Description
Book SynopsisFashion generates over a trillion dollars in sales annually and has the priceless ability to beguile its customers around the world. Fashion Entrepreneurship: The Creation of the Global Fashion Business provides the first authoritative history of the global fashion industry, from its emergence to the present day, with a focus on the entrepreneurs at the nucleus of many of the world's influential brands. It shows how successive generations of entrepreneurs built and developed their brands, democratizing access to fashion brands throughout the world.
This book analyzes the careers of the greatest fashion entrepreneurs from the nineteenth century onward, including such legendary names as Charles Worth, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Giorgio Armani. It shows how this distinct form of entrepreneurship has arisen and what lessons new entrepreneurs can learn from the past to create thriving fashion businesses in today's rapidly changing modern world.
Trade Review"Neri Karra brings the history of global fashion as a business alive in her enlightening book, and delivers important lessons on how to succeed for aspiring fashion designers and managers in the industry."
- Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School
"I commend Neri’s effort to explore the origins of the fashion industry through the key figures who shaped its history. Her effort is comprehensive and covers a lot of ground."
- Luca Solca, Head of Luxury Research at Bernstein
"I found the book on Fashion Entrepreneurship beautifully structured, illustrated longitudinally through time to bring out the essence of the paradoxical nature of the fashion business. On one side it is niche, for the lucky few, while on the other hand it is a global business with companies having the largest market cap in Europe and the richest person of the world deriving wealth from an industry. Neri's analysis on this historical path dependency is very important to understand for fashion entrepreneurs as they desire for global dominance following in the footsteps of the stalwarts of the industry."
- Ashok Som, Professor of Global Strategy, ESSEC Business School
"Author Neri Karra provides an authoritative and comprehensive analysis of the emergence of global fashion entrepeneurship. The book incorporates essential information on how creative aesthetics are combined with brand strategy to produce commercial success in the context of fashion, art and culture'"
- Marnie Fogg, Author of Fashion: The Whole History
“Neri Karra brings the history of global fashion as a business alive in her enlightening book, and delivers important lessons on how to succeed for aspiring fashion designers and managers in the industry.”
Geoffrey Jones, Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Harvard Business School
“I commend Neri’s effort to explore the origins of the fashion industry through the key figures who shaped its history. Her effort is comprehensive and covers a lot of ground.”
Luca Solca, Head of Luxury Research at Bernstein
“I found the book on Fashion Entrepreneurship beautifully structured, illustrated longitudinally through time to bring out the essence of the paradoxical nature of the fashion business. On one side it is niche, for the lucky few, while on the other hand it is a global business with companies having the largest market cap in Europe and the richest person of the world deriving wealth from an industry. Neri’s analysis on this historical path dependency is very important to understand for fashion entrepreneurs as they desire for global dominance following in the footsteps of the stalwarts of the industry.”
Ashok Som, Professor of Global Strategy, ESSEC Business School
“Author Neri Karra provides an authoritative and comprehensive analysis of the emergence of global fashion entrepeneurship. The book incorporates essential information on how creative aesthetics are combined with brand strategy to produce commercial success in the context of fashion, art, and culture.”
Marnie Fogg, Author of Fashion: The Whole History
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Business of Fashion
Part I Fashion Rising
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- The Birth of Fashion Entrepreneurship (1845-1895)
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- Fashion, Art, and Beauty (1895-1914)
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Part II Fashion Diffusion
- Fashion Amid War and Depression (1914-1945)
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- The Golden Age of Haute Couture (1945-1959)
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- The Changing Face of the Fashion Business (1960s onward)
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Part III Fashion Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice
- Building the Fashion Firm: Entrepreneurial Capabilities for Fashion Business Success
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- The Fashion Entrepreneurship Model: Dynamics Creating Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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- Fashion Business Models: Entrepreneurial Drivers, Opportunities, and Challenges
Conclusion: The Dream Makers
