The global secondhand clothing industry is gaining momentum with tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits, nearly doubling its volume in 4 years, rattling the territory of fast fashion.
Read more
EDITOR’s Letter: HIDDEN in Plain Sight
Designers in Plain Sight Fashion is a powerful medium that influences and transforms society. We don’t always see and understand the cultural impact it has unless it’s documented in history books or presented at art institutions. Even with that documentation it is self-fulfilling, omitting a wide-range of history and artifacts. History shows that creators, contributors, […]
Read more
Fashion Industry STANDS WITH UKRAINE, #нетвойне. How Can You HELP?
Putin’s unprovoked, horrific war on Ukraine has rattled and rallied the world with an unprecedented global unity across all corners of our society which includes the fashion industry.
Read more
The State of FASHION 2022: GAINS, Pains, CIRCULARITY, and the Metaverse
If you look at fashion as a big corporate machine, well this is the report that comes out every year to forecast what the corporate industry will be up to in the coming year.
Read more
EDITOR’s Letter: “Will My Future Self Be Satisfied …”
New Year’s Eve is always a time of reflection of the past year as we look forward to the new year. However, in today’s times, reflecting on the last two years seems more appropriate. The pandemic has changed each of us in some way on what (or whom) we value and appreciate, what we prioritize […]
Read more
METAVERSE Fashion: fad, FRINGE, or Future? BFC gives out First Award
METAVERSE Curiosity? Watch out, what we know of Metaverse Fashion (MF) today may be considered fad or fringe, but looks compelling as a future business for the fashion industry?
Read more
Leaders and Laggards: The Toxic Chemical Scorecard of Fashion’s Supply Chain
How often, when you are shopping or have purchased clothing or shoes, do you come across a chemical smell? Who’s keeping score? Green America.
Read more
Is Technology the Future for Innovative Fashion? No!
Technology is built on data; innovation is built on imagination and cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence.
Read more
Fashion’s GHG Emissions: It’s Not Pretty in Pink
It’s more brazen in brown and here’s why: The fashion industry is one of the largest polluters in the world. According to United Nations Climate Change, the industry contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to its long supply chains and energy intensive production. Quantis reports that over 90% of emissions for apparel […]
Read more
Unsettling and Uplifting -10 Uncharted Paths to a New Direction for Fashion
We have to be unburdened by what has been to consider what can be. – Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
Read more
Time Will Tell. The State of Fashion 2021
Diminished, downsized, and discerning is the current normal of the fashion industry. Fashion companies will post approximately a 90 percent decline in economic profit in 2020, after a 4 percent rise in 2019. – BoF and Mckinsey & Company, The State of Fashion 2021 report
Read more
COVID Update: Reset, Recover Responsibly with Radical Change
Is the industry doing that? Lady Gaga has said ‘fashion doesn’t need to go together; it just needs to be upsetting’. She was referencing her dismissal of wearing designer clothing from head to toe. That’s just one aspect of the control culture or out-of-control culture that the fashion industry emits.
Read more
Correction, Contraction, and Cessation. COVID-19 calls to action a sustainable fashion system
The carnage of closures from the impact of COVID-19 throughout the supply chain is forcing the industry to pause and re-set. According to Mckinsey & Co., if stores remain closed for two months, 80 percent of publicly listed fashion companies in Europe and North America will be in financial distress. Revenues for the global fashion industry […]
Read more
The State of Fashion 2020 | Sustainability First
For the first time sustainability was named the biggest opportunity in this study.
Read more
Transparency | 79% of Consumers Want It
Four in five (79%) think clothing brands should provide information on their environmental commitments. Spanish and Italian consumers are more likely than average to think this.
Read more
Fashion giants sign UN charter to fight climate change. Will it work?
Can the biggest players in the fashion industry unite to stop global warming? The United Nations thinks so. During a conference in Katowice, Poland, UN Climate Change announced the launch of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action, a series of targets with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030 and […]
Read more
The State of Fashion 2019 | The Courage to “Self-Disrupt”
The fashion industry continues to hover in a state of flux . . . and we predict that 2019 will be a year shaped by consumer shifts linked to technology, social causes and trust issues, alongside the potential disruption from geopolitical and macroeconomic events. Only those brands that accurately reflect the zeitgeist or have the […]
Read more
Fashion for Good, the world’s first museum for sustainable fashion opens in Amsterdam
Join the movement! With the focus on fashion consumerism and the circular economy, Fashion for Good museum is the first interactive museum dedicated for sustainable fashion. Amsterdam — Fashion for Good, the global initiative for sustainable fashion, has opened the doors of its museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, today. The space aims to show visitors […]
Read more
Fashion Unknown Fact | India, World’s Youngest Emerging Economy
What does this mean for the fashion community? According to a report by Technopak, “in contrast to the increasingly aged populations in the West, Japan, and even China, India is expected to become the world’s youngest emerging economy by 2020, with around 64% of its population in the working age group” – median age 28 [compared to US 38, […]
Read more
Consumers Call the Shots | A Power Shift Away from the Retailers
The future is in the hands of the consumers with a power shift away from the retailers. Shoppers have more control over what, when, how, and how often they purchase fashion, leaving retailers (both online and brick and mortar) with many challenges not the least of which is ‘what to offer’. Plunkett Research, Ltd.’s Keys […]
Read more
Fashion Unknown Fact – 85% Workforce Loss in U.S. Apparel Manufacturing
Did you know as late as 1990, the United States apparel manufacturing industry employed nearly 939,000 people? In 1931, the Garment District in New York was home to the highest concentration of clothing manufacturers in the world. But as manufacturing has moved overseas the sector has since lost more than 85 percent of its workforce […]
Read more
Fashion Unknown Fact – The U.S. Fashion Industry Employs More Than 1.8 Million People
The fashion industry—including retailers, manufacturers, designers and wholesalers—employs more than 1.8 million people in the United States. It relies on workers in a wide range of occupations, including fashion designers, market research analysts, graphic design artists, computer systems developers, patternmakers, sewing machine operators, retail sales workers, wholesale buyers, accountants and business operations specialists.The U.S. fashion […]
Read more
Fashion Unknown Fact – U.S. Apparel Manufacturing Runs a $76 Billion Trade Deficit
According to U.S. Congress JEC report, the U.S. apparel manufacturing industry currently runs a trade deficit. In 2014, U.S. apparel exports totaled roughly $6 billion, while imports were about $82 billion. Over one-third of U.S. apparel imports come from China (36 percent), with Vietnam (11 percent), Bangladesh (6 percent), Indonesia (6 percent), and Mexico (5 […]
Read more
Fashion Unknown Fact – How Big is Fashion Week Worldwide?
Did you know Wikipedia list over 75 countries that produce fashion events? Here’s a little context of how big the fashion show industry is:
Read more
Fashion Industry Key Consumer Insights
The Trendstop team of FashionUnited brings you this exclusive insight into the consumer mindset. . .
Read more
The State of Fashion 2017
The U.S. fashion industry has changed dramatically since the early part of the 20th century when its main focus was manufacturing. In 1931, the Garment District in New York was home to the highest concentration of clothing manufacturers in the world. – The New Economy of Fashion | Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress […]
Read more
The New Economy of Fashion
There are strong signs of a bright future for sectors of the fashion industry—primarily in design and high tech manufacturing. Fashion is a multi-trillion dollar global industry, encompassing everything from textile and apparel brands to wholesalers, importers and retailers. Over a trillion dollars is spent annually on apparel and footwear around the globe, with nearly […]
Read more
Dubai | The Road To A Fashion Ecosystem
Dubai – beyond its endless luxury shopping malls and over-the-top conspicuous consumption culture – is paying attention to creative emerging talent. Emerging local designers and international brands are making a go at tapping into this mega fashion retail capital. Dubai is building a fashion ecosystem, developing an infrastructure that not only supports the retail climate, […]
Read more
Fashion Forward Dubai
Africa | The Emerging Fashion Market
Out of Africa comes an emerging fashion market which plays an important role in this global enterprise. This market is true to the African culture and the consumers are responding to the newness that African designers present against the sea of sameness so prevalent in the industry. Redefine your perception of Africa. With the growth […]
Read more
EDGE Out of Africa
The industry needs fresh blood. Armani is tired. Galliano is trying to resuscitate himself. McQueen is gone. Gucci is failing to reinvigorate and Prada needs a new creative team. It’s time for the big fashion investors to start looking to Africa. Not appropriating our themes, but taking on our design talent. – Johannesburg designer David […]
Read more
Knock, Knock. . .Who’s There?. . .Asia
Opportunity knocks in Asia for those brave and progressive U.S. emerging designers [EDGE]. Do you have a global business strategy that taps into the East’s demand for fashion from the West? Here are a few tidbits of what’s going on in the Asia market: The Chinese are still the biggest buyers of luxury goods globally, […]
Read more
How Radical is Fashion Innovation?
This is what I think of innovation: It takes creativity to have the vision of a great idea, concept, or product. It takes courage, conviction, and determination to believe in it and follow it through to full execution and exposure [this is true of all artists]. One of my favorite magazines is i-D. I recently […]
Read more
Fashion Trends, Are They For Real?
There’s always a hunger for the next thing, a need to start a new movement. That’s true of media and “brand” created fashion trends, where trends are dictated for commercial reasons. Dressing normal is the Fall 2014 Gap campaign and many of you have heard of the “normcore” trend. Personally I think this “normal” trend […]
Read more
Barbie® as Creative Inspiration
Barbie® has been a muse to many artists over the past 5+ decades – including Andy Warhol and Peter Max. Over the years, Barbie® doll has always been a reflection of the times, art, and fashion whether following style trends or blazing her own fashion trail. Today, Barbie® is the most popular doll in the […]
Read more
EDGE Looks to China
Chinese consumers hold foreign brands in high esteem. “In the 1950s and 1960s the world economy was transformed by the emergence of the American consumer. Now China seems poised to become the next consumption superpower. In all likelihood, it has just overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-biggest consumer economy. Its roughly $3.3 trillion in […]
Read more
E D G E 