The War in Vietnam Essays (1721 words) - Vietnam War, Southeast Asia

The War in Vietnam Direct U.S. military support in The Vietnam War, the country's longest, cost fifty-8,000 American lives. Just the Civil War and the two universal wars were deadlier for Americans. During the time of Vietnam starting in 1964, the U.S Treasury spent over $140 billion on the war, enough cash to subsidize urban recharging ventures in each significant American city. Notwithstanding these huge expenses and their going with open and private injury for the American individuals, the United States fizzled, without precedent for its history, to accomplish its expressed war points. The objective was to protect a different, autonomous, noncommunist government in South Vietnam, yet after April 1975, the socialist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) administered the whole country. The underlying purposes behind U.S. association in Vietnam appeared to be intelligent and convincing to American pioneers. Following its accomplishment in World War II, the United States confronted the future with a feel ing of good integrity and material certainty. From Washington's point of view, the vital danger to U.S. security and world harmony was solid, domineering socialism exuding from he Soviet Union. Any socialist anyplace, at home or abroad, was, by definition, and adversary of the United States. Drawing a similarity with the fruitless submission of extremist tyrants before World War II, the Truman organization accepted that any indication of socialist animosity must be met rapidly and compellingly by the United States and its partners. This responsive arrangement was known as regulation. In Vietnam the objective of regulation was Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh front he had made in 1941. Ho and his main lieutenants were socialists with long-standing associations with the Soviet Union. They were additionally impassioned Vietnamese patriots who battled first to free their nation of the Japanese and afterward, after 1945, to keep France from restoring its previous provincial authority over Vietnam and the remainder of Indochina. Harry S. Truman and other American pioneers, having no compassion toward French expansionism, supported Vietnamese freedom. In any case, growing socialist control of Eastern Europe and the triumph of the socialists in China's polite was caused France's war against Ho to appear to be an anticommunist instead of a colonialist exertion. At the point when France consented to a quansi-autonomous Vietnam under Emperor Bao Dai as an option in contrast to Ho's DRV, the United States chose to help the French position. The American origination of Vietnam as a virus war battleground to a great extent disregarded the battle for social equity and national power happening inside the nation. American consideration concentrated essentially on Europe and on Asia past Vietnam. Help to France in Indochina was a renumeration for French collaboration with America's arrangements for the barrier of Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After China turned into a socialist state in 1949, the security of Japan was the fate of foremost significance to Washington, and Japanese improvement expected access to the business sectors and crude materials of Southeast Asia. The flare-up of war in Korea in 1950 served essentially to affirm Washington's conviction that socialist hostility represented an incredible peril to Asia . Resulting charges that Truman had lost China and had made due with an impasse in Korea made succeeding presidents dread the residential political outcomes on the off chance that they lost Vietnam. This anxiety, an overes timation of American force, and an underestimation of Vietnamese socialist quality bolted all organizations from 1950 through the 1960s into a firm anticommunist remain in Vietnam. Since American strategy producers neglected to welcome the measure of exertion that would be required to apply impact on Vietnam's political and social structure, the course of American approach prompted a consistent heightening of U.S. association. President Dwight D. Eisenhower expanded the degree of helper to the French however kept on maintaining a strategic distance from military intercession, in any event, when the French encountered an overwhelming annihilation at Dien Bien Phu in the spring of 1954. Following that fight, a universal meeting at Geneva, Switzerland, masterminded a truce and accommodated a North-South parcel of Vietnam until races could be held. The United States was not involved with the Geneva Agreements and started to cultivate the production of a Vietnamese system in South Vietna m's despotic president Ngo Dinh Diem, who dismissed Bao Dai in October 1955, opposed holding a political decision on the reunification of Vietnam. Regardless of over

Analysis of the 2nd Chapter of The Aesthetics of the Natural Essay

Investigation of the second Chapter of The Esthetics of the Natural Environments - Essay Example During the past ages the idea of nature was very ameliorating as it depicted a specific interesting excellence. As per the data from this part, the energy about the bona fide condition is vastly different from the previous hundreds of years, and the idea of the earth is being changed and supplanted by workmanship. Legitimately it is said that the structures being developed on the common habitat were at first intended to be useful to the individuals and they should be built absent a lot of impedance of the characteristic structure of the area of the developments (Carson and Berleant, 2007). The section likewise clarifies how in nations, for example, the United States of America, such a large number of developments have been raised by the models and the structure are done filling their need since it has arrived at a degree where individuals are currently entirely awkward living in those specific structures. The part likewise clarifies that a portion of the developments being set up in the current century are being overstated so that an individual may neglect to tell from far whether the structure is a congregation, a shopping center or a house. It is clarified in the section that the present structures are developed in a manner that depicts an alternate image of what the structure is intended to speak to. As per the writer of this book, developments ought to be intended to coordinate its motivation and that the structure highlights ought to have the option to go along with its utilization. There are a few contemplations that ought to be investigated additionally before the developments and these incorporate the space, the lighting, the sounding framework, and the development surfaces among other thing (Carson and Berleant, 2007). This part additionally clarifies how nature is firmly identified with people, and needs to cause the peruser to comprehend that the earth is truly perfect with the person. It proceeds to clarify the connection between the environmentâ₠¬â„¢s nature and the individuals. That the earth has numerous positive effects on human life and the manner in which it can have negative effects also relying upon how they partner with one another. Nature has an inseparable tie to people and, along these lines, whatever is developed in it will consistently be a direct result of them. Hence, at that point it is clarified in the part how developments ought to be set up after examinations have been made which guarantee how agreeable the earth is. Hence, the earth is built by models as indicated by their ideal structures to draw in and satisfy the eyes of the clients and simultaneously the earth where the development is occurring ought to be checked cautiously and contemplations made to guarantee the solace of the clients. The sections are about the developments being set up in the indigenous habitat and how they ought to be done specifically. That the environmental factors of the individuals living inside it or inside the developments must be favorable (Carson and Berleant, 2007). Nonetheless, the developments being assembled anyplace ought to likewise be made in such manners that they don't meddle brutally with the earth. This is on the grounds that the individuals who are to involve the structures will at present need those common assets inside the earth. Developments effectively dirty and decimate the

How I Teach Math A Veteran Teachers Advice for Building Student Confidence

How I Teach Math A Veteran Teachers Advice for Building Student Confidence Veteran teacher Sara outlines strategies to help your students improve their confidence in math and offers tips she uses in her class to promote a positive learning environment where students are given the opportunity to demonstrate what they know. by Sara McCarthy Teaching math can be challenging, especially when students have low confidence in their mathematical abilities. Here are some strategies I have developed over the years to help build student confidence and make teaching math a more pleasant and productive experience. Try them in your classroom! Identify Strengths and Challenges Identifying student strengths and challenges helps set the stage for a positive environment in my math class. Once my class list is finalized, I review student records to gain insight into classroom composition, especially at the beginning of the year as I’m getting to know students. At my school I have access to district mathematics assessment data and I look for general trends from previous grades. This helps inform my instruction for the upcoming year. For example, if I see that a large portion of students previously had difficulty in geometry, I expect to encounter challenges when I teach this unit. I can then adapt my instruction and conduct a more in-depth review before starting the unit and be extra diligent checking for understanding as the unit progresses. Activate Prior Knowledge Most mathematics curriculum is a spiral where topics are revisited and built upon. I attempt to help students feel comfortable and boost their mathematical confidence by activating their prior knowledge, reminding them that they already know some key aspects of our topics. This can be accomplished formally using KWL charts, which you can find on TeacherVision. In addition to KWL charts, or if I am running short on time, I often do a class brainstorm session on the board when introducing a new topic. I find it useful to ask students what they know, remember, or think of when they hear a certain topic and encourage them to volunteer anything that comes to mind, whether it’s a word, phrase, or diagram. Some students will give detailed answers, such as “the equation of a line is y = mx + b.” Others may provide a short yet pertinent answer, such as “graphs” or “straight line,” which sparks a class discussion, validating that the student who answered knows something about the topic and reminding the class that they have seen this before. Informed Instruction Exit tickets are an important tool in math class as they have the potential to reveal concepts requiring additional practice before summative assessments occur. Exit tickets can be a quick way to check in with students and gauge their understanding. Simple rating-scale tickets are very effective: “On a scale of 1 (confused) to 4 (got it) rate your understanding of dividing fractions.” This type of exit ticket is quick and easy for a teacher to tally yet provides valuable information to inform further instruction. If the vast majority of the class replies that they have a good understanding of the topic, the teacher may move on. However, if the majority of the class responds that they are still having difficulties, the teacher can plan next steps to address this. Another type of exit ticket may ask students to identify what they found most confusing in today’s lesson. This is another useful type of question to guide instruction â€" if the majority of the class gives the same response, there is a need to revisit the topic. I also do quick informal surveys of my class during lessons. I ask everyone to put their heads down, and then ask students to raise their hands if they 1) feel they are understanding the topic, or 2) are still confused. Making this an anonymous survey, by putting their heads down, helps to remove anxiety and encourages students to answer truthfully. It also lets me know who may need a check-in before the lesson is over and lets me adapt my instruction on the spot, providing more explanation or moving on as required. Differentiated Instruction Differentiated instruction helps students to succeed in math class because it meets them at their mathematical level. To differentiate instruction, start the whole class with the same lesson. The differentiating comes in when it is time for students to apply and practice what they have learned. I provide questions to students based on their ability, grouping students who, through the use of exit tickets or surveys, have indicated similar understanding of the subject up to this point. For example, I may group students who have indicated on an exit ticket a strong understanding of the topic together with a set of more challenging questions. Another group, who has indicated they are developing an understanding of the topic, will be given a mix of simple and complex questions. And I will work directly with students who have indicated they find the topic challenging. This of course takes a bit of planning and organizing to implement. Another way to differentiate instruction in math class is to provide and encourage the use of open-ended questions. For example, rather than giving students a dividing fractions worksheet, you may ask students to create five of their own fraction division questions, with answers. Using this method, students can demonstrate what they know about dividing fractions. For example, some may use a combination of mixed numbers, improper fractions, different denominators etc. Others may use only fraction benchmarks ( ½, ¼, etc.). Regardless of the fractions they choose to include, each student is meeting the outcome of dividing fractions. Show What They Know Going along with the point above, I try to provide students with the opportunity to show me what they know about math. As mentioned, open-ended questions are one method of doing this. Using a variety of formative and summative assessments, such as observations, conversations and a range of products (concrete, pictorial, or symbolic) is another way to incorporate student choice and the opportunity to demonstrate what they know into your lessons. Some of the alternate formative assessments I use include Frayer models, questions without numbers, and “bad” examples. Giving “bad” examples especially seems to be a favorite of students. For example, I may ask them for a bad example of applying the order of operations to rational numbers, or finding the area of a circle. I ask them to list 3-5 points that explain why their example is “bad” and what would make their answer “good.” Asking for bad examples appears to remove the pressure of giving the perfect answer and encourages students, who may otherwise be reluctant, to attempt the problem. Providing students with these opportunities to demonstrate what they know helps them gain confidence in their mathematical ability. I feel one of our biggest challenges in math class are students who doubt their own mathematical skills. Focusing on what students know, checking for understanding and adapting instruction as necessary to meet my students where they are helps develop a positive learning environment in my classroom and helps students experience success. I hope you are able to use some of these strategies in your own class to get to know your students and boost their mathematical confidence. What are your strategies for teaching math effectively? Share with us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Veteran teacher Sara McCarthy has been teaching middle and high school math and science in Nova Scotia, Canada for the past ten years. She has recently started Escape Ed, which produces educational games for math and science classes. Before becoming a teacher, Sara worked in a molecular biology lab where she honed her mad scientist skills. She spends her winter breaks on ski slopes and her summers at the beach.

Difference Between Baking Powder and Baking Soda

Both baking soda and baking powder are leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to rise. Baking powder contains baking soda, but the two substances are used under different conditions. Did You Know? You can  substitute  baking powder in place of baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking Soda Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient—such as yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, or honey—the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to expand or rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes that call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat. Baking Powder Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate, but it already includes the acidifying agent (cream of tartar) as well as a drying agent, usually starch. Baking powder is available as a single- or double-acting powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes that include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to the dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven. How Are Recipes Determined? Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. Youll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits. Substituting in Recipes You can substitute baking powder for baking soda (youll need more baking powder and it may affect the taste), but you cant use baking soda when a recipe calls for baking powder. Baking soda by itself lacks the acidity to make a cake rise. However, you can make your own baking powder if you have baking soda and cream of tartar. Simply mix two parts cream of tartar with one part baking soda. Related Reading Six Simple Buttermilk Substitutes: Most buttermilk you buy is made using chemistry. You can make homemade buttermilk by adding an acidic kitchen ingredient to milk.Common Ingredient Substitutions: Baking powder and baking soda arent the only cooking ingredients people run out of.How Baking Powder Works: Learn how baking soda makes baked goods rise and why its used in some recipes but not others.How Baking Soda Works: Learn how baking soda works and how this affects how quickly you need to bake a recipe once you mix it.Baking Powder Shelf Life: Baking powder doesnt last forever. Learn about its shelf life and how to test it for freshness so your recipe doesnt fall flat.

Alcoholism An Exploration Of Alcoholism - 2043 Words

Rachel Hines Mr. Allen Period 6/7 3 June 2015 One Drink Too Many: An Exploration of Alcoholism Many adults can enjoy a drink or two from time to time without any issues, but just one drink can cause over seventeen million Americans’ lives to spiral out of control. Though most people do not have issues with drinking alcoholic beverages, many have a condition which causes their brain to function differently when they consume alcohol. This disease can be deadly for both the alcoholic and those around them. Alcoholism can control someone’s life, and even though it is a societal issue that is still being addressed, more people are seeking treatment to better themselves. Alcoholism, excessive consumption of alcohol that results in dependence, is caused by genetics and environmental factors that result in harmful effects on the body of the drinker and the safety of society; however, therapy and support groups are helping alcoholics recover today, and medications undergoing trial could allow them to live normal lives in th e future. Alcoholism is a major social issue around the world today. The ProQuest Staff of SIRS Researcher defines alcoholism as excessive use of alcohol that eventually results in dependence, or addiction where the body craves a drug. There are roughly 140 million alcoholics currently in the world, which results in higher rates of crime, abuse, illness, car crashes, and lower productivity in work (ProQuest Staff). According to Dr. Mark Willenbring, mostShow MoreRelatedThe Base Of Ethical Analysis Of Alcoholism1012 Words   |  5 Pagesdone this task on the base of ethical analysis of alcoholism. Here I have applied Aristotle’s virtue ethics to social-psychological interpretation of one kind of alcoholism. I did it in order to enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of alcoholism and to illustrate the pertinence of Aristotle’s ethics. My finding can further explains understanding of contemporary problems such as alcoholism. After lot of research I have found that alcoholism is not a non-controversial medical debases. I foundRead MoreThe Effects Of Home Life On Children s Development896 Words   |  4 Pagesfactors is alcoholism in the family. Randy and Tana Page (2011) on alcoholism: Alcoholism is a complex, progressive disease involving a progressive preoccupation with drinking that leads to physical, mental, social, and/or economic dysfunction. The complexity of alcoholism results from various causes and factors- genetic, psychological, familial, and social- many of which are not clearly understood (p. 278) Currently in the U.S., approximately 26.8 million children are exposed to alcoholism in the familyRead MoreAlcoholism And Drug Abuse And Alcoholism1231 Words   |  5 PagesAlcoholism and drug abuse are a plague ailing this country and the world at large. Many people think that an alcoholic or an addict is a weak individual, they are often not. They are suffering from a medical condition that hinges on various risk factors. Over 125,000 Americans die yearly due to drug addiction and alcoholism. Genetics, personality and environment contribute majorly in the risk of alcoholism and drug abuse. Genetically if a member of your family had a problem with substanceRead MoreFamily Systems Theory, By Van Wyck Brooks1208 Words   |  5 Pagesin family functioning (Curtis, 1999). The MTP, as applied to addiction, assumes that chemical dependency of one individual in the system is a symptom of an historical and multigenerational familial pattern of dysfunctionality. According to BFST, alcoholism and other addictive disorders are transmitted through generations of the family system, precisely because chemical dependency affects the organization, functioning, and communication patterns of entire families. Through this transmission processRead MoreTennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire854 Words   |  4 Pagestolerance and broadening views, women were still stereotyped as the weak, dependent, and feminine figures. In the play, William’s highlights gender imbalance through his characters, specifically Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois. For me, Williams’ exploration of the gender roles of the late 1940s is what lingers in the mind, the conflict between masculinity and femininity being the reason for Streetcar’s success. Sam: Surely Stanley and Blanche exaggerate their conflict far beyond simple gender stereotypesRead MoreAn Economists Response to the Alcohol Problem1005 Words   |  4 PagesEconomists Response to Alcohol Problem Alcoholism to the economist would be more than the effect it has on the immediate consumer. An economist would look at the problem from the perspective of its effects on the immediate family members and society as a whole. Economists will consider what are the extra costs (externalities) are likely to be incurred by the alcohol consumption to the immediate family and society? Externality refers to the costs associated to consumption or production of a commodityRead MoreHow Drinking Addiction Is Under Challenge1403 Words   |  6 Pages Nowadays as science and technology develop rapidly, traditional theory of explaining drinking addiction is under challenge. More and more neuroscientists, psychologists and biologists contribute to the exploration of chemical mechanisms working behind alcohol and addiction. As one of the most well-known neuroscientist, Marc Lewis (2011) offers his point of view is that alcohol ultimately affects the brain, which is the source of all our expe rience (p.22). As we all know, brain is the primaryRead MoreThe Development Of Drug Addiction Essay814 Words   |  4 Pagesinheritance and genetic factors. Of course, there are numerous debates in the discussion labelled as nature or nurture, but the inheritance cannot be ignored. One of the research establishes that alcoholism and antisocial personal disorder in the adopted children proves are at a higher level of achieving alcoholism. (Cadoret et al., 1987). No attention is paid to the personal factors predisposing of women to drug addiction. Among the factors which interpret the presence of drug addicts among friends andRead More The Psychological Effects Of LSD Essay1677 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence of LSD. One interesting analogy was made by Professor Jeffrey M. Blum of the University of Buffalo School of Law: quot;The problems posed by LSD, for example, in some ways resemble those presented by scuba diving. Each is seen as a form of exploration that opens new vistas. Hence participants often find the activity enormously stimulating and inspiring. Each activity poses a small but significant risk of serious personal harm, these being death in one and aggravation of pre-existing states ofRead MoreThe, Mystery And The Macabre By Edgar Allan Poe1261 Words   |  6 PagesMurders in the Rue Morgue.† He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction through the influence of his works on writers such as Jules Verne. His works were marked by a departure from established themes with his exploration of horror and the macabre to the extent that he adhered to the adage, â€Å"The Artist s Feeling is his Law† by Caspar David Friedrich. Poe was a proponent of Romanticism and was brought up as a foster child following the death of his mother and abandonment

A long way Gone and Refugee Boy Free Essays

Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone and Alem Kelo’s Refugee Boy are both exceptional books on the lives of two different people in two different countries undergoing almost similar events in life. Both of the stories portray life from the perspective of two vulnerable children caught up in circumstances that are not pleasant. However, the only difference between the two is that while Beah’s events are actual events, Alem Kelo’s are fictitious. We will write a custom essay sample on A long way Gone and Refugee Boy or any similar topic only for you Order Now However they both succeed in portraying the hard life of a child trying to fit in to a society that is alien to him. A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier. Ishmael Beah, in his autobiography recounting the war years in his country, Sierra Leone, details how he became a child soldier. He says that when the war started, his mother and his father, who were from different tribe, which happened to be at war with each other, were separated. Though he does not give much detail as to how and why they separated, he records that they went separate ways. After the militia invaded their village, and he narrowly escaping being forcefully recruited into the militia, he realizes that there is no other way to escape the war and its only a matter of time before he either join the army or the rebel forces. So he opts to join the army citing the reason that in doing so he could atleast avenges his relatives who were killed by the rebel forces. In the army he also survived by taking ‘brown brown’, a mixture of gun powder and cocaine. This he says they were influenced to take due to the various brutal and sometimes vicious they had to do. The story is quite remarkable in that Ishmael Beah tends to remember almost all the little tiny details, which are remarkable, considered that most of the things he went through were quite early in life. For example he can vividly recount the events that marked the beginning of civil war in their village; he can remember the details like a woman carrying a bullet ridden child, a Volkswagen that brought the first people to be affected by the war and so on. Refugee Boy: Refugee boy is a fictional book by Benjamin Zephaniah. It tell the life of a young boy from a mixed family, the father being an Ethiopian while the mother is an Eritrean, it happens that these two countries are at war and Ethiopian army is demanding that foreigners, especially from Eritrea to leave the country. In the story, Kelo, being of mixed blood, cannot be accepted in either Ethiopia or Eritrea. The soldiers who come to compel them to leave call him â€Å"a mongrel†. So in search for safety for their son, Kelo’s father takes him to London in what to Kelo seemed like a holiday. Kilo is however rudely shocked when he realizes that the holiday was not really a holiday after he is abandon in a hotel room by his father. His predicaments are just beginning since he has to move to children’s home then to a foster home at the Fitzgeralds. In between he fights to get asylum in UK. He is tossed in the hands of social services and the Refugee Council of England. References Zephaniah, B. (2004). Refugee Boy. New York: Turtleback Books. Beah, I. (2007). A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Limited. How to cite A long way Gone and Refugee Boy, Papers

Innerwear Market free essay sample

INNERWEAR MARKET IN INDIA- MARKETERS’ AND CONSUMERS’ PERSPECTIVE Jyoti Aggarwa (lecturer)l and Dr. Charu Gupta(Reader) Department of Textiles and Clothing Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi, India E-mail- [emailprotected] com ABSTRACT The innerwear market in India is currently valued at Rs. 5160 crore in value terms and 80. 16 crore units in volume terms The Indian lingerie industry is poised for a great leap ahead due to the growing domestic demand coupled with huge export potential. There are more than 1000 Indian brands present, but only 200 are active nation wide. The remaining cater to markets in the vicinity of their manufacture. The Last decade has witnessed inflow of many multinational brands in the Indian innerwear market. Many foreign companies have already set up or are in the process of setting up their manufacturing units in India in collaboration with local players. India’s vast resources, skilled manpower and infrastructure attracts a lot of foreign investment in the field of innerwear. We will write a custom essay sample on Innerwear Market or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This paper brings to light the product offerings of Indian manufacturers and their comparison with multinational brands. Leading brands present in Indian lingerie market have been studied under the heads of year of establishment, retail presence, styles of products offered, price range and the best selling categories. The data has been gathered by personal interviews of twenty lingerie manufacturers. Two hundred Indian consumers have also been surveyed to collect information regarding popularity of brands and consumer preferences. Analysis of data brings out comparison of the product mix of Indian and multinational brands. It also highlights consumer preferences and gaps to be filled between demand and supply. The paper would benefit that segment of the industry that plan to set up their business in India, in terms of market segmentation and consumer preferences. INTRODUCTION Many multinational manufacturers offering multitude of products consider India as a destination market. Potential of this huge market is reflected through the demographic picture (as of July 2003 estimates): †¢1. 059 billion population †¢319 million females between 15-64 years †¢30 percent of 95 million of that are considered middle class with enough disposable income to be defined as â€Å"real consumers†. Figure: 1), Source: Images Business of Fashion, August 2005, Vol. VI No. VIII Analysing the growth of Indian apparel market, brings out the fact that innerwear segment is growing at a much faster rate than the other segments (Fig. 1). The innerwear market in the country for the year 2004 is valued at Rs. 5,160 crore in value terms, registering a growth rate of 13. 91% over 2003, when it stood at Rs. 4,530 crore. The volume appreciated about 5. 72% at 80. 16 crore units in 2004 as compared to about 75. 82 crore units sold in 2003. On the overall basis, volume as well as value growth in the innerwear market was marginally higher in 2004 as compared to 2003. However, the (Figure: 2), Source: Images Business of Fashion, August 2005, Vol. VI No. VIII value growth in both men’s undergarments and women’s lingerie segments was more than double the growth in volumes. The growth in volume was 7% while value went up by nearly 17% (Fig. : 2). Market Players The innerwear market is flooded with the best of Indian as well as international brands. The inside story got its first stylish boost when Associated Apparels Pvt. Ltd. akers of Liberty shirts, launched the world famous Maiden Form bras, Jockey men’s underwear and swimwear in 1962 in India. The brands were an instant success with their style and quality. Because of the change in government policies the company gave the overseas tie-up and changed the names to Libertina for lingerie and Liberty for men’s underwear in the late 70s. With the s uccess of Libertina and Liberty other Indian companies moved into lingerie bandwagon. Peter Pan from Dawn Mills in the 70s entered the market. The brand was one of the favorites with the Indian women, but two decades later it vanished from the market. VIP a major player in men’s segment launched Petals, a lycra moulded cup bra with motifs, which was considered ahead of its time and was discontinued. But its Lovable launch in 1996 proved a success when they brought in a foreign brand but made in India. Lovable was followed by Feelings, a domestic offering of VIP along with Daisy Dee. Vanity Fair was launched in 2004 and finally a Korean brand Try for men and women in 2004. Another big brand in the lingerie market is Rupa Co. started in 1985. Its range of men’s, women’s and children’s underwear makes it India’s largest manufacturer and seller of innerwear. Other brands that are making their presence felt in the Indian innerwear market are Amul, Lux Cozi and Dollar catering to a particular segment of men’s innerwear market while the lingerie segment has its own local brands like Neva, Bodycare, Softy, Lady Care, Little Lacy, Red Rose, Sonari and many more. Trickle of foreign brands started in 90s with the advent of Jockey re-entering the Indian market followed by Calida and liberty Blu. Then the very high fashion Gossard came for a limited period. The entry of the Marks and Spencer chain stores created a stir. Another big entry was Triumph. Enamor, another foreign brand entered through Gokaldas Exports and very chic French brand Aubade opened its only outlet in Mumbai. LaSenza and Hanes are other brand in the scene. Though innerwear includes garments for men, women and kids , it’s the women segment called lingerie, that draws the maximum attention. Lingerie is considered an important value added segment. The range of items available as innerwear is enormous. But for an average Indian woman innerwear is limited to just a couple of items, mainly bras and panties. Out of these two, also brassiere is more complex an item to ensure the comfort and fit. A number of styles are available in this basic garment like full cup, push up, sports, strapless and under wired bras. In India, brassieres are constructed using 100 percent cotton fabrics, either knitted or woven. Sometimes, 3-10 percent Lycra is also added to get stretch effect and to provide a better fit. Panties are generally made of 100% cotton sinkers, ribs and interlock fabrics. Polyester cotton jacquard knits are mainly used for achieving comfort and aesthetics. Other components include range of elastics for different areas of the garment, underwires for support, eye hooks and ring fastners. Laces are also used extensively, with both knit and woven fabrics. Linings are used in the cup area for support and strength, while pipings are used at the cup and side seems to give fullness and strength. As inner wear comes in direct contact with the skin, primary requirement for users is comfort, followed by elegance. There is a need for a good combination of technology and quality components as raw materials, to succeed in producing a standard product. Export Scenario Despite the domestic growth, the roughly $ 400-million Indian industry contributes a small percentage to the global lingerie, hosiery and innerwear market. India gets only a small share of the export manufacturing pie. However the situation has improved in the last decade. Leading buyers are planning to start sourcing from India in the near future. The Bagalore based Gokaldas Images is one of the oldest manufacturer that has tied up with Sara Lee Courtaulds for manufacturing foundation garments. MAS Holdings Sri Lanka has set up a 50:50 joint venture arrangement called Intimate Clothing Private Ltd. n Bagalore to produce Lingerie. The unit is a 100% export oriented unit. Leading international buyers like V F Corporation, selling under the brand name Vanity Fair also plans to start sourcing from India in coming times. Triumph International, the German company selling foundation wear in India plans to set up its own manufacturing unit in Chennai within a year for both export to Europe and selling in the Indian market. At present Triumph is a one third partner in Intimate Fashion India Private Ltd. , Chennai, a manufacturing unit also supplying to Victoria’s Secret, U. S. Primero Intimates, a newly launched venture of premier Group in Coimbatore is supplying fashion lingerie to high-end brands in Europe. Other leading buyers are Jockey International, Warnaco, Eveden, Shirley of Hollywood, Victoria’s Secret, Etam Way, La Serza, Harrogate Lingerie and swimwear, La Perla with ‘Black Label’ brand, Wacoal, Palmers and Panache lingerie to name a few. Celebrity brands like Jennifer Lopez and Pamela Anderson are also sourcing from India. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY This work has been undertaken to study the innerwear market in India. An in-depth information has been gathered regarding its size, current scenario, prevalent practices and potential with special reference to lingerie segment. Efforts have also been made to collect first hand data from the leading innerwear manufacturers to study their product offerings. Indian consumers have also been studied to gather information about their preferences. METHODOLOGY Secondary data regarding the structure of Indian lingerie industry has been collected from various magazines, journals, Newspaper articles, Internet sites etc. Primary data has been obtained from manufacturers and consumers of lingerie in India. Sample Selection: leading manufacturers of innerwear had been contacted to gather information about the product line offered by them in terms of style, designs, fit, colours, etc. Out of the total of twenty manufacturers surveyed, six manufacturers based at Delhi were contacted at their offices. Manufacturers having their units outside Delhi, mainly in Mumbai, Tirupur and Bangalore were contacted at annual lingerie fair, â€Å"Bodywear†. The sample of consumers comprises women from high or upper middle class socio-economic strata, as the group is better informed. 200 consumers were surveyed to gather information regarding their preferences for lingerie. Consumers were contacted mainly at lingerie outlets to study their complete buying process. Leading lingerie stores of Delhi were selected for this purpose. Composite manufacturing units situated in and around Delhi have also been surveyed to study the raw materials used, manufacturing procedures, assembly line operations and the quality control systems followed. Tools for Data Collection: Data has been collected through questionnaire and observation techniques. Separate questionnaires have been formulated for manufacturers and consumers. The questionnaires have been personally administered to the respondents in order to clarify doubts if any. Observations have been made simultaneously to collect intricate details. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Innerwear today has achieved new dimensions. An unending list of brands present in the Indian lingerie market is the proof of the great potential of the market in India. The strong Indian middle class is still growing and attracts even the foreign lingerie manufacturers to latch on the Indian bandwagon. Women in developed nations have less and less time to shop, so the industry is spending more time looking for new markets such as China and India. Where women have more time on their hands as well as growing disposable income. In the present scenario it is important to analyse the innerwear market in India. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths †¢A market with large hidden strength. †¢Current growth rate of 14%. †¢Industry with never declining demand. Also the class of its consumers will always grow with the growing population and specific consumer preferences and awareness. †¢Product has unsubstitutable demand. Weaknesses †¢A large segment of the market is in the unorganized sector. †¢Lack of awareness in society. †¢Low degree of brand loyalty. †¢High degree of price-sensitiveness. †¢Poor perception of quality of Indian lingerie. Opportunities †¢Changing perceptions about the product from a marginal item of clothing it is now slowly being perceived as a part of one’s wardrobe. †¢Projected future growth rate of about 15% for the Rs. ,500 crore industry. †¢Explosion potential for the unorganiz sector to grow by making inroads into the share of the unorganized sector. †¢The impact of better educating advertisements are making the consumers, look at factors like comfort, quality and brand name and not only price. Threats More and more players entering the market competing sever ely with each other but sharing the same small pie instead of battling against the unorgainsed sector. The future of the Indian lingerie industry is not very grim. The Indian consumer is gradually opening up. Factors like quality of the material, durability are also given due importance now a days by the customers. The customers are becoming more and more selective and specific about their requirements. A certain amount of openness has been exhibited by the customers. As the consumer awareness is increasing, buying practices are changing dramatically forcing the manufactures to gear up and improve their product to compete in the Indian innerwear market. Survey done for innerwear manufactures and consumers has highlighted some very interesting points, summarized here. Survey of Innerwear Manufacturers Twenty lingerie manufacturers based in various parts of India were contacted to collect information regarding the products offered by them. Information regarding lingerie was collected in detail and following results were obtained: Price Range:- Price range of the products offered by various manufacturers varies from Rs. 50- Rs. 1000 depending on the fabric used, style and also brand equity. Basic styles are sold at a lower price as compared to the fancy styles. Development of Styles:- For development of new styles of bras generally latest fabric and lace designs are used as inspiration. The designers develop designs in accordance of latest fabrics. Many a times owners of the firm themselves act as designers and develop new design from their experience. A team of experts scrutinizes various designs thus made. Samples of selected designs are developed thereafter. The samples are evaluated by trials on dummies and very rarely on human models. After the trials required changes are made in the original designs and finally the product is produced on mass scale. Final designs are generally 10% of the original line in number. Product Categorization: It was noted that none of the manufacturers is offering special product line for different age groups. Generally fancy and low cut designs are constructed in smaller sizes, meant for teenagers. Designs with fuller cups are constructed in bigger sizes meant for older women. Very few manufacturers offer fancy and comfortable styles for women with bigger sizes. No specific product is offered even for varying seasons. Value Addition: No special finishing is given to the fabric used or the final product before marketing. Finishes meant for innerwear like antibacterial and perfume finish etc. are also not used on an average as it increases the cost and also lack demand. Very few brands use these special finishes for premium range. Research and Development: It was found during the course of study that there is no direct system of consumer feedback followed by manufacturers to improve upon their product. 90% of manufacturers depend upon the comments of retailers to work upon their future product range (Fig. :3). Figure: 3 Styles Of Brassieres: Full cup bra is the most popular style offered by most of the manufacturers. Strapless and Padded bras are second in popularity offered by 80% of manufacturers each. Only 50% of manufacturers are making under wired bras while sports bra (vest, not technically a sports bra) used by beginners or at the time of exercising are offered by 55% of manufacturers (Fig. : 4). Sizes offered: Brassieres are available in the sizes ranging from 28-46 inches. But majority of products are offered in the size range of 30-38 inches. Very few sizes are offered in extreme sizes. It also emerged out of the survey that only 30% of the manufacturers are offering their products in various cup sizes i. . A, B, C, D. Majority of them i. e. 70% are offering their products only in one cup size, generally B. For the product to fit well on the body it is very important to make various cup sizes available. Figure: 4 Colour Range Offered: White colour is found to be an important part of the product basket of manufacturers, offered by all the respondents. 90% of manufacturers offer Black b ras while Beige colour in bras is offered by 75% of manufacturers. Lingerie manufacturers offering more of bra-panty sets use colours like Plum, Pink, Peach, Grey, etc (Fig. : 5). Figure: 5 Raw Materials Used Fabric: Pure cotton is used by 90% of manufacturers to construct bras. The cotton fabric used is mainly knitted fabric. Woven cotton fabrics generally used are voile and terycot. Poplin and cambric is used to line the main fabric. After pure cotton, cotton lycra is most sought after fabric used by 80% of manufacturers. Lace lycra used by 65% of manufacturers finds its use in fancy designs (Fig. : 6). Figure: 6 Trims and Accessories: When enquired about various accessories used for construction of bras it was found that all the manufacturers are offering their products with narrow elastic bands as shoulder straps. 0% manufacturers offer string straps and only 25% of them are offering transparent straps for support at shoulder (Fig. : 7). For back strap elastic band with double hook is used most widely as offered by all the manufacturers, while narrow elastic band with single hook is offered by only half of them. Front opening is generally provided in lactation bras and very rarely o therwise. Edges of the bras are finished with ordinary cotton bindings and elastic is used to provide a snug fit. Only one or two manufacturers are using latest technology mobilon tapes to finish edges and provide good fit at the same time. Plastic, as well as metallic ring adjusters and sliders are used in the industry (Fig. : 8). Thus it has been seen that lot of work needs to be done in the direction of improving product quality so that consumers can get value for the money paid. Efforts should also be made to tap the different segments of market with product differentiation. But at the same time it is also very important to educate the consumer so that she can specify her requirements and demand a quality product that is worth its price. Survey done on consumers has helped to understand the consumer psyche and her awareness level. Figure: 7 Figure: 8