This study seeks to improve the understanding of teenagers’ changing preferences for school style and fashion. In doing so, this study also aims to provide an alternative school uniform styling that better satisfies teens’ changing demands. As a result, a survey was conducted involving high school girls who live in a city in the Gyeongsangnam-do region of Korea to determine their attitude toward, satisfaction with, and preferences of the school uniforms they wear. The survey materials used for this study were collected from a total of 437 subjects through a questionnaire. The data collected were given a frequency analysis, a technical statistics analysis, a factor analysis. As for the post test, a Duncan test was performed.

The results of this study can be summarized as follows:
First, there are six factors associated with high school girls’ school uniforms; namely, the ease of maintenance or the low cost, aesthetics, psychological reassurance, usability, neatness, and room for activity. Whereas students rated neatness and psychological reassurance quite highly, they did not react so enthusiastically to usability, aesthetics, and room for activity. Of the school uniform pieces, students rated vests as the most satisfactory, and blazers as the least satisfactory. While these students generally assessed the colors of the school uniforms they wear positively, they assessed fabrics as relatively durable, yet neither satisfactorily warm nor stretchy. They picked pants as the school uniform piece that requires the greatest improvement. They picked the skirt as the most essential school uniform item, and followed it with the blouse, the vest, the cardigan, and the blazer, in that order. Of the school uniforms that they currently wear, they picked the length of the bottom as the factor they would most like to see changed.
Second, students preferred waist-length blazers with tailored collars most to other blazer designs. They also most preferred the single-fitted closure, and the blouse with the dress-shirt collars and sleeves. V-necked vests were also most popular among all vest designs, along with form-fitting skirts that touch slightly above the knees. Students also most preferred skinny pants, goose-down or duck-down parkas, and neckties. As for the most preferred color and fabric, students preferred the same navy color applied to both the top and the bottom, and warm fabrics that were stretchy and afforded much room for physical activity.
Third, the factors that are common to the school uniform looks that high school girls most preferred included attractiveness, room for activity, neatness, uniqueness, and femininity. Of these, room for activity was rated most highly and uniqueness most lowly.
As for the elements of design added to school uniforms, there were clear patterns of preferences from high school girls, especially concerning vest and skirt ensembles. Most preferred were standard vests and solid-color skirts, as well as front-closed vests with horizontally striped skirts. The ensemble of vests with pockets and vertical-binding skirts was least preferred.
As for the most figure-flattering blazer-skirt design ensemble, the most slim-looking was the ensemble of the standard blazer with a peaked label and a vertical-seam skirt. The least figure-flattering ensemble was that of the standard blazer with a round lapel and a vertical-seam skirt. The blazer and the lapel had to match well in order to make the wearer look as slim as possible. Blazers with two or more different colors and binding blazers with peaked lapels did not help girls as much to look slim.
The four factors that made blazer-skirt ensembles look like school uniforms were neatness, uniqueness, room for activity, and attractiveness. Of these, students rated neatness as most important, and uniqueness as least important. The ensemble of the standard blazer, with the standard lapel and a horizontal-seam skirt was rated as neatest. The ensemble of the binding blazer with the standard lapel and a solid-color skirt was rated as the most attractive. The ensemble of the binding blazer with a peaked collar and a vertical-binding skirt was rated as the most unique.
The four factors that made vest-skirt ensembles look like school uniforms were attractiveness, neatness, uniqueness, and room for activity. Neatness, again, figured as most important, and uniqueness as least important. The scores students gave to different vest-skirt ensemble designs showed that the ensemble of the standard vest and the horizontal-seam skirt appeared neatest. The ensemble of the front-closed vest and the horizontal-seam skirt appeared most attractive. The ensemble of the vest with a pocket and the horizontal-binding skirt appeared most active. The ensemble of the vest with a pocket and the vertical-binding skirt appeared most unique.
This study sought to determine what today’s high school students think of their school uniforms, and what alternative designs they most preferred, using a survey of high school girls that are believed to be at the most fashion-sensitive age. Based on analyses of the alternative school look images presented to the survey-taking students, this study sought to decide the ideal school uniform design and make suggestions for improvement. This study reveals that different items and pieces of school uniforms can be combined in many different ways to create quite diverse looks. Surveying high school girls’ demands for different school uniform designs, preferred school uniform looks, and elements of school uniform designs, this study provides important basic data for research on teenagers’ fashion and clothing.

Yet this study needs to be expanded in the following ways:
First, the pool of students taking this study’s survey included randomly selected students from five high schools in Gyeongsangnam-do. Therefore, there may be limits to the universalizability of this study’s findings. It is important to diversify and expand the pool of survey takers and their regions for future research.
Second, this study presented survey-taking students with single-dimension drawings of school uniform images, thereby failing to help them notice different textures and fabrics. The elements of designs presented were similarly restricted and limited, making it impossible to generalize the interpretation of this study’s findings.
Third, this study limited its scope to the autumn and winter school uniforms for high school girls. Its findings may thus not be readily applicable to summer school uniforms that require different clothing pieces and fabrics. Further research is required for boys’ school uniform designs, including summer uniforms.