discussion concerning the future development of the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry has, to date, simply assumed that it is a cluster without any actual research to verify this assumption. In addition, the concept of clustering is often used by these authors without defining what is meant by the term or how the concept of clustering can practically be applied in the context of the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry. This study seeks to address this deficiency by firstly examining the theory pertaining to the clustering concept, particularly what a cluster is, what types of clusters exist and how clusters can be developed, and secondly by conducting exploratory research to evaluate to what extent the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry can be viewed as a cluster, and if so what type of a cluster, and what steps are required to develop it as a cluster. Secondary data analysis was performed on material relating to the South African footwear industry in general and the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry in particular. This analysis was combined with primary data gathered by means of interviews conducted with stakeholders in the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry to assess the industry's conformity to the theoretical definition of a cluster. A sample of thirty-three individuals, including manufacturers, suppliers and trade union representatives, was interviewed using a non-scheduled structured interview technique. The study concluded that the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry exhibits a high degree of geographic concentration and active business channels that do achieve significant synergies in certain areas. However, it was found that the industry does not meet the final characteristic of collective action. As a result it is argued that the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry would appear to show sufficient conformity to the requirements to warrant its description as a cluster but that it probably conforms most closely to the 'latent' or 'underachieving' cluster classification. Finally, the dissertation presents a number of recommendations for policy-makers and other role players for the development of the Pietermaritzburg footwear industry as a cluster. Salient recommendations include the importance of conducting research that can be used to persuade manufacturers of the benefit of clustering together; the need to appoint an experienced broker to actively facilitate the development of the cluster concept; and the importance of addressing gaps in the supply-chain. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

Although footwear has been recognised as a risk factor for falls in older people, it remains unclear as to which features of shoes are beneficial or detrimental to balance. This project aimed to systematically investigate the effects of common shoe features, namely: an elevated heel, a soft sole, a hard sole, a flared sole, a bevelled heel, a high-collar and a tread sole, on balance and gait in older community-dwelling people. The experimental shoes were compared to standard shoes in three studies examining: (i) standing balance, leaning balance and stepping in 29 older people, (ii) centre of mass (COM)-base of support (BOS) margins, vertical and braking loading rates, and perceived shoe comfort and stability in 11 young and 15 older people walking on even and uneven surfaces, and (iii) temporal-spatial gait variables, pelvis acceleration, and gait termination in 10 young and 26 older people, on level, irregular and wet surfaces. Elevated heel shoes impaired overall performance in functional tests of balance and stepping. They were also perceived as lacking comfort and stability and led to a conservative walking pattern characterised by increased step width and double-support time, reduced braking and vertical loading rates and medio-lateral (ML) pelvis accelerations on various surfaces. Soft sole shoes increased lateral COM-BOS margin and step width, indicating reduced ML walking stability. When wearing these shoes, subjects had longer total stopping times and on the wet surface, smaller step lengths and shoe/floor angles at heel strike, suggesting a potential risk of slipping. When wearing high-collar shoes, subjects had better balance as demonstrated by small but significant increases in lateral COM-BOS margin, double-support time and step width, and decreases in ML pelvis accelerations on varying surfaces and in total stopping time on the wet surface. Shoes with hard, flared or tread soles or a bevelled heel did not affect balance. In conclusion, providing that they are fitted, have adequate fastening and perhaps a slip-resistant sole, shoes with a low square heel, a sole of medium hardness (shore A-40) and a high-collar provide the greatest stability for older people when walking on dry, wet and irregular surfaces.

The thesis consists of two parts - theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is focuses on the history of shoes and costumes, especially during the Gothic period. The practical part presents the created object under the working name: Shoes.

This thesis presents and evaluates a number of finite element footstrike models developed to allow the performance of prospective athletic footwear designs to be evaluated in a virtual environment. Successful implementation of such models would reduce the industry's traditional reliance on physical prototyping and therefore reduce the time and associated costs required to develop a product. All boundary conditions defined in each of the footstrike models reported were directly determined from biomechanical motion capture trials to ensure that the loading applied was representative of shod human running. Similarly, the results obtained with each model were compared to digitised high speed video footage of experimental trials and validated against biomechanical measures such as foot segment kinematics, ground reaction force and centre of pressure location. A simple model loaded with triaxial force profiles determined from the analysis of plantar pressure data was found to be capable of applying highly representative load magnitudes but the distribution of applied loading was found to be less accurate. Greater success at emulating the deformation that occurs in the footwear during an entire running footstrike was achieved with models employing kinematic foot segment boundary conditions although this approach was found to be highly sensitive to the initial orientation of the foot and footwear components, thus limiting the predictive capacity of such a methodology. A subsequent model was therefore developed to utilise exclusively kinetic load conditions determined from an inverse dynamic analysis of an experimental trial and demonstrated the greatest predictive capacity of all reported models. This was because the kinematics of the foot were allowed to adapt to the footwear conditions defined in the analysis with this approach. Finally, the reported finite element footstrike models were integrated with automated product optimisation techniques. A topology optimisation approach was first utilised to generate lightweight midsole components optimised for subject-specific loading conditions whilst a similar shape optimisation methodology was subsequently used to refine the geometry of a novel footwear design in order to minimise the peak material strains predicted.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:39:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 guaraldo_pd_me_arafcl.pdf: 832879 bytes, checksum: 6db739d9e59ad1f1c15f1e07b36b8f12 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A pesquisa propõe o desenvolvimento de um estudo de caso de análise do discurso de industriais do setor calçadista de Franca - SP. Foram desenvolvidas Análises dos Discursos de dois industriais precursores do setor, Jorge Félix Donadelli e Carlos Alberto Brigagão, proprietários das Indústrias de calçados Donadelli e Sândalo, respectivamente, e Carlos Guaraldo e Geraldo Ribeiro, propretários da Calçados Frank e da Opananken, respectivamente. A proposta tem o intuito de aprofundar os conhecimentos referentes ao industrial local por meio da realização de análises de discurso, juntamente com análises sociológicas dos sujeitos, pois são analisados industriais que apresentam origens distintas – tanto de origem proletária quanto herdeiros de indústrias já estabelecidas há tempos no setor. Neste sentido, busca-se compreender questões que envolvem a trajetória de vida dos novos industriais francanos, verificar o choque entre seus discursos e mentalidades, os eventuais abalos de seus referenciais de classe, e, talvez, o conseqüente desligamento de suas origens; essas hipóteses podem ser analisadas e discutidas através das teorias de Análise do Discurso e teorias que discutem classe e condição de classe. Foram realizadas entrevistas que, após as análises, foram comparadas entre si em busca de evidências acerca dos referenciais de classe, com o intuito de identificar o habitus de classe dos mesmos, visto que suas origens sociais diferem, entretanto, atualmente são pertencentes aos estratos superiores do empresariado calçadista francano. / The research suggests the development of a case study of the Speech Analysis from the industrial footwear industry in Franca - SP. Analysis of Speeches were developed by two industrial sector precursors: Donadelli Jorge Felix and Carlos Alberto Brigagão, owners from Calçados Donadelli and Sândalo, respectively and Carlos Guaraldo and Geraldo Ribeiro, owners from Calçados Frank and Opananken respectively. The proposal is an effort to gain more knowledge concerning the industrial site through the completion of the analysis of speech, along with sociological analysis of the subjects offered, because they are considered industrial presenting different origins - both of proletarian origin as heirs of industries already established some time ago in the sector. In this sense, we try to understand issues involving the trajectory of life of the new industrial from Franca, check the clash between their words and attitudes, the quake of its references to class and perhaps the consequent shutdown of its origins, these assumptions can be analyzed and discussed by the theories of discourse analysis and theories that referrer to discuss class and condition class. Were conducted in-depth interviews that after the tests were compared with each other in search of evidence about the class of benchmarks in order to identify the habitus of the same class, since its origins differ, however are currently belonging to the upper strata footwear from Franca of entrepreneur.

Este trabalho buscou compreender a inovação em produtos da indústria calçadista paulista no setor de desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Inicialmente se fez necessário conhecer como se deram as principais evoluções deste artefato em sua história. Em seguida, fizemos um levantamento sobre o papel da indústria calçadista no cenário mundial para contextualizar a importância de nos aprofundarmos nesse tema. Também investigamos os conhecimentos teóricos sobre inovação e produtos de moda. Essa fase foi particularmente importante porque pudemos perceber como a inovação opera em indústrias fora do universo da moda e transportar para inovação em produtos de moda. Como mencionado, esse processo de conduzir as teorias de inovação para o contexto dos produtos de moda nos levou a propor uma nova perspectiva de categorização dos produtos inovadores. São eles: produtos novos desconhecidos, produtos novos reformulados e produtos novos efêmeros. Por fim, para avançar na investigação de como inovar nesse segmento e propor diretrizes para essa indústria, analisamos o desenvolvimento de produtos de ateliês calçadistas da cidade de São Paulo. Por meio de entrevistas com metodologia de história oral, ouvimos como é o desenvolvimento de produtos de marcas que propõem produtos diferenciados do mercado de massa. Dessa maneira, este trabalho nos levou à proposta segundo a qual para fomentar a inovação em produtos de moda necessitamos contemplar na gestão da empresa um setor ou equipe com este foco, ou seja, equipe cujas atividades se baseiam em conhecimentos técnicos, teóricos e desenvolvimento experimental de produtos / This study aimed to understand the innovation in products of São Paulo footwear industry in the new product development sector. Initially, it was necessary to know how the main evolutions of this artifact in its history occurred. Then we did a survey about the role of the footwear industry worldwide to contextualize the importance of increasing knowledge on this topic. We also investigate theoretical knowledge about innovation and fashion products. This phase was particularly important because we could understand how innovation operates in industries outside the fashion universe and transport to innovation in fashion products. As mentioned, this process of leading theories of innovation to the context of fashion products led us to propose a new perspective of categorization of innovative products. They are: new unknown products, new reformulated products and new ephemeral products. Finally, to advance in the investigation of how to innovate in this segment and propose guidelines for this industry, we analyze the development of products at footwear studios in the city of São Paulo. Through interviews with oral history methodology, we hear how is the product development of brands that offers differentiated products of the mass market is. In this way, this work led us to the proposal according to which to foment innovation in fashion products we need to contemplate in the companys management a sector or team with this focus, that is, a team whose activities are based on technical knowledge, theoretical and experimental development of products

This diploma thesis deals with the satisfaction of the female-customers with their volleyball footwear. It consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part contains the general overview of the subject matter, its core parts are composed by quality and the description of the technologies of the three main manufacturers (Adidas, Asics, Mizuno) applied on the volleyball footwear. The practical part focuses on the questionnaire aimed at the satisfaction of the female-customers, whose results were consequently analysed.