The purpose of this study was to develop scales to evaluate the appearance and tactile sensation of clothes in online shopping. First, 170 descriptive words were extracted from the existing literature on these areas. Then three groups of participants evaluated these words in terms of their appropriateness in describing the appearance and tactile sensation of clothes. These groups consisted of thirteen male students majoring in engineering (EMS), thirteen female students majoring in fashion design (FFS), and thirteen female students majoring in subjects other than fashion design (OFFS), respectively. Sixty-six appearance words and seventy-six tactile sensation words were selected by comparing the results of the three groups. We then carried out a cluster analysis based on the Kawakita Jiro (KJ) method, using appearance and tactile sensation words for the EMS, the FFS and the OFFS groups. Approximately about ten appearance-representative words and about ten tactile sensation-representative words were obtained for each group. The result of the appearance- and tactile sensation-representative words obtainedfrom the EMS, the FFS, and the OFFS groups were compared, and common evaluation scales for the appearance and tactile nature of clothes were explored. Thus, eight common words indicating appearance, and nine indicating tactile sensation, were obtained as common evaluation scales.
