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The current studies on the clothing silhouette are very limited. The purpose of this paper is to propose an innovative framework to intelligently identify the womenswear silhouette with the latest computer technologies. To clearly define the womenswear silhouette, an accurate numerical definition is proposed.

The study first processes and segments the useful parts on the static catwalk image data files following existing graphic extraction approaches. Six basic alphabetical womenswear silhouette types are selected and numerically defined. Then, the proposed framework automatically classifies the six basic womenswear silhouettes considering the different slopes between three main clothing parts. Six clothing situations are discovered according to different designs and the detailed cases are systematically categorized. In addition, aspects influencing the judgment of the clothing silhouettes such as the skin, the background, the drastic change points are also considered. The proposed silhouette definition and identification framework is novel and proved accurate.

The proposed definition and identification framework of womenswear silhouettes have been proved a viable approach that is fully compatible with the current computer technologies. The validation study shows that the presented identification procedure has a desirable accuracy over 90 percent.

The proposed methodology develops brand new standards to numerically define and identify the womenswear silhouette, which was not available in the past. Besides, the measurement, the identification and the classification procedures are fully validated by the image data collected from 14 world famous brands over 11 consecutive seasons. It is shown that the proposed numerical framework of the womenswear silhouettes is a robust one, considering all of the observed design variabilities.

Most recent prescriptions for firm development in the garment industry have focused on methods of reducing labour costs, with less emphasis placed on targeting high margin niches. This paper examines how the early ready‐made womenswear industry in the UK moved from a wage‐cost containment strategy before the First World War to exploiting fashion‐sensitive demand in the inter‐war period. The economics of fashion‐sensitive demand meant that the most efficient structure for the industry was to have many small producers, specialised in sub‐processes, and all closely located. However, contemporaries failed to understand the efficiency properties of the ‘industrial district’ type of local economy which emerged in London's East End in the first half of this century, a failure which eventually contributed to the dispersion of industrial activities and to the eventual decline of the industry.

Developing a strong, positive image has become essential to the maintenance of sustained competitive advantage. Research into store image has allowed retailers to create positioning strategies and enabled them to differentiate their stores in terms of the products, prices or services on offer. This paper presents the findings of a survey based on responses from 860 customers of multiple retailers selling womenswear fashion clothing. It examined the principal dimensions involved in store image, utilising a multi‐attribute model, and compares results with qualitative store choice statements. The paper concludes by exploring how retailers could manipulate image variables to maintain or defend their market positioning.

The purpose is: first to review the marketing segmentation literature and its antecedents; second, to evaluate the organizational practice of marketing segmentation in a specific commercial context noted for its dynamism and complexity, fashion retailing; third, to assess theoretical and practical implications; and finally to identify an agenda for future research.

Through the analysis of an instrumental case study examining practice in fashion retailing this paper makes a contribution to current market segmentation debates. Sensemaking properties are used as a disciplined structure in which to report the case and make sense of segmentation.

This research demonstrates that the definition and scope of market segmentation is broader than the current marketing literature suggests. In practice, based on evidence from this research, contemporary segmentation solutions include implicit assumptions, judgement and compressed experience, which are latent within the modelling processes.

Further research needs to be extended to different organizational settings in order to develop further our understanding of the tacit and intuitive aspects of segmentation decisions.

Intuitive decision‐making processes and tacit knowledge employed in them are difficult to replicate and make explicit. However, a better understanding of these intuitive processes would offer practitioners an opportunity to systematically improve the quality of decision‐making.

This research broadens normative theoretical perspectives on market segmentation by highlighting intuitive and tacit dimensions. Combining sensemaking within the case study analysis has helped structure thought trials to provide a rare qualitative insight into the managerial construction of segmentation.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how an imaginative sourcing policy can be used to provide a competitive advantage for clothing manufacturers based in high‐cost countries. The paper shows how Chorus Line Corporation implemented their sourcing mix, through a combination of production in different regions, to maintain and develop their competitive position in the womenswear market in the USA. The company's basic data and decisions are outlined as an example of how one privately owned company views the sourcing and production decision. In this way the paper will help firms to develop their own global production strategies with balanced sources to meet their business and market strategies.

A garment is regarded as desirable and beautiful if it covers the body with harmony and gracefulness. High drape, lightweight and soft handle fabrics are in demand, particularly for womenswear garments such as dresses, shirts, skirts, trousers and suits. Fabric drapability can be measured by a number of drapemeters for different modes of drapability such as static, dynamic and revolving. It has been shown that the drape coefficients, D_s , D_d and D_r , associated with these respective modes of drapability can be predicted from a combination of measurements from the KES-F system (Kawabata Evaluation System for Fabrics).

In this paper we present the results of our studies on the prediction of drapability of lightweight wool fabrics, based on the KES-F system and drape coefficient predictive equations. It has been shown that the parameters D_r/D_s and D_d/D_s , called Indices of Drape Fluidity, I_r and I_d , express the fluid drape behaviour better than D_s , D_r , D₂₀₀ and D_d . This is because they discriminate and predict the drapability of fabrics better. I_r and I_d have higher CV% than the D_r and D_d data, and therefore represent greater relative dispersion in a fabric group for drape. Various drape parameters of a group of wool fabrics have been compared with the four groups of polyester Shingosen fabrics, namely, New Silky, New Worsted, Rayon Touch and Peach Face, which are recognised for their soft fluid drape.

The purpose of this paper is to model the relationships between women's outerwear consumption, frequency of purchase and consumer profiles, and to analyse historical changes in particular, using repeated cross‐sectional data on household expenditure.

A sample of over 20,000 female spenders, aged between 16 and 54 were extracted from UK Family Expenditure Survey (FES). Tobit model, “two‐part” model and pseudo‐panel model were used to estimate consumer demand for women's outerwear, taking infrequency of purchase into account.

The importance of “fashion” in clothing consumption has risen by two‐fold since the 1960s, measured by purchase probability. Clothing have transformed from durable goods to consumables. Youth, class and women's employment are found to be significantly related to fashion consumption, controlling for the rise in income.

The findings are limited to UK female consumers and to the demographic data that are available from FES. The effects of occasions, serendipity, emotions and weather remain to be assessed in future research.

This paper provides a unique measurement of “fashion” for a comparative social science research across time and space. It promotes the usefulness of the perspective of fashion as a powerful critique against the rationality assumption of neoclassical economics with complementary evidence.

Attempts to draw out the salient factors at work during the late 1970s and 1980s that led to success, initially, in the retail sector, but ultimately to the failure of the company in 1990. Charts the successes: the first retailer in Europe to introduce a comprehensive EPoS system; the company′s expansion; one of the first retailers to embrace the concept of lifestyle retailing; the introduction of its own stylecard for customer credit; and product and market development, including own‐labels. Bad management decisions produced internal conflicts in stores (especially where three trading formats operated in one store); increased use of concessions within other stores; acquisition bids by other companies. Profits fell, stores were closed and staff redundancies occurred; finally resulting in the company going into receivership.