ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
The purpose of this research is to explore the application of Ikigai principles in the garment design process for the elderly. "Ikigai" is a Japanese term that signifies subjective well-being and is associated with life satisfaction, self-esteem, morale, contentment, and a sense of life's purpose. Recently, both patients and caregivers have reported challenges in managing clothing changes for weaker elderly individuals and obtaining necessary medical examinations. This study aims to extract keywords from the literature review to help establish an appropriate conceptual framework for designing garments for the elderly. A qualitative approach was employed, which involved reviewing relevant articles and conducting interviews focused on geriatric clothing design. The collected data was analyzed using a thematic technique to identify key themes in the design process for elderly clothing. The resulting framework connects Ikigai principles with the stages of the design process. It offers recommendations for integrating an 'Ikigai-infused' design decision-making process into products for elderly clothing. Designers can utilize these concept to enhance engagement with consumers while fostering feelings of satisfaction and pleasure.
Araújo De Brito, W., Mendes, L., Sales, M. M., Neto, J. B., Brito, C. J., Da, M. E., … Ferreira, A. P. (2016). Cognitive profile associated with functional and anthropometric aspects in elderly Perfil cognitivo asociado a aspectos funcionales y antropométricos en personas mayores. Rev Andal Med Deporte, 9(4), 154–159.
Baillie, L. (2009). Patient dignity in an acute hospital setting: A case study. International Journal of Nursing Studies.
Baillie, L., & Matiti, M. (2013). Dignity, equality and diversity: An exploration of how discriminatory behaviour of healthcare workers affects patient dignity. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care, 10(1), 5–12.
Cheng, Y. M. (2014). An exploration into cost-influencing factors on construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), 850–860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.10.00
Das Neves, É. P., Brigatto, A. C., & Paschoarelli, L. C. (2015). ScienceDirect Fashion and Ergonomic Design: Aspects that influence the perception of clothing usability. Procedia Manufacturing, 3, 6133–6139.
Das Neves, É. P., Brigatto, A. C., Medola, F. O., & Paschoarelli, L. C. (2015). Biomechanics and fashion: Contributions for the design of clothing for the elderly. Procedia Manufacturing, 00(Ahfe), 0–0.
Dunne, L. E. (2004). The design of wearable technology: addressing the human-device interface through functional apparel design.
Henry, L. M., Rushton, C., Beach, M. C., & Faden, R. (2015). Respect and Dignity?: A Conceptual Model for Patients in the Intensive Care Unit. Narrative Inquiry in Bioethic, 5, 5–14.
Høy, B., Lillestø, B., Slettebø, S., Saeteren, B., Kari, A., Heggestad, T., … Nå Den, D. (2016). Maintaining dignity in vulnerability: A qualitative study of the residents’ perspective on dignity in nursing homes. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 60, 91–98.
Jabareen, Y. (2009). Building a Conceptual Framework: Philosophy, Definitions, and Procedure. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(4).
Jamian. J., Shaari. N (2018). Constructing A Conceptual Framework of the Smart Apparel Design using KJ Methods for the Disabled Elderly, KUPAS SENI Jurnal Seni dan Pendidikan Seni, Vol. 6 (2018) / (102-110).
Kamiya, M. (1966). Ikigai-ni-tsuite. Tokyo: Misuzu Shyobou.
Kanda, N. (2011). Concept of ikigai (1): Interpreting thinking regarding “ikigai” from the Meiji period to end of World War II. Bulletin of Living Science, 33, 111–122.
Kono, S., & Walker, G. (2020). Theorizing the interpersonal aspect of ikigai (‘life worth living’) among japanese university students: A mixed-methods approach. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(2), 101–123. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v10i2.979.
Kono, S., Ito, E., & Gui, J. (2022). Leisure’s Relationships with Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being in Daily Life: An experience Sampling Approach. Leisure Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2022.2102097.
Kumano, M. (2018). On the concept of well-being in Japan: Feeling shiawase as hedonic well-being and feeling ikigai as eudaimonic well-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 13(2), 419–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-017-9532-9
Lokman, A. M. (2010), “Design & emotion: The KE methodology”, Malaysian Journal of Computing, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 1-11.
Mathews, G. (1996). What makes life worth living? How japanese and Americans make sense of their worlds. University of California Press.
Mohamed, S., Nagda, A., & Mady, I. (2015). Take Advantage of Ergonomics in Clothing Design to Improve Quality of life of Parkinson’s Disease Patients. Retrieved from http://www.canadiansymposium.ca/ergonomics-design.pdf
Nagamachi, M. (2001) Workshop 2 on Kansei Engineering, International Conference on Affective Human Factors Design, Singapore.
Organisation, W. H. (2017). 10 Priorities Towards a Decade of Healthy Ageing , 1–20. Retrieved from papers3://publication/uuid/F16E8A76-8D48-4580-8E18-3ADD69156871
Scholl, I., Zill, J. M., Härter, M., Dirmaier, J., Staak, C., & Jong, C. (2014). An Integrative Model of Patient-Centeredness – A Systematic Review and Concept Analysis. PLoS ONE, 9(9), e107828.
Scupin, R. (1997). The KJ Method: A Technique for Analyzing Data Derived from Japanese Ethnology. Human Organization, 56(2), 233–237.
Singh, M., & Srivastava, S. (2016). Functional Clothing for Renal Failure Patients. International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology, 55–58.
Wang, M., and Shaari, N. (2022), “Integrating anti-falling function for elderly clothing with high satisfaction using Kansei Engineering methodology in Guangzhou City, China”. In 9th International Conference on Kansei Engineering and Emotion Research. KEER2022. Proceedings, pp. 397-410 .
Shaari, N., Mingrun, W., & Ueda, A. (2025). The Adaptation of Ikigai Concept in the Design Process for Elderly Garment. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(1), 1286–1298.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode