The Global Fashion Industry

intensive hand

Spinning and weaving of fabric: from a labor ________ process to mechanized (Industrial Revolution)

What is Fashion?

The style of a consumer product of way of behaving that is adopted by a discernible proportion of members of a social group because that chosen style or behavior is perceived to be socially appropriate for time and situation.

Invention

________ led to vertical integration of the US textile industry.

Seventh Ave

________ became the Garment District and hub of women's fashion in the USA

product offerings

Connects ________ with the values, wants, needs, and behaviors of customers.

Soft goods

apparel, footwear, and accessories + home fashions.

history of fashion

Understanding the ________ enable researchers to predict styles.

Fur

- As early as the 11th century, fur was worn as a symbol of wealth and social status rather than just out of the need for warmth
- In the 1950s and 60s, it became more affordable and Hollywood stars would wear it

Definition

The style of a consumer product of way of behaving that is adopted by a discernible proportion of members of a social group because that chosen style or behavior is perceived to be socially appropriate for time and situation

Point in time

Industrial Revolution

Spinning and weaving of fabric

from a labor intensive hand process to mechanized (Industrial Revolution)

Francis Cabot Lowell

- 1813, invented the power loom in USA
- Led to vertical integration of the US textile industry
- All processes from spinning the yarn to producing cloth was happening by machine under one roof

Cotton Gin

mechanization of the weaving process → increased demand for cotton

Eli Whitney

- 1754, patented the Cotton Gin for cleaning cotton
- Could clean as much cotton in one day as 50 people
- Allowed cotton growers to supply New England's demand

Size standards

the proportional increase or decrease in garment measurements for each size produced

Retail History - 1818

Brooks Brothers, the first mens apparel store to open in NYC, catering primarily to sailors and working class men

Retail History - 1826

- Lord & Taylor opened in NYC
- The first department store established in the United States, now an e-commerce retailer

Retail History - 1857

Macys opened as a wholesale and retail dry goods house

Early 20th century (1900s)

"Boom" of womens RTW thanks to changes in fashion

Styles popularized by the illustration of Charles Dana Gibson

"Gibson Girl"

Hard goods

physically solid, electronics, furniture, and appliances

Fashion Supply Chain: Textiles

- Fiber processing
- Yarn spinning and fabric deconstruction
- Dyeing and finishing fabrics

Fashion Supply Chain: Design

- Planning, interpreting, and creating change
- Involves intellectual creativity
- Good design is user-centered
- Reflects the values of the designer(s) in relation to those exhibited by culture, society, and time
- The design process is systematic

Fashion Supply Chain: Merchandising

- Planning the assortment of merchandise to each store
- Finding the products to sell in a store/on a website
- Pricing products
- Presentation of products
- Wholesale selling

Fashion Supply Chain: Manufacturing

Physical making of fashion products throughout the fashion supply chain including the manufacturing of textiles, garments, and accessories

Fashion Supply Chain: Marketing

- Connects product offerings with the values, wants, needs, and behaviors of customers
- Who is our consumer? What do they want? Where do they shop? Etc…
- Connects research to management decisions for strategic merchandising & promotion choices

Is Fashion Revolutionary?

- No, it's evolutionary
- It changes through time
- Does not change the times

How Does Fashion Change?

- The time period, culture, lifestyle influence changes in fashion
- Understanding the history of fashion enables researchers to predict styles

Industrial Revolution

- Mid 1700s (1760 to 1820-40)
- Started in England (had the most technologically advanced textile industries; were protective of machinery and procedures

Spinning and Weaving Fabric

Went from a labor intensive hand process to mechanized during the industrial revolution

Meanwhile in the US...

- Cotton grown in the colonies
- Shipped to England to be processed
- England sells the cloth and yarn back to the colonies

Samuel Slater (1789)

- Mechanic who memorized blueprints and came to the US
- Contracted by Moses Brown to come to the US and set up a spinning mill
- Within 5 years, New England became the center of textile production

The North and the South

- Northeast continued to be the primary producer of wool fabrics
- Cotton was grown in the south creating the Cotton belt (Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida)
- Manufacturers built textile mills in south so they could be close to cotton sources
- By 1847, more people were employed in textile mills than any other industry in the US (working conditions were bad in US and England)

Ready-To-Wear

- RTW industry began in 18th century (1700s)
- By the early 19th century, demand for RTW increased
- To meet demand, tailors used scrap material left over from custom-made clothes for sailors, miners, and working class men

Innovations in the Fashion Industry (cir. 1800s)

- Made it possible for apparel to be produced by machine
- Relatively unskilled workers could work from home
- Paper patterns attributed to Ebenezer Butterick (1863) and James McCall (1870)

Who were the first RTW clothes made for?

Men's RTW developed first, then boys, girls and finally women

Why did the men's RTW develop first?

- Men's size standards were available
- Men's styles were less complicated than those of women

Where were they selling RTW clothing?

- Mid-1800s: development of dry goods stores in cities
- Later known as department stores

Catalogs became available

- Montgomery Ward in 1872
- Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1886

Growth of the RTW Industry

- Women's RTW industry did not expand until the late 19th century
- Early 20th century (1900s) - "Boom" of women's RTW thanks to changes in fashion (blouses, coat, shirtwaist, skirts)

Production of RTW apparel was labor intensive

- By 1900, approx. 500 shops in NYC were producing shirtwaists
- A massive amount of immigrants worked the factories

Introduction of sweatshops using cheap immigrant labor

- Long hours
- Low pay
- Unclean and unsafe working conditions

Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire

- On March 25, 1911 nearing closing time a fire broke out at the TSC which employed 500 mostly young immigrant women, working poor, many of them as young as 15 years old
- Conditions: locked doors, marginalized population in fear of speaking out about working conditions, ladders were too short to reach upper floors
- 146 died

Efforts to improve working conditions led to the formation of...

the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

NYC Garment district then and now

- In 1920’s women’s fashion industry in NY moved from Lower East Side to 7th Ave
- Seventh Ave became the Garment District and hub of women’s fashion in the USA
- Located between Fifth and Ninth Avenues from 34th to 42nd Street