History And Background Of The Apparel / Fashion Industry

The claim presented in the article is how ads often set unrealistic beauty standards, and how the author encourages them to “break free” from these standards by giving two examples on how ads should be compelled.

In the past, buying a simple white tee or a luxurious plaid skirt was a mindless purchase. However, as the reality of how these items are made comes to light, it raises the question: what are the true human costs of the fashion industry? Well, the fashion industry comes with a serious price: the workers producing these fast fashion items work long hours in horrific conditions, are treated unfairly and inhumanely, and are left behind economically and educationally. The first human cost that comes with the fashion industry is the dangerous conditions they work in.

Well Known for their minute maid outfits Express Inc. was ranked 24 out of 100 with the most industry sales in 2016. With over 35 years in business Express has over 650 stores within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico (Unknown, 2017) . Shooting to expand their stores express has employed over 17,000 individuals as of present day. Getting to know more about fashion and retail industry exploring on Express Inc. for potential background on how to run a retail company in the US.

Urban Outfitters is a growing clothing corporation; its popularity has grown from a small store in Philadelphia into a large, multinational company operating in ten countries. Urban Outfitters is an American retail store that was founded in 1970 by Richard Hayne and Scott Belair that were retail novices. In the United States, Europe, and Canada there are over 130 stores and over 400 stores across the world. The company is labeled as a retro, hipster, bohemian, and stylish merchandiser that caters to the 18 - 30 age group. It uses past fashion trends to influence their hipster theme shown through their clothing, shoes, accessories, and housewares. The company manages 5 brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN.

Marginalization of companies is the coming together of two or more companies that offer similar goods and services to form one legal entity. Several companies merge for the maximization of profits from their products, and reduce competition from other companies that perform similar duties. Over the years, several fashion companies have merged in the fashion industry. However, government involvement in the market economy aids in controlling and protecting both the consumer's and the fashion industry itself.

In the early 1900s, many immigrants had left their home country and came to America in hopes of starting a new life. In order to do so, they had to get a job and start supporting the new life in which they hoped for. During this time, the industrial field seemed to be the most common occupation of any immigrants, especially in New York City. There were hardly any working requirements and basically anyone could be hired in these sweatshops or factories. The garment industry in particular, hired immigrant women and children with a very low wage, strenuous labor hours, and awful working conditions. Without any regulations or codes, the working environment could’ve been considered a death trap and was not being appreciated when it came to pay day.

J.Crew began in 1947 as a low priced clothing company that sold its merchandise door-to-door. It was originally called Popular Club but the name was eventually changed to J.Crew to better suit its preppy image. In 1983 the company released its first catalog in an effort to mimic the success of like Lands’ End and L.L. Bean. People fell in love with the company’s preppy aesthetic that was much more affordable than designers like Ralph Lauren. Within the decade, the company grew its customer base exponentially. Their sales increased from $3 Million to $100 Million in less than 10 years. In 1989 the company expanded into retail stores with their first brick-and-mortar location in South Street Seaport in New York.

Fashion is important because it captures your personality. Sometimes the clothes you are wearing can say more about you than any words can. Advertising fashion has been part of the lives of people from the 1950's to 2016. “Advertising industry plays an important purpose in our society by being the main source of information for consumers and products”(O'Neil). The assorted trends from the decades create a personality for the people at the time. Societal views on people and clothes tend to affect the next in-style clothing item.

The 1920’s was considered the greatest era of the united states. You had energy new machines, new dances and music, also movies. Cars and simple things like vacuums, toasters and washing machines were invented to help people do things easier. The fashion industry also boomed with beautiful and colorful clothes and makeup, but all that changed in 10 years. In the 1930’s it was the start of The Great Depression. The Great Depression was an economic crisis. Millions of businesses were failing because people couldn't buy from them so they couldn't pay their workers so people didn't have jobs. If people didn't have jobs then they couldn’t eat and that leads to everyone being malnourished. There have been many reasons or theories for why this happened, but the main reason was

J.Crew as an iconic brand targeting young working professional by focusing on preppy and classy look failed in identifying brand focus. Also, their business model is performing poorly in the fast-fashion industry compare to traditional competitors, with its high prices, diverging quality, and undesirable brand image. Hence, the brand perception by customers has changed and many of them prefer to purchase the discounted products rather than full-priced items.

Rivalry among existing competitors: The apparel industry is highly competitive with a great number of both local and global competitors. As the market is mature, its growth is small. Accelerated growth and expansion to new markets are not easy goals to achieve. The barrier to get out of the industry is quite low for distributors, but high for producers. Most fashion manufacturers moved their production base to low-cost countries like China as wage and raw materials in developed markets like Western Europe are high. Besides, there is no great discrepancy in terms of quality of products, so customers make their purchase choices based on price and brand recognition.

Australia’s fashion industry has traditionally been bricks & mortar, later adding e-commerce sites to replace the catalog of old. However as was discussed in the 2016 industry event Ragtrader Live, the type of industry and business structure that exist in Australia and looking to be the norm is e-tailers such as The Iconic and Omni-channel such as Myer as tech continues to drive business

Italian industry has grown immensely with the late 17th century induction of fashion apparels modernizing into the modern world of fashion entity. The industry has grown into upper class, high quality fashion accessory and apparel industry. The top companies have

The Gap contracted with over 500 manufacturers around the world that made the companies private label apparel according

Running Head: Fashion Industry in Italy Fashion Industry in Italy [Writer's Name] [Institute's Name] Table of contents Executive summary……………………………………………………………………….3 Introduction to Italy………………………………………………………………………3 Geography of Italy………………………………………………………………………..