Fashion Industry, manufacture of clothing and accessories on a commercial basis. The fashion industry embraces both haute couture (clothes made by individual designers for a small and wealthy clientele), and garments produced on a wider commercial basis and sold in high-street shops, chain stores, and department stores, and by mail order.       

II  INTERNATIONAL FASHION HOUSES        

The major centres of the fashion industry are Paris, London, Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Düsseldorf. Leading Parisian fashion houses include Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain, Yves St Laurent, and Chanel. Other important contemporary fashion designers in Paris are Thierry Mugler, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Christian Lacroix. In the early 1970s several designers from Japan, Rei Kawakubo (of Comme des Garçons), Kenzo Takada, and Issey Miyake set up fashion houses in Paris; they became influential by introducing radical new looks based on their traditional Japanese styles.       

Italian fashion houses are well known for styles influenced by classic looks, and incorporate beautifully designed details and imaginative fabrics. Their styles are popular with sophisticated young customers who can afford high prices for original designer clothes. Giorgio Armani designs classic tailored styles, Gianni Versace is famous for his glamorous use of materials and beading, and Azzedine Alaïa is well known for introducing garments made in stretch fabrics and figure-hugging leather clothes.       

In America, important designers who head large fashion houses include Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, and Bill Blass. The traditional English fashion houses are very small. The most famous names are Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies, and Bellville Sassoon, and each of these is well known for dressing members of the British royal family. There are, however, many highly creative independent designers who are internationally famous for their original ideas and who run their own wholesale or couture businesses. Especially well known in this category are Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes, Rifat Ozbek, John Rocha, Betty Jackson, and the late Jean Muir. British designers have a high reputation for originality and innovation. New designers who are making a reputation for themselves are Amanda Wakeley, Hussein Chalayan, and Alexander McQueen. They combine individuality and a high level of craftsmanship in their designs.       

Fashion design is a truly international business, with designers moving from their own country to work in others. Some Parisian haute couture houses that carry the name of the original French designer now have a designer from another country responsible for their collections. For example, Karl Lagerfeld, from Germany, designs for Chanel and has radically updated the original classic Chanel style; Gianfranco Ferre, from Italy, designs for Dior; Oscar de la Renta, from the United States, designs for Pierre Balmain; and John Galliano, from Great Britain, designs for the Parisian House of Givenchy.       

Many designers market a more affordable range based on their haute couture designs and aimed at a younger market. G by Romeo Gigli and DKNY by Donna Karan are two examples of this trend. Famous fashion names are also used to market goods such as perfume, aftershave, scarves, ties, and luggage under licence agreements. For example, the labels of Yves St Laurent, Pierre Cardin, and Ralph Lauren can be found on many such accessories.       

Few independent international designers own their own company. Many of them operate with financial backing provided by business groups or by an individual who invests in the company. The highly competitive, unpredictable, and fast-moving nature of the fashion business has caused many young designers who lack financial backing and marketing experience to become bankrupt. To ensure the success of a fashion company, creativity needs to be linked to sound business practice.       

III  THE INTERNATIONAL FASHION MARKET        

Haute couture accounts for only a fraction of the fashion industry. By far the greatest part of it is concerned with manufacturing affordable clothes for a broad home market or an international clientele. Like haute couture, the mass-market fashion industry operates on a global scale. Buyers (who select the stock for high-street retail companies) travel the world to locate garments and accessories suitable for a particular retail outlet.       

Certain countries are well known for a particular type of fashion merchandise: Italy for knitwear, fashion textiles, and shoes; Germany for tailored clothes; France for lingerie; and Great Britain for textile and fashion classics in cashmere, tartan, and wool. Eastern European countries are now becoming part of the Western European fashion industry and are abandoning the production of standard items of clothing for retail in the old Communist countries in favour of manufacturing textiles and clothing for the highly competitive international fashion market.       

Clothes made for the broad home and international market are mass-produced by highly organized factory systems. The factory system has long relied on female workers, and often these are outworkers (people who work from home). The use of part-time, casual workers, rather than full-time, permanent staff, allows factories to maintain flexibility in production to suit fluctuations in demand in the market place. Because women are considered to be generally nimble-fingered and able to work well in teams, most factory workers and outworkers in the clothing industry tend to be female. The tasks are repetitive and require considerable concentration; wages are fairly low with bonus schemes to encourage fast and accurate work. CMT (cut, make, and trim) factories produce specific items of clothing under contract to established companies and small designer labels.       

As labour costs have increased in Europe, factories have been forced to invest in new technology and highly specialized machines in order to remain competitive. In recent years, lower production costs offered by clothing factories in Hong Kong, India, China, and Malaysia have led to a considerable number of European companies transferring their manufacturing abroad.       

IV  FASHION FORECASTING       

Forecasting future demand for particular styles, fabrics, and colours is an important aspect of the fashion industry. Textile specialists work two years ahead to determine the general guidelines for each fashion season. Yarn and cloth companies (who provide a design forecasting service for clients and act as consultants for specific design projects worldwide) produce sample fabrics and colour-ways that they show at international textiles exhibitions such as Première Vision in Paris, Pitti Filati in Florence, and Interstoff in Frankfurt. Large fibre associations also provide information concerning trends in colours, yarns, and fabrics at least 18 months ahead of the season. This information is usually related to products (such as wool, silk, or cotton) made from the companies' particular speciality in yarn or fibre production, and acts as a guide for fabric buyers. Colour forecasting is an essential aspect of the coordination of fashion marketing. Delegates from large fibre and textile manufacturers meet to agree on the general colour themes for each season.       

Large global companies concerned with the manufacture and promotion of textiles include the International Wool Secretariat, the Swiss Cotton Institute, the Irish Linen Industry, the International Mohair Association, and the International Silk Association. Multinational companies producing synthetic and man-made fibres include Bayer, Dupont, Courtaulds, Enichem-Montefibre, Hoechst Fibres, and ICI Fibres. Trade magazines and journals also play a part in the dissemination of information for the industry, previewing, reporting, and forecasting trends, and providing reports on exhibitions and fashion shows, as well as trade and business news.       

V  DESIGN AND PRODUCTION        

Most wholesale fashion companies, where clothes are manufactured for sale to retailers, are divided into several departments, where teams of workers with specialist skills handle the design, production, and marketing of garments. Key roles in a fashion company are those of designer, cloth-buyer, pattern-cutter, sample machinist, production controller, factory manager, and sales, marketing, and promotion executive. The function of each department is related to that of the others, and the company's efficiency depends on effective planning and communication between departments.       

A medium-size company would normally have separate departments for purchasing cloth, for designing styles, and for production.       

A  The Cloth-Purchasing Department        

This department works closely with the designer to locate and purchase the specific materials and trimmings required to make the styles planned for a particular season. This may require visiting numerous textile fairs in many different countries, textile mills, and showrooms, and arranging for sample lengths to be delivered to the design department. Other activities include testing cloth for colour, quality, weight, and finishing. This department also collates information needed for the bulk purchasing of cloth for production.       

B  The Design Department        

The design department usually consists either of a single designer, or a chief designer and a team of junior designers or stylists. The department is responsible for the overall concept of each season's collections. Designers keep up to date with marketing conditions and emerging trends by visiting international textile and fashion fairs, and shops in major international cities, and by maintaining an awareness of such major influences on style as films, exhibitions, new textiles, and street styles.       

For each season, the design department produces a range plan in which are set out new designs as well as repeat designs for ranges that have sold well previously. Each design is presented in the form of a sketch or series of sketches; samples of the fabrics and trimmings to be used are attached to each sketch.       

When the range to be produced in a particular season has been finalized, patterns and sample garments are produced. Usually, several pattern cutters and sample machinists assist the designer in producing the exact shapes and styles shown in the sketches. Patterns may be produced by fitting fabric to a tailor's dummy, or by flat pattern-cutting. In some companies, the pieces of the pattern are scanned by computer and manipulated on the computer screen.       

Once the pattern has been cut, the sample machinist makes the first garment, either as a toile (a prototype made in calico) or as a sample made in the material chosen for the garment. The sample machinist's job is highly skilled, since there are often new shapes to manipulate and different fabrics to manage. At this stage, an approximate costing of the garment is made. In many design departments, costings are made by computer; graphics software packages allow designers to create images on screen, discuss them with buyers and production staff, link them with fabrics and trimmings, calculate costings, and process them via samples through to the production department. The designers can also call upon inspirational images, keep records of their past designs, and store information concerning suppliers, colour, and textile trends.       

C  The Production Department        

The production department is responsible for coordinating orders from retailers, making production patterns, grading patterns to different sizes, lay-planning (laying the pieces of the pattern in such a way as to ensure that the mininum amount of cloth is wasted); planning cutting and assembly batches; costings; organizing machines on the factory floor to suit a particular production run; organizing outworkers; ticketing bundles (batches of separate pieces to be sewn); and labelling the finished garment.       

The use of computer software allows patterns to be manipulated and graded (made to different sizes) far more quickly and more accurately than is possible by manual methods. Automatic grading of pattern pieces to specific sizes and the automatic preparation of lays remove much of the tedious manual work previously required. The computers are either linked to plotters that print out lays on paper to be cut manually, or linked electronically to a laser cutter or cutting knife.       

On the production floor, lays are made up of the fabrics to be cut for particular orders. Often, the sizes in the lay are mixed but carefully labelled for the machinists. The assembly lines are usually arranged in a line running the length of the factory floor. Garments made in a factory are normally made in sections, with machinists working on specific machines, sewing seams or collars, pressing garments, or applying trimmings. The bundles of garment pieces are distributed to the machinists by conveyor belt or trolley, which is also controlled by computer. Each machinist sews one or two specific sections of each garment in the bundle, which is then passed to the next machinist. Separate processes may include stitching seams, attaching trimmings, inserting zips, making buttonholes, attaching sleeves and collars, under-pressing and top-pressing, and finally checking for quality. Each of these processes, except quality control, can be carried out by machines, which are now often computerized so as to ensure a uniform quality of sewing. Typical machines found in most factories are lock stitchers for seams, over-lockers for seam covering, buttonhole machines, and double-chain stitchers for stretch fabrics. Machines may have attachments for special functions such as ruffling, elastication, and making welt or piped pockets.       

Finished garments are temporarily stored in the factory warehouse while complete orders are assembled for the retail customer. Orders are then packed and dispatched from the warehouse. For fashion merchandise, a delivery date is usually agreed between the buyer and the manufacturer, since any delay may result in the shop or store mbilibarang the peak retailing period and suffering financial loss.       

VI  PROMOTION AND MARKETING        

The key element of fashion promotion is the fashion show, at which the new season's collection is presented to the press, to buyers, and to a select number of individual customers. Haute couture designers present spring and autumn collections at twice-yearly fashion shows, which are usually held at prestigious venues; top models are engaged for extremely high fees and the attention of influential fashion editors is courted, since much of the success or failure of a collection can depend on reports appearing on television, in the national press, and in prestigious magazines, which promote various fashion looks to the public each season. At the more affordable level, the new season's styles are also shown at fashion shows in major stores. It is not only styles but also colours that play a key role in new fashions; colours are changed each season and enable new looks to be identified immediately.       

The work of fashion designers, as well as news and events in the fashion industry, is publicized by means of press releases issued to newspapers and magazines, where fashion editors may use the information as the basis for an article or a feature. Another way of promoting fashion is by placing advertisements in newspapers and magazines. The promotion of a strong brand or corporate image is a powerful influence on the public, and sometimes this image is centred on a personality or a lifestyle. The most popular products advertised in magazines are footwear, jeans, and sportswear, and lingerie and hosiery.       

Fashion advertising in the press exceeds that on television. However, advertising through satellite television is increasing as also is advertising at the cinema. A growing area of promotional advertising is through direct mailing, which has been facilitated by the growth in computerized databases.       

VII  RETAILING        

International designers' collections are sold both in small independent shops and in large department stores. Companies specializing in high-quality classic clothing, such as the British companies Jaeger, Windsmoor, Burberry, and Aquascutum, have their own high-street shops and may also maintain retail outlets in franchised areas of large department stores both in the United Kingdom and abroad.       

Large chain stores also figure prominently in fashion retailing. Many sell a wide range of clothing, menswear, childrenswear, womenswear, and accessories; the company controls every aspect in the design and production of clothes within the manufacturing companies that supply the goods. They provide the high-street customer with an inexpensive range of simple, classic, coordinated garments and accessories.       

Smaller fashion chain stores tend to cater for the more fashion-conscious customer. They have shops in most major cities in the United Kingdom and, through their purchasing and manufacturing facilities, are able to offer strong new fashion looks every few weeks. They each have their specific customer profile, and this tends to be of the younger fashion-conscious woman who buys the current fashion looks.       

There has been a steady growth in catalogue shopping, which has been encouraged by the development of credit cards and improved delivery services to customers. While some high-street stores and retail chains offer catalogue shopping facilities, other clothing companies have no retail outlets and specialize exclusively in mail order. Catalogues are prepared at least nine months ahead of each retailing season. Because the merchandise has to be selected well in advance of each season, designs are usually quite classic rather than high-fashion styles. Some mail-order companies concentrate on a particular section of the market; for example, casual clothing or sportswear. Yet another method of retailing, pioneered in the United States, is by selling direct from the factory. Factory outlets are normally sited in industrial parks, where rents are comparatively low and the facilities are simple and basic. Supplying the goods directly to their own outlets, manufacturing companies are able to sell them at a lower price than can high-street stores.       

VIII  COMPUTERIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE FASHION INDUSTRY        

The advent of computers has changed the clothing industry in many ways. Modern companies have an integrated computer system that links all activities in the organization. Those activities may take place either on one site or in geographically diverse locations; for example, a large company may have garments manufactured abroad and may also maintain showrooms and shops all over the world.       

Computer software designed for use by the fashion industry may cover such functions as product data management (PDM), which deals with style development, costings, quality control, and communication between the manufacturer and retailers. Data on such processes as design (of fabrics, styles, and patterns), sample-cutting, pattern-laying and grading, manufacturing, and costing are integrated into the computer database. Computer systems exist that can also automatically translate information into 22 different languages and transmit live video images to facilitate demonstrations of techniques and processes. Other programs allow the designer to draw directly on the screen. Patterns can also be designed by computer, with automatic facilities for adapting patterns to different body shapes, in cases where clothes will be retailed across international markets (see Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacture). Cutting and matching patterned fabrics can be carried out by computer. Computerized production processes have also made it possible to produce such standard items as men's shirts, as well as bespoke knitwear, with the need for very little human intervention. Software can also track the complete history of a single style or a whole collection, from original designs to manufacture, including such details as costing. Quick Response (QR), the practice by which manufacturers can produce garments at short notice for retail as soon as possible after a new trend has created demand, has also been facilitated by computer software.       

At the forefront of computerization in the fashion industry is the creation of the Fashion Intelligence Navigation System (FINS), a multimedia database for buyers, designers, technologists, and clothing manufacturers, and the development of virtual-reality fashion mannequins on a catwalk, and of realistic representations of different textiles draped on the body in movement.       

Computerization is also affecting the fashion retail trade. In the United States, several large stores are experimenting with touch interactive merchandising. This entails stores providing kiosks with touch screens linked to television, video, computer, and laser technology. The customer enters personal information, chooses a style, and receives a print-out of available garments in the store. Bespoke clothing can also be made by using a scanning system to calculate various body measurements. This information is passed on to the factory, where patterns are made from individual body measurements and individually tailored garments produced.       

Overall, new developments in computerization will enable the fashion industry to respond to the increasing demand for rapid style changes, the need for shorter production cycles, while allowing customers to select designs and within a short time have bespoke items delivered to their home.

The efficiency with which raw materials or components can be brought together affects the amount of profit the manufacturer can make when the product is sold. Important points to consider when manufacturing a product are: matching the market size (how many people will want to buy the product) with the materials and methods, or processes, by which the product may be made; and making the best use possible of the factory, machines, and workers.       

Modern methods of manufacturing involve computers, which may be used to control the machines that make and assemble components. Using computer-controlled machines to cut or form a product is called computer numerical control (CNC) machining. Computers may also be used to control the movement of materials, components, and finished products around the factory and the distribution of the products to their points of sale. Organizing the movement of products or parts from one location to another is known as logistics.       

Computers can also be used to design a product, a technique known as CAD (computer-aided design). Using CAD, CNC, and computer-controlled logistics together is called computer-integrated manufacture (CIM). This method of manufacturing a product allows designers, engineers, and business managers to decide how a new product might look, how it might work, and how it might be made more quickly than before. CIM helps maintain the quality of the product throughout manufacture by making it easier to monitor the process.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems may be used to model many, if not all, of the features of a particular product. Typically, these would be the size, shape, and form of each component part, stored as two-dimensional and three-dimensional drawings. Once this dimensional data has been entered and stored in the computer system, the designer is able to manipulate or modify design ideas with great ease as the product development is pursued. Moreover, the combined ideas of many designers are shared and integrated as data is moved rapidly across computer networks, enabling designers and engineers located in different global locations to work together as a team. CAD systems are also able to simulate the performance of a product. They can test whether a proposed electronic circuit will work as intended, whether a bridge will carry predicted loads safely, and even whether tomato ketchup will pour correctly from a newly designed container.       

When CAD systems are linked to manufacturing equipment which is also controlled by computer, they form an integrated CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacture) system. CAM offers significant advantages over more traditional approaches by controlling manufacturing equipment with computers instead of human operators. CAM equipment is usually associated with the elimination of operator error and the reduction of labour costs. However, the consistent accuracy and predicted optimum use of the equipment lead to even more significant advantages. For example, cutting blades and tools will wear more slowly and break less frequently, reducing manufacturing costs still further. Against these savings should be set the higher costs of capital equipment or the possible social implications of maintaining productivity with a reduced workforce. CAM equipment relies on a series of numeric codes, stored in computer files, to control manufacturing operations. This Computer Numeric Control (CNC) is provided by describing machine operations in terms of the special codes and component shape geometry, and building specialized computer files or “part programs”. The development of these part programs is a skilled task, now largely superseded by specialized computer software which forms the link between CAD and CAM systems.       

The features of CAD/CAM systems are exploited by designers, engineers, and manufacturers to suit the particular needs of their own situation. For example, a designer may use the system to produce an early prototype quickly and test the feasibility of a product, whilst a manufacturer may choose to use the system because it is the only way an intricate component can be accurately produced. The range of features available to CAD/CAM users is continually expanding. Clothing manufacturers may design a garment pattern on a CAD system which is automatically positioned on the cloth so that waste material is minimized when a CNC saw or laser cuts it out. In addition to CAD information which describes the shape of an engineering component, the most appropriate material for its manufacture may be selected from the computer database and a range of CNC machines used in combination to produce it. Computer Integrated Manufacture (CIM) exploits the full potential of this technology by combining a wide range of computer-aided activities, possibly including stock control, component costing, and the full control of every production process. This provides greater manufacturing flexibility, allowing a company to respond more quickly to the demands of the market place and new product development.       

Future developments will include the further integration of “virtual reality” systems which enable designers to interact with their virtual prototype products by computer, instead of building expensive mock-ups to test feasibility. The area of “rapid prototyping” is also a further development of CAD/CAM techniques, where three-dimensional computer images may be converted into real models by specialized manufacturing equipment, such as a stereo lithography system.