This thesis focuses on the relationship between the socialist system and fashion in four countries: Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Soviet Union during seventy-two years of communist rule. From its beginning in 1917, the socialist system had an antagonistic relationship with fashion, which eventually turned into a grudging acceptance by the end of the 1980s. I identify two main types of sartorial official codes within socialism: utopian dress and socialist official fashion. I analyse these ideological constructs through the concepts of time, class, taste and gender. The symbolic production of utopian dress was informed by the initial Bolshevik rejection of the past and the search for a totally new type of clothes. Socialist official fashion reflected the regimes' ontological fear of change and discontinuity, and in the later phases of socialism their need to dress up their new middle classes in civilian clothes. The socialist regimes failed to invent a new socialist dress. Instead, they embraced the most traditional aesthetics in dress and the most conventional notion of gender. I demonstrate that similarities and differences in socialist official fashion were informed by ideological shifts within the master narratives in the respective countries. I conclude that the problematic relationship between socialism and fashion was caused by their ontological differences.

Our planet is threatened by a rapidly changing climate, alarming resource depletion and a steadily rising population growth. This calls for intensified sustainable practices within businesses of all sizes and industries. In recent years this resulted in a wholly new model called the circular economy. Inherent to this is the Cradle to Cradle framework which seeks to design and create commodities in such a way that the impact on the environment, i.e. the carbon footprint is neutralised. Significant efforts are currently being undertaken in Europe and the United States in various sectors with a recent focus on transforming the fashion industry. The literature finds that that there is generally still little known in this area, there was barely any evidence of this change taking in New Zealand. The objective of this research is to explore this and to eventually build a theoretical understanding to what extent Cradle to Cradle plays a role within the fashion industry. This was achieved by employing the grounded theory method. Data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with owners-managers supplemented by secondary data such as sustainability reports. In line with grounded theory principles, open and selective coding, theoretical sampling and constant comparison were used to analyse all data within the Nvivo 10 Software. The theory showed that somewhat severe resource constraints and an occurring loss of transparency by outsourcing manufacturing operations to overseas locations impede the shift towards the circular economy at present. This research contributes to sustainable development literature by providing a comprehensive model of how the uptake of sustainable practices is influenced and dependent on multiple aspects and therefore fosters the understanding of a complex, intertwined and intransparent industry. Furthermore, this research benefits companies and business networks alike.

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This thesis presents a historicized account of the construction of identity within contemporary indie. Indie emerged as a music scene in the early 1980s, and existing scholarly accounts of it focus on practices of music production and consumption. Indie has expanded and diversified over the last 30 years, however. Crucially, in the UK it has become increasingly interconnected into popular fashion – a development that has transformed indie from being a space solely for the construction of masculine identities, as it was in the 1980s, into a space for the construction of both masculine and feminine identities. These transformations within indie have not been addressed, and one of the contributions of this research is to fill this gap. This thesis contributes to the field of youth cultural studies by providing new knowledge on the relationship between youth culture and popular fashion. Drawing on the Bourdieuian concept ‘field’, the thesis explores the relationship between the sub-field of indie music and the field of popular fashion in the UK, arguing that contemporary indie forms at the points of overlap between these two fields: where their value systems are mutually informative and where their value systems diverge. Drawing on Foucault’s concepts ‘discourse’ and ‘practices of the self’, this thesis explores the way in which this complex popular cultural formation creates a space for the construction of identities. Through an analysis of media representations, it considers the discursive constitution of indie, and through an analysis of participant observation and interviews, it explores the ways in which those people participating in this formation construct the self. The thesis contributes to the field of fashion studies in that it draws together these two methodologies into an examination of the construction of identity and, more specifically, gendered identities.

My intention is to contribute to the field of exhibition-making a repertoire of presentation modes, previously not analysed or documented, that can be applied to the display of fashion in the museum and which will extend those techniques currently available to the exhibition-maker to create meaningful and stimulating exhibition environments. Part 1 contextualises my investigation, through discussion of the exhibition as source material, the methods employed to execute the research and analysis of relevant literature. Part 1 concludes with an introduction to ModeMuseum, Antwerp, which is the primary location for my research. Part 2 details the identification, description and definition of a repertoire of presentation modes, classified and distinguished as innovative through comparative analysis of over 100 exhibitions visited for this research, alongside investigation of the exhibition formats and structures that support deployment of the modes. Part 3 relates the application of the presentation modes to the construction of a 'fashion autobiography‘ in the form of a proposal for a hypothetical exhibition, through examination of the processes utilised to develop the exhibition narrative and detailed account of the proposal in its final realisation. In conclusion, I will critically reflect on the research executed, underlining the interrelationship of the theoretical and practice-based activities. Finally, I will detail opportunities taken to disseminate this research, and indicate possible directions for continued investigation.

This is an interpretive study that explores the potency of consumption culture in China through a selected group that belongs to the first generation of the one-child policy – the 'Little Emperors'. This is a population that is unprecedented, not only in China but also in human history. The dawning of postmodernity has ushered in a consumption culture. Fashion and brands are chosen as the consumption sites in this study in view of their significance: they are accessible and inundated with symbolic meanings for the construction of identities. In the vertigo of postmodernity, there is a sudden excess of commodities and signs in the marketplace. Anchored in traditional Chinese values and operating from a holistic perspective, this first generation of Little Emperors has cultured a different kind of consumption literacy in the 'Postmodern(Eas)t Mall'. They are brand raisers, in the context, there is a salient socio-cultural logic in symbolic consumption, an outside-in dialectical process in the self construct, a layered self with a strong institutional influence and discipline ascribed or imagined, they are happy consumers, even though they may not know fashion or brands very well.

Fashion companies consistently prove to be the most prolific and successful of the international retailers. Success is attributed to small format size, single brand emphasis and economies of format replication. These factors contain the costs, and risks, of foreign market expansion. Evidence from the British fashion market attests to the aggressive expansion policies of foreign fashion retailers who, in the past decade, have disrupted the competitive equilibrium of the UK market. This study examines the motives, methods and management challenges that foreign fashion retailers face, and adopt, as they establish operations within the UK. Drawing from the wider international business and international retailing literature, seven research propositions direct the first, positivist research stage. Via a mail survey, sent to all foreign fashion retailers with stores in the UK, the study identifies that these are proactive internationalists, drawn to the UK to exploit the opportunities afforded from niche markets and brands with significant consumer appeal. The research also notes specific differences between designer, specialist and general fashion retailers in terms of motivations, entry methods, operating strategies, critical success factors and the problems they encounter. The second phase of the research is interpretivist in nature and examines the actual process of internationalising fashion retail operations within the UK from the perspective of seven case companies. The study concludes that the foreign entrants remain within the British market for reasons of exceptional profitability, reputation and consumer and competitor intelligence. The central contribution of the study resides in the identification and analysis of the facets integral to the actual process of successfully internationalising fashion retail operations; notably the incremental development of effective central and local management structures, the clear demarcation of management decision-making responsibility, and the staged development of product ranging and development, brand positioning and distribution planning policies.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate performance claims in athleisure, in order to confirm or refute their authenticity. Aesthetic properties and functional claims were evaluated initially, and after repeated home laundering. A convenience (nonprobability) sample of activewear with performance features consisted of ninety garments that are currently on the market and commonly used by consumers. The garments included men’s and women’s t-shirts, polos, leggings, windbreakers, hoodies, sweatpants, and warm-up pants of various fiber contents and performance chemistries. The focus of the garment selection was on garments with performance properties relating to moisture management. Performance claims listed on the hang tags included moisture management, wicking, quick dry, stay cool, breathable, water resistant and wind resistant. Garments in the sample were a combination of natural, synthetic and blended fiber contents. The garments were tested initially, after one, five, ten, fifteen and twenty laundry cycles. The garments were evaluated for smoothness, dimensional stability, color change, pilling, horizontal wicking of textiles, water repellency- spray test, water resistance- impact penetration, water resistance- hydrostatic pressure, absorbency of textiles, aqueous liquid repellency and air permeability. All testing was performed in accordance with AATCC and ASTM standard test methods and was conducted under controlled laboratory settings.

This practice-led PhD research explores the nature of embodied knowledge acquired and practised through the rhythms and patterns of hand-stitching processes, such as embroidery, plain sewing and patchwork quilting, undertaken by individuals alone and in dedicated groups as recreational craft, artistic expression and social life. The scale and pace of hand-stitching match those of the body, grounding cognitive and emotional experience in a tangible process. The hand-eye-mind coordination required cultivates a distinctive form of attention to the self, which has renewed importance in the context of the anti- haptic experiences of screen technologies that infiltrate our daily routines in the home and the workplace. Working with the premise that skilled hand-stitching concerns more than technical ability, I examine how these activities articulate dimensions of subjective experience. In turn, I explore ways in which the relationship between an individual and a group is constructed through their crafting skills. My previous experiences of textile crafting as a social activity drew me to this question, and my interest as a practitioner and teacher in the contemporary and future relevance of skilful work motivates me to better understand what it is that I, and many other stitch practitioners, do. With the tacit knowledge of a practitioner I know how to stitch, and from my investigations into the history and theory of textile art, craft and material culture I know about stitch. However, my view is that when absorbed in the process of making other more immediate and personal sensations take over. An exploration of haptic sensations relative to these processes underpins the investigation, and I focus instead on the dynamic relationship between practical skill, the body and its proximity to tools, materials and other people during actual experiences of making – the repeated gestures, coordinated hand movements and the skilled precision of tool use and fingertip manipulation – to provide a new context for the study of embodied knowledge known in and through hand-stitching. In order to explore this I have used a combination of ethnographic, auto-ethnographic and creative research methods including interviews, observation, video recording of a patchwork quilting group, participation in practical stitching sessions with a village embroidery group, undertaking workshops with students, and my own reflective stitching practice. It has emerged from the research that patterns of hand-stitching processes share characteristics with certain modes of social interaction sought by participants in order to experience sensations of participation, belonging or interdependence. Similarly to other oral traditions, an embodied knowledge of the practice includes patterns of interaction and particular attitudes and behaviours that are inseparable from the practical skills. However, people also stitch on their own; as a private, contemplative activity, hand-stitching allows a person to carve out time and space for introspective reflection. Whilst this could be thought of as a different kind of experience altogether, I suggest that mastery of these skills enables control over when and how to use them, which, I have found, allows a practitioner to adjust the type of experience sought: participation in a shared conversation or activity can be exchanged for isolated contemplation and a sense of self-reliance. I conclude that hand-stitching surpasses its technical or artistic attributes when considered as a material practice that offers particular metaphors for other processes of joining, collaboration, integrity – or even separation and isolation. Practising these skills is possibly the only way to acquire this embodied knowledge, which needs to be understood as a mode of interaction if it is not merely trivialised as quaint, as domestic labour or archived as ethnographic curiosity or as art object.

Background/Introduction:  Coaching is a concept that has existed since the 16th century but recently seems to be in every context. There are life coaches, work coaches, sports coaches and coaching in companies. Suddenly coaching seems to be everywhere. Despite that, there is not many empirical studies about coaching. At the same time there is a discussion going on about wheater coaching could be seen as a short-lived fashion or not. Purpose: Develop an understanding of coaching by showing how coaching can end up in and how it can be expressed in organizations.  Research questions: How has coaching ended up in the cases in the study? How has coaching been expressed in the cases in the study? Method: We have made a qualitative study with an abductive approach. First we have collected empirical material through semi-structured interviews without a theoretical basis. Then we analyzed and interpreted the empiricals using institutional theory.  Conclusion: The study shows that coaching has spread through leadership educations, sport coach educations, university studies, own interest, lectures, books, and role models. The coaching then been expressed through communication, questions, goals and planning, support and feedback. The characteristics of coaching, the way it is spreads and the way it has come to the companies are in line with how fashion works according to the theory. The organisations also handle coaching in the exact same way as they are handling fashion. With these facts we claim that one could say that coaching is fashion today. / Bakgrund/inledning: Coaching är ett begrepp som funnits sedan 1500-talet men som på senare tid verkar finnas överallt. Det finns livscoacher, jobbcoacher, idrottscoacher och coaching i företag. Det verkar vara något som plötsligt finns i alla sammanhang. Trots det finns det få empiriska studier om coaching. Samtidigt pågår en diskussion kring huruvida coaching kan ses som ett mode eller inte.  Syfte: Utveckla förståelsen för coaching genom att visa på hur coaching kan komma till och ta sig i uttryck i organisationer Frågor: Hur har coaching kommit till fallen i studien?  Hur har coaching tagit sig i uttryck i fallen i studien?  Metod: Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie med med ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt. Vi har först samlat in empiriskt material via semi-strukturerade intervjuer utan en teoretisk utgångspunkt för att sedan analysera och tolka det empiriska materialet med hjälp av institutionell teori. Slutsats: Studien visar att coaching har spridit sig via ledarskapsutbildningar, idrottscoachutbildning, universitetsstudier, eget intresse, föreläsningar, böcker, och förebilder. Coachingen har sedan tagit sig i uttryck genom kommunikation, frågeställningar, mål och planering, stöttning och feedback. Cochingens egenskaper, sätt att sprida sig på och komma till företaget stämmer överens med hur ett mode fungerar. Organisationerna hanterar dessutom coaching precis som de hanterar moden vilket gör att vi menar att vi kan säga att coaching ses som ett mode idag.