Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the fragmentation of the fashion system can be conceptually explained by drawing on Peter Sloterdijk’s theory of spheres.

By conceptually discussing the changing nature of the fashion system and the institutional pressures exerted on fashion systems as a result of digital technology, the fundamental conceptual underpinnings of the theory of spheres are applied to these developments in order to explain the character of the contemporary organization of fashion.

Based on the conceptual analysis, this paper illustrates how a sphereological perspective to fashion provides a conceptual approach to explain the transformation and fragmentation of fashion systems.

This paper contributes to the field of fashion marketing and management by demonstrating how the concept of fashion spheres can explain social arrangements going beyond the boundaries of fashion systems and the associated implications that this brings to bear on the role of fashion.

Previous researches have considered that the impact of fashion change and fashion consumption is linear. Therefore, one reason was found as the ultimate source to explain why a fashion style/ trend was spread to the mass market. However, the existing market is complex and difficult to find out the holistic reason to explain fashion consumption. In this study, the chaotic perspective is taken into account to investigate the relationship between fashion change and fashion consumption. By using the grounded theory method, 33 in‐depth interviews were conducted. A chaotic fashion consumption model is developed from the findings to explain how different fashions are consumed and rejected while fashion changes. It is found that the interaction of being fashionable, perceived fashionability and system participation affects the ultimate decision on fashion consumption. It is also found that a pattern can be traced to forecast the degree of fashion consumption even when the fashion change phenomenon is chaotic. Thus, it is similar to the principle of chaos theory that short‐term prediction is possible in relation to the degree of fashion acceptance among consumers. Marketing implications are suggested with reference to the chaotic fashion consumption model.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an intelligent system for fashion style selection for non-standard female body shapes.

With the goal of creating natural aesthetic relationship between the body shape and the shape of clothing, garments designed for the upper and lower body are combined to fit different female body shapes, which are classified as V, A, H and O-shapes. The proposed intelligent system combines genetic algorithm (GA) with a neural network classifier, which is trained using the particle swarm optimization (PSO). The former, called genetic search, is used to find the optimal design parameters corresponding to a best fit for the desired target, while the task of the latter, called neural classification, is to evaluate fitness (goodness) of each evolved new fashion style.

The experimental results are fashion styling recommendations for the four female body shapes, drawn from 260 possible combinations, based on variations from 15 attributes. These results are considered to be a strong indication of the potential benefits of the application of intelligent systems to fashion styling.

The proposed intelligent system combines the effective searching capabilities of two approaches. The first approach uses the GA for identifying best fits to the target shape of the body in the solution space. The second is the PSO for finding optimal (with respect to training mean-squared error) weight and threshold parameters of the neural classifier, which is able to evaluate the fitness of successively evolved fashion styles.

The on-going transition of societies and economies toward different organizational paradigms deeply informed by digital technologies is at the very center of current debates, involving scholars and impacting on a broad context of disciplines, ranging from humanities to science and technology. Therefore, the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has been described as a model where new modes of production and consumption will dramatically transform all major industrial systems; it has been targeted by many governmental plans as a goal for a sustainable future. While general frameworks describing 4.0 paradigm are codified and accessible, implementation strategies and their implications on specific local and sectorial systems are largely unexplored. Starting from this assumption, this paper aims to provide insights on the current state of the art and major trends of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, possibly identifying its impacts on the textile and apparel industry.

From a methodological standpoint, the study approaches the topic from the perspective of fashion domain experts which can contribute, with a positioning essay, to better understanding Industry 4.0 (I4.0) implementation within their specific domain. This experts’ perspective is enriched by several descriptive case studies (Yin, 1984) offering examples and insights on possible implementation of I4.0 solutions in fashion industry, also showing the potential of a design driven perspective.

Starting from a synthesis of I4.0 framework and principles, the paper aims at showing their impacts on business units, processes and components within the specific context of the fashion industry. Through emerging evidences detected by experts’ domain perspective and exemplified by several descriptive cases, it offers a comprehensive overview of the potential implications of the Forth Industrial Revolution on this specific business. The picture drafted clearly shows how digital transformation, properly driven, could reshape the fashion industry into a more sustainable and truly customer-driven business. But, it also underlines criticalities and slowness of adoption by traditional established brands and companies. As a result, being focused on on-going phenomena, highly unexplored, it shows possible trajectories, enabling an effective transformation of textile and apparel industry embracing the I4.0 paradigm.

The paper has a broad perspective and could offer insights to different audiences, which could effectively contribute to a positive transition, to scholars and academics, who might want to better address the implementation of I4.0 model into real economic and social context, focusing on medium – long-term implications and showing innovation pathways which are still unexplored, second to practitioners, who are usually immersed into strict silos of competences and business functions and can start to build new bridges and interconnection within the system, taking advantages of I4.0 potential, finally to policy-makers who can better shape development frameworks targeted to specific industries whose features require peculiar approaches and actions.

With the developments of e-commerce markets, novel recommendation technologies are becoming an essential part of many online retailers’ economic models to help drive online sales. Initially, the purpose of this paper is to undertake an investigation of apparel recommendations in the commercial market in order to verify the research value and significance. Then, this paper reviews apparel recommendation techniques and systems through academic research, aiming to acquaint apparel recommendation context, summarize the pros and cons of various research methods, identify research gaps and eventually propose new research solutions to benefit apparel retailing market.

This study utilizes empirical research drawing on 130 academic publications indexed from online databases. The authors introduce a three-layer descriptor for searching articles, and analyse retrieval results via distribution graphics of years, publications and keywords.

This study classified high-tech integrated apparel systems into 3D CAD systems, personalised design systems and recommendation systems. The authors’ research interest is focussed on recommendation system. Four types of models were found, namely clothes searching/retrieval, wardrobe recommendation, fashion coordination and intelligent recommendation systems. The forth type, smart systems, has raised more awareness in apparel research as it is equipped with advanced functions and application scenarios to satisfy customers. Despite various computational algorithms tested in system modelling, existing research is lacking in terms of apparel and users profiles research. Thus, from the review, the authors have identified and proposed a more complete set of key features for describing both apparel and users profiles in a recommendation system.

Based on previous studies, this is the first review paper on this topic in this subject field. The summarised work and the proposed new research will inspire future researchers with various knowledge backgrounds, especially, from a design perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an identity model for sector brands and examines its applicability for the Brasil Fashion System brand.

A systematic review of the literature on corporate brand identity models is undertaken. The interviews were carried out with two interest groups: the associations comprising the brand, and the consultancy company responsible for sector brand advisory.

The sector brand identity model is applicable to the Brasil Fashion System brand with the exception of two elements. The application may have experienced some adversity because of the considerable divergence among the associations. In cases where the brand represents just one association, the application of the model may occur with more favorable element management.

Theoretical contribution occurred toward sector brands and brand identity with the development of an identity model for the sector brand, so far not addressed in academic studies.

When adopting the identity model for sector brands, managers would be able to understand the components that have to be managed on sector brand identity. The model can contribute to improve the management of these kinds of brands.

The academic studies of corporate brand identity models and sector brands are analyzed in order to create the first sector brand identity model that was experienced by the Brazilian fashion industry.

The deficiency of the mapping between fashion color (FoCo) value and linguistic color expression causes the difficulty of machine-based fashion understanding tasks that are heavily associated with color matching. The purpose of this paper is to propose the FoCo system and construct it with four steps, in order to bridge this gap.

The color distribution in HSB color space is analyzed to estimate the rough number of color categories. Similar color values are grouped to obtain the initial HSB value range for each color category. The intra-category color differences are calculated to determine their final HSB value ranges and Pantone color is used for fine-tuning.

With practical applications in mind, the FoCo system is designed as a hierarchical structure with three layers.

The FoCo system is designed as a hierarchical structure with three layers: color units for color matching-related tasks, color categories for style analysis tasks and color tones for color recognition tasks. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the FoCo system.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that fashion played in the Cold War competition between the USA and the Soviet Union during the period from 1945 to 1959.

This paper begins by situating fashion within the larger American efforts of cultural diplomacy. It then examines the American and Soviet approaches to fashion. Finally, it focuses on the fashion show at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow. This paper utilizes primary sources, including archival sources and period newspapers and magazines.

Both American and Soviet leaders tried to use fashion to embody the ideological values of each political and economic system. Both also acknowledged a “fashion gap”, whereby Americans enjoyed clear superiority thanks to a well-developed mass production system of ready-made, stylish clothing, that some termed the American Look. Americans hoped the fashion gap would demonstrate that only capitalism could provide women with an abundance of the necessary – but also desirable – consumer goods that enhanced their feminine beauty. Thus, fashion played an important part in the Cold War cultural struggle, in which American and Soviet women were key participants.

Much has been written about the Cold War cultural diplomacy, especially the Moscow exhibition, but fashion is often left out of the analyses. Meanwhile, both the American Look and Soviet efforts to create socialist fashion have been examined, but no work has been done to look at the two together to understand fashion’s larger implications for the Cold War.

Although writings in the fashion forecasting field often mention the connections between industry and culture, it still requires further clarifications in a context of uncertainty, fast pace changes and a high volume of information. This paper aims to explore fashion as a material culture to discuss forecasting roles in different stages of dialogue between culture and industry.

This paper explores the cultural aspects of fashion to discuss multiple roles of forecasting and its implications in the fashion system from a multidimensional perspective that interlaces culture and industry in contemporary contexts through a literature review in fashion forecasting and material culture. Recent nonacademic articles were also reviewed in order to highlight fresh perspectives in the field.

The literature review demonstrates that there are two main lines of reasoning in trend forecasting. First, trend forecasting as a cultural and predictive practice focused on understanding emerging shifts in the culture and translating them to the industry. The second approach considers trend forecasting as a strategic and curatorial practice that not merely predicts consumer's behaviors and preferences but intentionally acts as a filter of all the available possibilities curating and narrowing them down to organize the market around assertive information reducing financial losses risk. This article proposes an integration between the two perspectives – from culture to industry – in a contemporary context where consumers' tastes and preferences have become increasingly diverse, and early diffusion theories can no longer explain fashion spread.

Further investigations of contemporary and potential future trend forecasting roles and aspects could benefit from in-depth interviews and focus groups with industry experts, consumers and academics.

The paper intends to approximate theoretical reflections of fashion as a material culture to the current industry context.

It contributes to the studies of fashion forecasting, providing an overview of its development, roles and objectives, both from the industrial and material culture perspectives, which culminates in a framework that summarizes its intricate mechanisms.

By considering the role of technology in museum archives and exhibitions, as well as company archives and production, this paper aims to present that digital technologies offer new approaches and tools to consider fashion know-how, traditions and memories.

Through an extensive literature review and a close consideration of multiple sources, this paper analyzes fashion, tradition and knowledge creation through the lens of museum and company archives. A section on museum archives analyzes the role of fashion in the museum and the use of technology in cataloging, online resources and exhibitions for knowledge transfer of fashion history. The second half of the paper considers the relationship between heritage, company archives and technology in branding and consumer engagement.

The paper summarizes recent scholarship in the fields of fashion archives and demonstrates the still current importance of heritage in generating new design and exhibition practices. Despite having its roots in the past, heritage demonstrates continuity with the present and looks to the future with the same devotion and commitment, thus guaranteeing quality and authenticity for both museum collections and company productions.

Through a case study methodology, this paper presents how digital technologies can offer new approaches and tools in museum archives and exhibitions, as well as in company archives and collection development, to reconsider and translate fashion know-how, traditions and memories in the digital era.