Fashion in the

globalized
world
413
Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management
Vol. 7 No. 4, 2003
pp. 413-427
# MCB UP Limited
1361-2026
DOI 10.1108/13612020310496994
PRACTITIONER PAPER
Fashion in the globalized world
and the role of virtual networks
in intrinsic fashion design
Nobukaza Azuma and John Fernie
5hcc/ c/ Managemenl, Her/clTall ln/ters/lv, Ed/n/urgh, lK
Keywords Iash/cn, Iash/cn des/gn, V/rlua/ ucr/, Ncnrc//l crgan/.al/cns
Abstract The emergene c/ g/c/a/ /ash/cn has lrans/crmed lhe uav /ash/cn /s ere/ted /n lhe
cnlemcrarv ucr/d Th//e /l has /rcughl lhe cnsumer lhe /ntcgue slv/e al lhe r/ghl r/e, a
slrcng /cus cn slandard/.al/cn and /cucsl adtanlage has d/s/anded lhe lrad/l/cna/ elhcs c/
/ash/cn des/gn uh/h /s /ns/red /v a tar/elv c/ hvs/a/ and svhc/cg/a/ needs /n a g/ten
re/nl M/gral/cn c/ /ash/cn rcdul/cn c//shcre and resu/lanl deendene cn ecncm/es c/
sa/e ncl cn/v lhrealens lhe ex/slene c/ dcmesl/ sma// /ash/cn manu/alurers, /ul a/sc rch///ls
ucm/ng des/gners /rcm real/ng /nlr/ns/ /ash/cn cn a sma// /ul susla/na//e sa/e Th/s aer,
lhrcugh a ase sludv c/ a }aanese ncnrc//l crgan/.al/cn, ex/cres lhe uav /n uh/h suh an
/nlr/ns/ /ash/cn real/cn reslcres /ls sa//ene as a cunler slv/e c/ g/c/a/ /ash/cn a/la//sm
Emhases are /aed cn crrc/cral/ng lhe neess/lv c/ /nlr/ns/ /ash/cn /n lcdav`s sc/elv
vis-a-vis lhe drau/a/s c/ g/c/a/ /ash/cn /n u/lura/, elh/a/, ergcncm/, and ent/rcnmenla/
lerms.
Introduction and aim of the paper
The world of fashion has witnessed a dramatic shift in the way in which
fashion styles are determined away from an intrinsic interaction between
fashion and the regional environmental factors towards the dominance by
global fashion capitalism. The phenomenon, which first became conspicuous in
1960s, has transformed fashion into one form of industrial goods. Large-size
apparel firms and power retailers (Corstjens and Corstjens, 1995) increasingly
place focus on integrating the essence of cost leadership (Porter, 1985) and time
compression (Stalk and Hout, 1990; Christopher and Peck, 1998) through a set
of modern operational philosophies in the arena of offshore manufacturing. Due
to the trend of regionalization in global economies (Gereffi, 1999, 2001), the
offshore supply chain has progressively become capable of incorporating the
on-going trend into merchandising, thus delivering the right products in the
right place and, most importantly, at an inexpensive price (Fernie, 1994).
Despite the resultant homogenization of fashion designs that derives from this
phenomenon, the majority of consumers are satisfied with the improved
availability of in-vogue fashion at inexpensive prices. The offshore shift of
fashion manufacturing by the industrialized economies, however, has
accelerated the decimation in many nations of domestic industrial districts that
consist of a numerous number of networked cottage manufacturers. While they
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1361-2026.htm
JFMM
7,4
414
had embarked on flexible specialization (Piore and Sabel, 1984), which is one of
the sources of aesthetic designs in the intrinsic fashion, they are on the brink of
extinction against such a major change in the fashion industry.
On the other hand, the high fashion community across the world has
continuously nurtured the intrinsic genre of fashion creation in the context of
the contemporary world, sustained partly by the cultural heritage of individual
designers and partly by their technical background. Nevertheless, classic
authoritarianism in the closed society of high fashion, coupled with its
psychological and physical distance from its general audience, has watered
down its impact on mass fashion in society as a whole. In addition to this, the
high fashion community has been institutionalized into global fashion
capitalism, which makes it difficult for designers to express their inspirations
free from the eyes of the investors and shareholders of the fashion houses.
The current situation in fashion design and the fashion industry, therefore,
has severely undermined the traditional system of intrinsic fashion design, in
which creativity emerges from small-scale businesses in the locality.
In the case of the Japanese fashion industry, there is a chronic oversupply of
young creators and, on the other hand, the existence of small specialist
suppliers that are faced with a crisis in spite of their skills, speed, and
flexibility. Hence, it will be worthwhile to configure a virtual network of such
designers and SME apparel manufacturers to encourage the resurrection of the
intrinsic fashion on a sustainable basis.
This paper aims to explore the way in which a revival and reactivation of the
essential meaning of fashion is accomplished in the contemporary society,
through binding the creative talents of upcoming designers and the artisanship
of domestic small suppliers in the industrialized economies on a Web-based
virtual interface. The paper will first discuss the conceptual framework of
fashion by investigating the two dimensions of fashion in its intrinsic and
modern global terms. Then, the salience of intrinsic fashion in today's society
will be depicted in the context of the Japanese fashion community. This will be
followed by a description of the fashion-networking initiative that has been
implemented in Japan since January 2001. Finally, the paper concludes with a
discussion of a potential model for a virtual fashion network as an alternative
method of fashion in contemporary society.
Fashion its role in culture
Fashion is one of the essential arts of civilization. No less than painting,
sculpture, or any of the applied arts does it reflect the great cultures of the past,
illustrating the characteristics of individual societies over the centuries. It is
arguably a more accurate barometer than the other visual arts since it affects
everyone and not solely a specific section of the population: it represents a
personal expression of life at a given point in time and place (Yarwood, 1992).
Aesthetic expression aims to communicate notions, subtleties, and therefore, as
soon as an aesthetic order comes to be generally perceived as a code (as a way
Fashion in the
globalized
world
415
of expressing notions which have already been formulated), then works of art
tend to move beyond this code while exploring its possible mutations and
extensions. Much of the interest of works of art lies in the ways in which they
explore and modify the codes, which they seem to be using (Culler, 1976;
Hebdige, 1979).
The twentieth century has witnessed far more than the mere transformation
of art works into runway creations. It has produced a whole array of ideas and
movements that illustrate the way in which the worlds of art and fashion
inspire one another. Clothing has always been a strong indicator of social
identity, social class, self-image, and climate (Au el a/, 2000), and if taken out of
its everyday context, is anything but harmless and innocent. Depending on the
era and the artist or couturier who interprets it, dress can become the
expression of an ideology, a social critique, or a combination of both (Muller,
2000).
Thus, fashion is deemed a cyclical reflection of social, cultural, and
environmental characteristics that are unique to a certain point of time in a
particular geographical setting, in addition to playing a crucial role in
complementing one's self-image (Robinson, 1958; Au el a/., 2000).
While fashion, by definition, is such a phenomenon that is deeply rooted
in the socio-political settings, national and regional character of people,
climactic (protective/ergonomics) features, and technological advancement
in a given area, globalization of the fashion industry over the past decades
has diluted its intrinsic nature. Since the fashion industry involves multiple
labor-intensive processes in its supply chain, it is virtually unviable for the
textile and apparel (T-A) complex (Abernathy el a/, 1999) in the
industrialized nations to retain domestic manufacturing unless there exists
country/region specific competitive factors (Porter, 1990), such as designs of
exceptional cultural inspirations, and clothing that articulates supreme
level of creativity and technical excellences in materials (Azuma, 2002;
Braddock and O'mahony, 1998). Many of the apparel corporations and
large-size retailers in the industrialized economies have transferred their
production offshore in search of low cost advantage (Porter, 1985), which is
counted as a key to satisfy consumers' increasing demands for affordable
fashion. The traditional tie between the fashion and the locality, thus, has
been severed in the process of ``economic migration''. In addition to this, the
sequence of offshore shift in fashion manufacturing has decimated the
organic network of cottage firms that had long facilitated flexible
specialization (Piore and Sabel, 1984) with the apparel sector in the
industrialized economies.
Efforts have been made to maintain focus on domestic apparel manufacturing
t/sat/s offshore sourcing. The term quick response (QR) was coined in the US
apparel sector in the mid-1980s as a time-based (Stalk and Hout, 1990) survival
strategy of domestic apparel manufacturing (Finnie, 1992) through compressing
the three dimensions of the time that lapse in the fashion supply chain:
JFMM
7,4
416
(1) time to market;
(2) time to serve; and
(3) time to react (Christopher and Peck, 1998).
In principle, it aims at delivering the right product at the right time in the right
place (Fernie, 1994) with increased variety (Giunipero el a/, 2001; Lowson el a/
1999) and more room for customization (Pine, 1993).
Nevertheless, QR has evolved into a way that does not necessarily conform
to its original propositions. Large-size retailers and apparel firms have already
explored the viability of offshore QR, which combines the benefit of cost
leadership and time-based competence (Azuma, 2001). In fact, a unique
phenomenon has been commonly observed in the global fashion industry
complex. The increasing numbers of firms in the industrialized economies are
found to work in collaboration with offshore suppliers in geographically
proximate areas (Gereffi, 1999, 2001). Therefore, nearness of the production to
the market can no longer be a source of comparative parity for the domestic
apparel manufacturers.
Overall, globalization of fashion and the fashion industry has given
consumers easier access to clothes at inexpensive prices with modern stylish
images. These global fashion firms are less tied by fashion (Agins, 1999). It
enables them to incorporate trends into their merchandising in a synchronized
manner, owing to technological improvements, especially in information
technologies (IT).
Despite such benefits, considerable drawbacks of the global fashion approach
have been identified, to say nothing of the issues of sweatshop and
environmental concerns. It has blurred the inherent differences in fashion style
that stem from its peculiar identity. This has caused fashion to be homogenized
beyond the boundaries of nations as well as corporations. Excessive QR
stimulates apparel firms to accelerate the speed they copy each others' designs
and merchandising, rather than encouraging the creation of fashion for its own
sake. In addition to this, intensive marketing campaigns by power retailers
(Corstjens and Corstjens, 1995) and large apparel firms creates an image as if the
styles they present were universally most appropriate beyond the cultural and
geographical boundaries, which, in principle, are the determinants of fashion
designs. Since fashion in this global context is molded into the framework of
industrial designs and the supply chain management procedure in fast-moving
consumer goods, congenital interaction of fashion with its surrounding
environment is sacrificed under the name of efficiency and economies of scale.
Even the endeavors in the industrialized economies to safeguard their
domestic fashion manufacturing are motivated by economic considerations
rather than by intent of preserving the inherent source of fashion creation,
which is inspired by the ethos in a given locality. Therefore, many modern
concepts in the fashion industry, such as QR, mass customization, and 3D body
scanning, have been applied to the arena of offshore manufacturing, despite the
Fashion in the
globalized
world
417
fact that they were first explored to revitalize the domestic apparel suppliers,
and hence fashion creations.
It is noteworthy that globalization in the fashion industry, coupled with
technological and operational enhancement, has realized the new spectrum of
fashion where consumers are given a gimmick of mass-customization, which
takes the best of the craft era with the best of the mass production era (Fralix,
2001; Pine, 1993). Affordability and responsiveness; apparently contradictory
elements in offshore fashion manufacturing have now gradually been blended.
It, however, has deprived fashion of its historical interrelatedness with a sense
of aestheticism as well as protective, ergonomics, and technical needs in a given
geographical area, which has long been the determinant of styles.
While the global fashion movement is to be justified due not only to the
affordable fashion it has made available, but to the natural shift of apparel
production offshore in the course of economic upgrading in the global economy
(Gereffi, 1999), there exists another surge of needs to enliven the fashion as an
eclectic subject of cultural ethos, a form of artistic expressions, and a functional
protection, as it used to be. In other words, reproduction of fashion in its
intrinsic perspective, but with incorporation of IT, is deemed to ignite the
revitalization of domestic fashion manufacturing in line with encouragement of
creation.
In the case of the Japanese fashion industry, there is a trend that creative
human resources are oversupplied in respect of the employment created within
the sector. SME apparel suppliers, which long functioned as flexible specialist
contractors for larger apparel firms and retailers, have been on the brink of
extinction as a result of the drastic shift of fashion manufacturing offshore.
They are yet to find a way out from this severe situation.
This, nevertheless, will create a lucrative opportunity for at least two groups
of people; up and coming designers and small domestic manufacturers, to be
networked in order to reproduce and further fashion in the intrinsic sense, but
in a smaller domain, as opposed to the global fashion, which may remain the
main streamin the world of fashion.
Intrinsic fashion and modern global fashion
Before the Industrial Revolution, people tailored their clothes on their own, or
otherwise purchased them from a local craftsman. The Industrial Revolution
and the technological innovation henceforth enabled mass production of
fashion, and now consumers can make their choices from a vast variety of
trendy styles at affordable prices (Brockman, 1965; Kim and Cho, 2000).
However, consumerism in today's world and the ideology of global capitalism
has dramatically changed the way fashion is perceived.
Fashion, through the work of notable dress historians and cultural
commentators, has become established as a subject for serious consideration in
the last few decades. Its fascination and significance lies in its ability to be
challenging yet to change the way the wearers move, to fit on the body yet to
JFMM
7,4
418
reshape it. Moreover, it weaves in among the folds and seams of a practical
craft the expressive intentions of the designers and the spirit of an age. While
fashion may operate in a different arena to art and does not have the same
explicit intentions, it has the potential to cross the world of functioning craft to
explore diverse issues. Fashion is also a barometer of a changing world and
changing ways of thinking. The fashion phenomenon encompasses shifting
patterns of consumerism, ideas of public image and a sense of individualism
(Wilcox, 2001; Carr and Pomeror, 1992).
Yarwood (1992) interprets the intrinsic processes in which fashion and
artistic style are generated as an outcome of its interactions with a wide
spectrum of environmental factors. The social and political background of a
given place still has considerable impact on the way one dresses. In addition to
the local culture, the economic situation and physical features of the people,
their religious background and the political regime under which one lives can
determine the acceptability of a particular dress code in a community. National
and regional characteristics of people in a given area has played an important
role through regulating which parts of the body should be concealed with
clothing. In certain ages it has ruled more firmly and in greater detail, on
specific colors, fabrics and forms of decoration which should or should not be
worn.
One of the greatest influences over fashion design is climate, as clothes are
worn to keep warm, to keep modesty (moral code), and to protect the body.
Climate has been of vital importance in forming a convenient dress style for a
given region. For example, the traditional kimono dress in Japan allows the
wearer to have better ventilation with its two-dimensional design, which
creates gaps between the body and the clothes. This may reflect the
prerequisite of dressing in a humid environment. The state of technological
development and the consequent availability of certain yarns, fabrics, and
finishes have always been of utmost importance in determining fashion. Pre-
eminence of Japanese research in synthetics has given generations of Japanese
designers, such as Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo (Comme des
Garcons) and Junya Watanabe (Braddock and O'mahony, 1998), opportunity to
utilize techno textiles and embark on cutting-edge fashion designs. Continuous
innovation in knit fabric design in the industrial districts of northern Italy has
added value to the innate artistic sense enjoyed by the descendants of
Michelangelo and Leonardo; a sense that now evokes within consumers across
the globe perceptions of style and good taste (Nolan and Condotta, 1997). The
development of the art of tailoring to create clothes that closely fitted the
human form has also been important. This ergonomic aspect of fashion design
has long been discarded as something insignificant in the rationale of modern
apparel manufacturing in which global fashion has disbanded the intrinsic
interaction between fashion and the regional characteristics. It is only in the
early 1990s that this facet of fashion regained focus in the mass-fashion domain
of the fashion industry; mass-customization (Pine, 1993) and ``prosumerism''
Fashion in the
globalized
world
419
(producer plus consumer), as a hybrid of mass production have emerged and
left limited roomfor traditional tailoring.
Fashion has always been set by countries that were, at the time, rich and
powerful. The wearing of the latest mode and decorative form has always
demonstrated the importance of leading members of the community. The
resultant trend, which has never changed over the centuries, was for the
wealthy and influential members of society to adopt a costume that would
make them stand out from the common herd. At the same time, everyone
wishes to copy the fashion, whether in the sixteenth century or the 1980s. In
reaction, important classes had to adopt a new style to maintain the differential
(Yarwood, 1992). In the modern society where individualism has become the
norm, fashion is deemed a means of self-actualization too.
Thus, fashion is defined as a phenomenon that sways in the midst of social
systems, climate, aesthetic ethos, religion, self-image, human factors, and
technical background of a given precinct. Part of this tradition remains
uninterrupted even in the fashion today. However, in the main stream, the
interdependent relationship between fashion and the locality has become scarce
in the society that is dominated by global capitalism. As mentioned in the
background of the study, globalization of fashion and the fashion industry
has obliterated the barriers to fashion for the mass by popularizing its
affordability and availability. In addition to this, current implementation of QR
and mass-customization in offshore manufacturing further reduces the
distance between the consumer and what is most ``in'' in the marketplace.
Homogeneity in styles and scarcity in cultural contents are found in common
among the modern global fashion that is predominantly manipulated by the
multinational giants. Despite this apparent lack of intrinsic quality in global
fashion, consumers today pay little attention to this aspect, as it is of salience
for them to have the chic modish styles at the ``right price''.
The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas; the class
which is the ruling material force of the society is at the same time the ruling
intellectual force. The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression
of the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the
relationships which make the same class the ruling class, therefore the ideas of
its dominance (Marx and Engels, 1970). The transition of fashion from its
intrinsic sense to its modern and global term is explicated by a transfer of the
influence over fashion from the ruling social classes or leading couturiers to the
ideology of global capitalism.
Collection designers all over the world still maintain and even elaborate the
essence of fashion in the traditional term and possess considerable influence in
provoking the trend of a time. Amalgamation of art, architecture (Stewart,
1998), and fashion, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, has discovered a new
focal point of complexity in fashion but within a small circle of high fashion.
However, this scarcely articulates itself as a counter fashion style against the
dominance of modern global fashion. Notwithstanding the eclectic aesthetic
JFMM
7,4
420
that contemporary fashion designers portray in their compilation designs, their
impacts on the general audience tends to be nominal. The high fashion
community has always created its somewhat authoritarian self-image and thus
lacked the common language to convey their essential messages to the vast
majority of the population. In other words, it is out of the reach of the average
audience to be fully understood and appreciated. At the same time, the high
fashion community has also been absorbed into institutional global capitalism
as a core part of the brand businesses across the world. From this viewpoint,
even the high fashion community, which is, in principle, a reflection of the
intrinsic fashion, has now been manipulated in the midst of the global fashion
movement.
Salience of the intrinsic fashion
Fashion speaks of a tension between the crowd and the individual at every
stage in the development of the nineteenth and twentieth-century metropolis.
Modernity creates fragmentation and dislocation. It creates the vision of
``totalitarian'' (Muller, 2000) societies that are peopled with identical looks.
Thus, the way one dresses can frame oneself both in social and psychic terms.
It expresses one's individuality and is a means to interact with and belong to
society. The adoption of what is fashionable and stylish at a given time or the
rejection of thereof may be expressed in the membership of a group or the
affirmation of a personal stance (Watt, 1999).
However, in the fashion that is dominated by the rationale of globalism, the
mainstream fashion style is merely a reflection of the trend on the street and
not a repercussion of the society where it finds its roots. There is little
implication of the fashion in its implicit natures. In contrast, the segregated
community of high fashion has locked itself into the confusion between the
intrinsic creativity of localities and the overwhelming force of global fashion
capitalism. Thus, neither the modern global mass fashion nor the insular
authoritarianism in the high fashion does form a basis to redefine and
invigorate the intrinsic fashion in the contemporary society. Such a situation of
today's fashion has given an opportunity to redefine the role of intrinsic fashion
in a sense that its revival will not only rejuvenate small fashion manufacturers
in the industrialized economies, but also encourage a more ``down-to-earth''
creation through discovering the interface between the artisans and the
designers.
A case of virtual fashion design networks in Japan
The Japanese fashion industry in recent years has followed suit with many of
the industrialized economies. It has undergone a drastic period of industrial
hollow-out of its domestic industrial districts that have a complex of small
flexible specialists. This phenomenon has undermined their existence, since the
majority of their customers, large-size apparel firms and power retailers, have
had their production migrated offshore. On the other hand, the education part
Fashion in the
globalized
world
421
of the Japanese fashion complex generates approximately 50,000 graduates per
year from a number of fashion specialist colleges and universities. This figure
has long been perceived as an oversupply of the creators t/sa t/s the ailing
domestic manufacturing and the predominance of the rcnlc mcda (quick
fashion) (Guercini, 2001; Forza and Vinelli, 2000) apparel firm which
incorporates the ongoing trend into merchandising rather than elaborating an
intrinsic style of its own.
The catwalks across the world have beheld the explicit eclectism of the
works by the Japanese designers over generations. This, nonetheless, does not
herald abundant opportunities for such a large number of young creators to
commence their own labels. The enclosed community of the high fashion,
which seemingly is free from the compulsion of the global fashion capitalism,
is, in fact, subject to the rationale of global capitalism.
Therefore, it is of immediate salience to explore the way by which the
up-coming designers can ignite a movement of the contemporary fashion
designs in the intrinsic term through working closely with the artisanship of
the domestic small manufacturers. Configuring a virtual network is deemed
one way of achieving the purpose of regenerating and redefining the traditional
genre of fashion on a small but a sustainable scale. This has given the ra/scn
d`e lre to launch a virtual interface of such a network, Fashion Liaison Japan
(FLJ), on a non-profit organization (NPO) basis. While the traditional approach
of collaboration of this kind (Bruce el a/, 1995, 1999) aspires to revitalize the
ailing small businesses and help them increase their sales and market share,
this design network focuses on rediscovering the viability of the intrinsic
fashion in today's society through encouraging creation at a more down-to-
earth level. The motive does not lie in merely maximizing the sales of the labels,
but in nurturing the close relationship between people's lifestyle and the
intrinsic aesthetic in the contemporary fashion in a sustainable manner. This is
expected to take the shape of a counter fashion style against
the dominant force of the global fashion capitalism, which has disbanded the
naturally developed interconnectedness between the fashion creation and the
uniquness in a given locality.
FLJ was founded by a Tokyo-based fashion researcher and the author of this
paper in January 2001. The organization initially concentrated its resources on
marketing the idea of this virtual network by presenting a set of articles in the
related area on a dedicated Web site and a variety of industry media. Following
this six-month period of publicity, FLJ contacted a number of eminent fashion
colleges, young designers, fashion presses, fashion consultants, and apparel
firms in order to obtain ideas in actualizing the organization. This sequence of
brainstorming was conducted for two months in the summer of 2001 in Tokyo.
This also involved a special lecture at a Tokyo-based fashion college.
Based on the outcomes of the exploratory research stage, FLJ has initiated
its preliminary operation in the following three major domains. The Web site of
JFMM
7,4
422
FLJ has been in operation since October 2001, as the official page of the FLJ
Planning Committee. The system of FLJ is explained in Figure 1.
Researh and edual/cn
FLJ will update its networked members with the feedback of its activities in the
formof downloadable documents in addition to the printed media. These are to be
utilized in fashion and design education to encourage the young creators to
cultivate their career paths as independent designers rather than being subject to
the existing systems in the fashion industry. The focus is to be on nurturing
designers who can share/communicate a common philosophy with their niche
markets and simultaneously can maintain profitability as small creative fashion
businesses. One of the missions of FLJ, therefore, is making a contribution to
helping intrinsic fashion designers launch and manage their labels in the long run
on a small scale. FLJ is planning to commence a virtual (Web-based) fashion
school in which the participants can develop expertise in the managerial aspect of
fashion as well as the designing and production parts so that their design
philosophy is translated into a viable communication. International exchange of
the case studies between fashion colleges abroad will enable the organization to
understand the controversial issues that are raised by the dominance of globalism
over the contemporary fashion. FLJ has currently been reviewing existing
Figure 1.
FLJ's system
Fashion in the
globalized
world
423
literature and textbooks in the area of fashion designing and fashion
management. At the same time, interviews with designers and design students
have been conducted in order to identify the key elements that they feel are salient
to be an intrinsic fashion designer and simultaneously a successful small-scale
fashion entrepreneur.
Aadem//nduslrv//n/ des/gn rc/el
FLJ intends to host regularly a variety of design projects that will further
the partnership between the fashion education and the industry.
Networking of small players, such as weaving, sewing, and accessory
suppliers in the domestic supply chain with the designers would be the key
issue to be addressed here. This academic-industry collaboration is
expected to develop into a new epoch of intrinsic fashion, as the partnership
between the up-coming creators and the domestic small manufacturers will
set forth a viable form of the contemporary fashion that is independent of
the restraint of global fashion. Designers and artisans can select partners to
work with through the Web directory, according to the design directions,
materials, and the fashion philosophy on both sides. In other words, FLJ
virtually facilitates the role of /manalcre (supply chain organizer) in the
north of Italy. When a designer eventually gains confidence in commencing
his/her career as an independent designer after completing a practical
education course or one of the project schemes that FLJ facilitates, the
designer can now present the design works on the one-to-one virtual fashion
community, Open-Clothes (www.open-clothes.com), and communicate with
the potential customers and production partners. Open-Clothes, one of FLJ's
networked partners, is an organization that aims at realizing the ultimate
fashion design/production community that would satisfy the needs of every
wearer of clothing. At the end of its initial year (end of 2001), it has more
than 1,000 members in the virtual community and a numerous amount of
works have been completed through the virtual communication between the
designer and the customer.
Ccnsu/l/ng sert/es
Although the principal objective of FLJ is promoting the renaissance of the
intrinsic fashion in contemporary society, it is important that the designers
and the artisans have access to the necessary managerial and marketing
expertise in order to be profitable, as well as to materialize their dreams of
sharing their styles with the audience, who are sincerely appreciative of the
eclectic principles. Where necessary, FLJ functions as an intermediary
between creator and manufacturer, working closely with its networked
partners, such as a group of small domestic suppliers and Open-Clothes.
This element of FLJ's operation is to be closely linked with its education
activity that intends to provide a comprehensive training for the designers
to enable them to launch their small own labels of intrinsic fashion.
JFMM
7,4
424
Virtual fashion design network in Japan an ongoing project by FLJ
FLJ has currently engaged in its first design project, NOBUDO Clothing
(www.nobudo.com/), in collaboration with young designers mainly at Bunka
Fashion College in Tokyo. The initiative is intended to redefine the role of
traditional Japanese fabrics in contemporary lifestyles, designing things that
can be made only in Japan, preserving the cultural, creative, and technical
heritage through clothing, and exploring an environmentally friendly
fashion by utilizing second-hand kimono dresses and vegetable dyes. This
addresses the issues not only of intrinsic designing, but also of much wider
environmental and social issues that had been an important part of the
Japanese spiritualism in contrast to the mass consumption culture today.
The project has gained support from a varied audience, including the
Japanese Embassy in the UK, which has enabled the project to organize a
fashion show in Tokyo (February, 2002) and an exhibition at Barbican
Centre in London (March, 2002). One of the designers from this project is to
launch her own label to further the design concept that is rooted in the
eclectic Japaneseness.
While FLJ's investigation towards the realization of a sustainable method of
the intrinsic fashion has just begun, support from the wider spectrum of the
Japanese fashion society has recently been bestowed on this idea of virtual
networking for creative fashion. At the present moment, several fashion colleges,
fashion journalists, a group of designers, apparel firms, and an association of
cottage sewing rooms have participated in the planning committee of FLJ. In
addition to this, the possibility of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and
Industry's subsidizing this organization is a major step forward in that it has
asked FLJ to apply for an official status of NPO under the Tokyo Metropolitan
Office, commencing its official operation fromthe fiscal year of 2002.
Conclusion and future prospects
This paper has highlighted the conspicuous trend in fashion and the fashion
industry over the past decades in the industrialized economies across the
world. While the prevalence of global fashion has shortened the distance
between the general fashion consumers and the in-vogue styles with an
eminent affordability, it, however, has diluted the essential interdependence
between the intrinsic fashion and the locality. This common phenomenon in
the contemporary fashion industry has barred up and coming designers and
experienced artisans from working together in order to pursue their goals
inspired by the elements that are unique to particular localities. Hence,
intrinsic fashion design has lost ground in today's society where global
capitalism has become the principle philosophy of the world economy.
However, recent cases of global fashion operations by multi-national brands
have demonstrated the drawbacks of the global fashion approach in an explicit
manner. Their managerial principle finds its root in their pursuit of efficiency,
which often consists of the exploitation of cheap labor and the apathy about the
Fashion in the
globalized
world
425
local environment in the sourcing market. In addition to this, excessive
dependence on a global supply chain operation has disbanded the natural
interrelatedness between fashion design and the locality, which had been the
nucleus of fashion in the past. Owing to the high extent of standardization in
materials, as well as marker-making and designs in the global fashion approach,
not only the cultural inspiration, but also the ergonomics needs in clothing design
in a certain locality tends to be ignored. Marketing creates an impression that
global fashion is superior to the traditional way, although it is not necessarily the
case.
FLJ was established in order to assist up-coming designers to launch and
manage their own labels of intrinsic fashion designs through networking the
resources in the domestic fashion industry and education. It places strong
emphasis on practical fashion education so that they can obtain required
knowledge and an easy access to a variety of partners to their design needs. On
the other hand, this networking of designers and small suppliers will help to
revitalize the domestic tradition of fashion artisanship.
The challenge by FLJ in the Japanese fashion community is intended to
reunite the missing link between design and locality in the midst of the modern
global fashion and restore the fashion in an intrinsic sense but in a viable
manner. Although global fashion capitalism is expected to remain dominant in
the modern world of fashion, the intrinsic fashion renaissance initiated by FLJ
and its networked partners will help the audience appreciate the value of
intrinsic fashion, not only through its cultural and creative expressions, but
also through its environmentally-friendly and ``exploitation-free'' fashion
community.
References
Abernathy, F.H., Dunlop, J.T., Hammond, J.H. and Weil, D. (1999), A 5l/lh /n T/me, Oxford
University Press, New York, NY.
Agins, T. (1999), The End c/ Iash/cn, William Morrow and Company, NewYork, NY.
Au, J.S.C., Taylor, G. and Newton, E.W. (2000), ``East and West think differently? The European
and Japanese fashion designers'', }curna/ c/ Iash/cn Mar/el/ng and Managemenl, Vol. 4
No. 3, pp. 223-42.
Azuma, N. (2001), ``The reality of quick response (QR), in the Japanese fashion sector and the
strategy ahead for the domestic SME apparel manufacturers'', Lcg/sl/s Researh Nelucr/
?001 Ccn/erene lrceed/ngs, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, pp. 11-20.
Azuma, N. (2002), ``lrcnlc mcda Tokyo style emergence of collection-free fashion in Tokyo and
the Seoul-Tokyo fashion connection'', lnlernal/cna/ }curna/ c/ Rela// & D/slr//ul/cn
Managemenl, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 137-44.
Braddock, S,E, and O'mahony, M. (1998), Tehnc Texl//es Retc/ul/cnarv Ia/r/s /cr Iash/cn and
Des/gn, Thames &Hudson, London,
Brockman, H.L. (1965), The Thecrv c/ Iash/cn Des/gn, John Wiley &Sons, NewYork, NY.
Bruce, M., Cooper, R. and Vazquez, D. (1999), ``Effective design management for small business'',
Des/gn 5lud/es, Vol. 20, pp. 297-315.
JFMM
7,4
426
Bruce, M., Leverick, F. and Littler, D. (1995), ``Complexities of collaborative product
development'', Tehnctal/cn, Vol. 15 No. 9, pp. 535-52,
Carr, H. and Pomeror, J. (1992), Iash/cn Des/gn and lrcdul Dete/cmenl, Blackwell Scientific
Publications, London.
Christopher, M and Peck, H. (1998), ``Fashion logistics'', in Fernie, J. and Sparks, L. (Eds) (1998),
Lcg/sl/s and Rela// Managemenl, Kogan Page, London.
Corstjens, J. and Corstjens, M. (1995), 5lcre Tars, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
Culler, J. (1976), 5aussure, Fontana, London.
Fernie, J. (1994), ``Quick response: an international perspective'', lnlernal/cna/ }curna/ c/ lhvs/a/
D/slr//ul/cn & Lcg/sl/s Managemenl, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 38-46.
Finnie,T.A. (1992), ``Textiles and apparel in the USA: restructuring for the 1990s'', Special Report
No. 2,632, The Economist Intelligence Unit, London.
Forza, C. and Vinelli, A. (2000), ``Time compression in production and distribution within the
textile-apparel chain'', lnlegraled Manu/alur/ng 5vslems, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 138-46.
Fralix, M.T. (2001), ``From mass production to mass customization'', }curna/ c/ Texl//e and
Aare/, Tehnc/cgv and Managemenl, Vol. 1 No. 2, Winter, pp. 1-7.
Gereffi, G. (1999), ``International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain'',
}curna/ c/ lnlernal/cna/ Ecncm/s,Vol. 48, pp. 37-70.
Gereffi, G.(2001), ``Global sourcing in the US apparel industry'', }curna/ c/ Texl//e and Aare/
Tehnc/cgv and Managemenl, Vol. 2 No. 1, Fall, pp. 1-5.
Giunipero, L.C., Fiorito, S.S., Pearcy, D.H. and Dandeo, L. (2001), ``The impact of vendor
incentives on quick response'', The lnlernal/cna/ Ret/eu c/ Rela//, D/slr//ul/cn and
Ccnsumer Researh, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 359-76.
Guercini, S. (2001), ``Relation between branding and growth of the firm in new quick fashion
formulas: analysis of an Italian case'', }curna/ c/ Iash/cn Mar/el/ng and Managemenl,
Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 69-79.
Hebdige, D. (1979), 5u/u/lure lhe Mean/ng c/ 5lv/es, Routledge, London.
Kim, H.-S. and Cho, S.-B. (2000), ``Application of interactive generic algorithm to fashion design'',
Eng/neer/ng A//al/cns c/ Arl////a/ lnle///gene, Vol. 13, pp. 635-44.
Lowson, B., King, R. and Hunter, A. (1999), (u// Rescnse. Manag/ng 5u/v Cha/n lc Meel
Ccnsumer Demand, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1970), The (erman ldec/cgv, Lawrence &Wishart, London.
Muller, F. (2000), Arl & Iash/cn, Thames & Hudson, London.
Nolan, T. and Condotta, B. (1997), ``Close-knit relationships hold the key to Italian fashion
industry success'', }curna/ c/ Iash/cn Mar/el/ng and Managemenl, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 274-80.
Pine, B.J. II (1993), Mass Cuslcm/.al/cn, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Piore, M.J. and Sabel, C.F. (1984), The 5ecnd lnduslr/a/ D/t/de. lcss/////l/es /cr lrcser/lv, Basic
Books, New York, NY.
Porter, M.E. (1985), Ccmel/l/te Adtanlage. Creal/ng and 5usla/n/ng 5uer/cr ler/crmane, Free
Press, New York, NY.
Porter, M.E. (1990), The Ccmel/l/te Adtanlage c/ Nal/cns, Free Press, New York, NY.
Robinson, D.E. (1958), ``Fashion theory and product design'', Hartard 8us/ness Ret/eu, Vol. 36,
November-December, pp. 126-38.
Stalk, G. Jr and Hout, T.M. (1990), Ccmel/ng aga/nsl T/me, Free Press, New York, NY.
Fashion in the
globalized
world
427
Stewart, S. (1998), ``Arts and crafts and the purists: two contrasting approaches to designing for
the British fashion environment'', lnlernal/cna/ }curna/ c/ Rela// & D/slr//ul/cn
Managemenl, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 330-5.
Watt, J. (1999), Iash/cn Tr/l/ng, Penguin Books, London.
Wilcox, C. (Ed.) (2001), Rad/a/ Iash/cn, V&A Publications, London.
Yarwood, D. (1992), Iash/cn /n lhe Teslern Tcr/d, B.T. Batsford, London.
Further reading
Cho, J. and Kang, J.(2001), ``Benefits and challenges of global sourcing: perceptions of US apparel
retail firms'', lnlernal/cna/ }curna/ c/ Mar/el/ng Ret/eu, Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 542-61.
Daneshvary, R.S. and Schwer, R.K. (2001), ``The influence of socio-economic factors on the
perceived importance of buying a garment made in the USA'', }curna/ c/ Iash/cn
Mar/el/ng and Managemenl, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 19-27.
Dickerson, K. (1995), Texl//es and Aare/ /n lhe (/c/a/ Ecncmv, Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Marshall, A. (1919), lnduslrv and Trade, lr/n//es c/ Ecncm/s, Macmillan, London.
Saeki,T., Furukawa, T. and Shimizu, Y. (1997), ``Dynamic clothing simulation based on skeletal
motion of the human body'', lnlernal/cna/ }curna/ c/ C/clh/ng 5/ene and Tehnc/cgv,
Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 256-63.