Capitalism's Favorite Child
Global Fashion Business since 1850
Will be published approx. on 5. February 2026
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-350-10981-0 (ISBN)
Description
Combining research methods from business and global history, Donze and Wubs equip readers with a vital and expansive new analysis of the development of the global fashion industry from the mid-19th century to today.
Ranging across Europe, the Americas and Asia over two centuries, Donze and Wubs bring the work of manufacturers and designers together with trade associations, fashion forecasters and retailers to investigate the transformations of this truly global business - 'capitalism's favorite child' (Werner Sombart). New data and sources reveal unexpected threads and detail within even such well-trodden narratives as Chanel under the occupation, the Nylon revolution, and the retail strategy of United Colours of Benetton.
What impact do the hidden histories of fabric trades such as cotton, wool and silk have on how we dress today? What continues to divide 'high' and 'low' fashion when low-cost production countries transition into high-income economies? How do technological changes from 'fast fashion' to e-commerce trace back to the industry's beginnings - and what can students, scholars, and industry leaders learn from this history about what the future might hold?
Featuring new work on unstudied areas from Swiss silk companies in East Asia to the influence of finance on modern fashion, this is the most global, long-term, and interconnected history of the industry to date.
Ranging across Europe, the Americas and Asia over two centuries, Donze and Wubs bring the work of manufacturers and designers together with trade associations, fashion forecasters and retailers to investigate the transformations of this truly global business - 'capitalism's favorite child' (Werner Sombart). New data and sources reveal unexpected threads and detail within even such well-trodden narratives as Chanel under the occupation, the Nylon revolution, and the retail strategy of United Colours of Benetton.
What impact do the hidden histories of fabric trades such as cotton, wool and silk have on how we dress today? What continues to divide 'high' and 'low' fashion when low-cost production countries transition into high-income economies? How do technological changes from 'fast fashion' to e-commerce trace back to the industry's beginnings - and what can students, scholars, and industry leaders learn from this history about what the future might hold?
Featuring new work on unstudied areas from Swiss silk companies in East Asia to the influence of finance on modern fashion, this is the most global, long-term, and interconnected history of the industry to date.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
100 color illus
Dimensions
Height: 248 mm
Width: 170 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
885 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-10981-0 (9781350109810)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Pierre-Yves Donze is professor of business history at Osaka University, Japan and visiting professor at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Ben Wubs is professor of international business history at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Ben Wubs is professor of international business history at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Content
List of figures
List of tables
List of boxes
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The emergence of the modern fashion business
The global expansion of the commodity trade-wool, cotton, and silk
Technological innovation-textile machinery, sewing machines, and artificial colors
Standardization of sizes
New consumption temples-department stores
Conclusion
2. The rise of haute couture or high-end fashion
The inventor of a new business: Charles Frederick Worth
The heyday of French haute couture (1880-1939)
Haute couture as a transnational industry
Trade associations in haute couture
Conclusion
3. Fashion for the masses
Change in consumption habits
Clothing industry around the world
Networks and large factories
Producing fabrics for the European colonies
The internalization model in apparel retail: C&A
The outsourcing model: M&S
Conclusion
4. West meets East and the Rest
How British cotton conquered the world and deindustrialized India
Japan's Meiji Restoration, selective Westernization, and uniforms
Forced opening of China, the Opium Wars, and the Westernization of Chinese culture
Chinese and Japanese influences on Western fashion
Wax fabrics connected Asia, Europe, and Africa
Conclusion
5. American fashion
Fur, cotton, and slavery
Industrialization and textiles
Ready-to-wear
The rise of New York fashion
The rise of denim
Leisure and sportswear
Conclusion
6. Fashion, fascism, and the Second World War
Italian fascism, fashion, and fibers
Nazi autarky, Aryanization, and artificial fibers
Japan's fashion during the military dictatorship
Paris fashion during the German occupation
British-controlled fashion
American independence from Paris
Conclusion
7. Postwar fashion systems
A new business model for Parisian haute couture
US fashion industry-mass production, creativity and imitation
The emergence of Italian fashion
Western fashion and garments in Japan
Growth of global apparel industry
Conclusion
8. Global fashion: Outsourcing and the end of the production paradigm
Global shifts in the textile and apparel industries
The rise of global fashion companies
Mediatization of fashion
The Japanese way
Fashion in developing economies
Conclusion
9. Fashion conglomerates and fast fashion
The rise of LVMH
Financialization of luxury fashion brands
Fast fashion-retail and production
(Un)sustainability and fashion
Conclusion
10. Sports to fashion
Sportswear and casual style in the United States
A German sports-shoemaker conquers Germany-and then the world
Game changers-the rise of Nike and Reebok
Near-death experience and revival of adidas
Marketing of sportswear
Fashionalization of adidas
Conclusion
11. Digital fashion and global production networks
Globalization and global production networks
Fashion forecasting: WGSN (London) and Stylesight (New York)
E-commerce, fast fashion, and the destruction of traditional retail
Mediatization, bloggers, and influencers
The Fourth Industrial Revolution in fashion
Conclusion
Conclusion
References
Index
List of tables
List of boxes
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The emergence of the modern fashion business
The global expansion of the commodity trade-wool, cotton, and silk
Technological innovation-textile machinery, sewing machines, and artificial colors
Standardization of sizes
New consumption temples-department stores
Conclusion
2. The rise of haute couture or high-end fashion
The inventor of a new business: Charles Frederick Worth
The heyday of French haute couture (1880-1939)
Haute couture as a transnational industry
Trade associations in haute couture
Conclusion
3. Fashion for the masses
Change in consumption habits
Clothing industry around the world
Networks and large factories
Producing fabrics for the European colonies
The internalization model in apparel retail: C&A
The outsourcing model: M&S
Conclusion
4. West meets East and the Rest
How British cotton conquered the world and deindustrialized India
Japan's Meiji Restoration, selective Westernization, and uniforms
Forced opening of China, the Opium Wars, and the Westernization of Chinese culture
Chinese and Japanese influences on Western fashion
Wax fabrics connected Asia, Europe, and Africa
Conclusion
5. American fashion
Fur, cotton, and slavery
Industrialization and textiles
Ready-to-wear
The rise of New York fashion
The rise of denim
Leisure and sportswear
Conclusion
6. Fashion, fascism, and the Second World War
Italian fascism, fashion, and fibers
Nazi autarky, Aryanization, and artificial fibers
Japan's fashion during the military dictatorship
Paris fashion during the German occupation
British-controlled fashion
American independence from Paris
Conclusion
7. Postwar fashion systems
A new business model for Parisian haute couture
US fashion industry-mass production, creativity and imitation
The emergence of Italian fashion
Western fashion and garments in Japan
Growth of global apparel industry
Conclusion
8. Global fashion: Outsourcing and the end of the production paradigm
Global shifts in the textile and apparel industries
The rise of global fashion companies
Mediatization of fashion
The Japanese way
Fashion in developing economies
Conclusion
9. Fashion conglomerates and fast fashion
The rise of LVMH
Financialization of luxury fashion brands
Fast fashion-retail and production
(Un)sustainability and fashion
Conclusion
10. Sports to fashion
Sportswear and casual style in the United States
A German sports-shoemaker conquers Germany-and then the world
Game changers-the rise of Nike and Reebok
Near-death experience and revival of adidas
Marketing of sportswear
Fashionalization of adidas
Conclusion
11. Digital fashion and global production networks
Globalization and global production networks
Fashion forecasting: WGSN (London) and Stylesight (New York)
E-commerce, fast fashion, and the destruction of traditional retail
Mediatization, bloggers, and influencers
The Fourth Industrial Revolution in fashion
Conclusion
Conclusion
References
Index