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The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century (1995–Today)

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Italian Fashion since 1945

Part of the book series: Italian and Italian American Studies ((IIAS))

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Abstract

This chapter deals with fashion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, dominated by the phenomenon of globalization. First of all, outsourcing affected Italian fashion as well as the growing financialization of companies, with the continuous purchase and sale of companies between the various countries. The two main innovations of the last few years are examined: the emergence of fast fashion, with different dynamics from those of traditional fashion, and the impact of the Internet, both as an efficient sales channel and as a form of customer involvement. Finally, there is an analysis of the latest trends in the fashion industry, which focuses on the one hand on sustainability and ecology, and on the other hand on the development of new technologies.

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Notes

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    The Devil Wears Prada, directed by D. Frankel, USA 2006.

  2. 2.

    S. Segre Reinach, “Moda e globalizzazione: i nuovi scenari internazionali”, in Fashion Studies. La moda nella storia, monographic issue of Memoria e Ricerca, 50, September–December 2015, pp. 51–65.

  3. 3.

    S. Segre Reinach, Un mondo di moda: Il vestire globalizzato, Laterza, Rome and Bari 2011, pp. 13–18.

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  13. 13.

    The description of these two wardrobes is also based on the results of the above-mentioned investigation and various interviews. The Author’s interview with G. Bertasso on 13 October 2015 was particularly useful. For the relevant cases, cf. in particular the interviews of Francesca M. born in 1988, and Marco B. born in 1993, carried out by A. Bonanno in 2014, as well as the series of interviews conducted in Rome in the summer of 2014 by G. Incalza.

  14. 14.

    Istituto per lo Sviluppo della formazione professionale dei lavoratori, Il fenomeno delle esternalizzazioni in Italia. Indagine sull’impatto dell’outsourcing sull’organizzazione aziendale, sulle relazioni industriali e sulle condizioni di tutela dei lavoratori, Rome 2011; P. Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, Wiley, New York 2005.

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  17. 17.

    Law no. 55 of 8 April 2010.

  18. 18.

    M. Bello, “Made in, la legge riprende quota”, in MF Fashion, 17 January 2014; Ibid., “Ue, legge sul Made in alla svolta cruciale”, in MF Fashion, 18 March 2014.

  19. 19.

    V. Pinchera, “Dal prodotto alla marca: la contraffazione nel settore degli accessori di moda”, in Contraffazione e cambiamento economico. Marche, imprese, consumatori, ed. C.M. Belfanti, Egea, Milan 2013, pp. 3–13.

  20. 20.

    Pinchera, Dal prodotto alla marca cit., pp. 25–27.

  21. 21.

    Kpmg, Le acquisizioni di investitori esteri nel Fashion & Luxury, Milan 2014, pp. 5–10.

  22. 22.

    Pinchera, La moda in Italia e in Toscana cit., p. 191.

  23. 23.

    “Il divorzio Hpi-Marzotto alla prova della Borsa”, in Corriere della Sera, 6 May 1997. For an account of the events cf. the main daily newspapers and MF Fashion of March–May 1997; G. Mondolo, “Il gran rifiuto di Marzotto”, in La Repubblica, 4 May 1997.

  24. 24.

    Hpi-Marzotto: Bersani, una vicenda che non lascia indifferenti, Agi (Agenzia Italia), 5 May 1997 (available at http://archivio.agi.it).

  25. 25.

    G. Baudo, “Hdp verso il polo italiano del lusso”, in MF Fashion, 24 December 1998; R. Gianola, “Hdp, il rosso è di moda”, in La Repubblica, 27 February 1999; J. Tagliabue, “Calvin Klein Seen Emerging As Italian Takeover Target”, in The New York Times, 26 January 2000.

  26. 26.

    G. Lonardi, “Il tandem Prada-Lvmh conquista l’impero Fendi”, in La Repubblica, 13 October 1999; M.S. Sacchi, “Santo Versace: ‘Così la morte di Gianni ha fermato il primo polo del lusso italiano’”, in Corriere.it, 15 July 2013. Cf. for an account of events the main daily newspapers and MF Fashion between October 1999 and November 2001 (cf. the historical database at www.mffashion.com).

  27. 27.

    Area studi Mediobanca (Mediobanca Research Department), Società della moda in Italia (2010–2015), Milan 2016, pp. 4–5, http://www.mbres.it/.

  28. 28.

    SRM, Un sud che innova e produce, vol. 3, La filiera abbigliamento-moda, Giannini, Naples 2015, pp. 23–26 (Eurostat data); Istat, Annuario statistico italiano 2015, Rome 2015.

  29. 29.

    WTO and UNcomtrade data: cf. Studi e ricerche per il Mezzogiorno, Un Sud che innova e produce, vol. 3, cit.

  30. 30.

    Ivi, p. 23.

  31. 31.

    Istituto italiano di statistica, Commercio estero e attività internazionali delle imprese. Annuario 2014, Rome 2014, above all pp. 117–118; ICE, L’italia nell’economia internazionale. Rapporto Ice 20 14–2015, Rome 2015.

  32. 32.

    Istituto italiano di statistica, Annuario statistico italiano 2015 cit., pp. 535–542; Istat, Interscambio commerciale in valore per area e paese del prodotto: Divisioni Ateco 2007 “CB14” Articoli di abbigliamento (anche in pelle e in pelliccia), “CB15” Articoli in pelle (escluso abbigliamento) e simili, December 2015, Database Istat coeweb.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., 8° Censimento generale dell’industria e dei servizi 22 ottobre 2001. Distretti industriali e sistemi locali del lavoro 2001, Rome 2006; Ibid., 9° Censimento dell’industria e dei servizi e Censimento delle istituzioni non profit. I distretti industriali 2011, Rome 2015; Studi e ricerche per il Mezzogiorno, Un sud che innova e produce, vol. 3, cit., p. 25.

  34. 34.

    P. Palmi, Le fabbriche della creatività. Un’analisi organizzativa dei distretti evoluti, Franco Angeli, Milan 2013, pp. 16–32; I distretti industriali del terzo millennio. Dalle economie di agglomerazione alle strategie d’impresa, eds. F. Guelpa, S. Miceli, Il Mulino, Bologna 2007.

  35. 35.

    Direzione Studi e Ricerche Intesa San Paolo, Economia e finanza dei distretti industriali. Rapporto annuale, n. 8, Milan 2015; cf. also Osservatorio nazionale distretti italiani, Il nuovo respiro dei distretti tra ripresa e riposizionamento. Rapporto 2015, Rome 2016.

  36. 36.

    Studi e ricerche per il Mezzogiorno, Un sud che innova e produce, vol. 3, cit.

  37. 37.

    Area studi Mediobanca, Top 15 moda Italia e aziende moda Italia: 2010–2014 e primi nove mesi 2015, Milan 2016.

  38. 38.

    Luxottica has announced the merger with the French lens manufacturer Essilor in 2017, which would establish a new huge corporation.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., Focus aziende moda Italia (2010–2015), Milan 2016.

  40. 40.

    B. Vitti, “Anno 1967. Milano diventa di moda”, in Milano è la moda cit. (reproduced in Professione PR cit., pp. 70–74).

  41. 41.

    Area studi Mediobanca, Società della moda in Italia (2010–2015) cit., p. 7.

  42. 42.

    Ivi, p. 22.

  43. 43.

    Ivi, p. 7.

  44. 44.

    C. Béret, “Shed, Cathedral or Museum?”, in Shopping: A Century of Art and Consumer Culture, eds. C. Grunenberg, M. Hollein, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2002, pp. 76–79

  45. 45.

    A new building for Miu Miu (owned by Prada) was also designed by Herzog & de Meuron in Miyuki Street in Aoyama Tokyo in 2015, not far from the Prada Epicenter.

  46. 46.

    G. Giammarresi, La moda e l’architettura, Electa, Milan 2008.

  47. 47.

    G. Ritzer, Enchanting a Disenchanted World: Revolutionizing the Means of Consumption (1999), Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks 1999; M. Augé, Disneyland e altri nonluoghi (1997), Bollati Boringhieri, Turin 1999; E. Scarpellini, Material Nation cit.

  48. 48.

    Fast Fashion Systems: Theories and Applications, ed. C. Tsan-Ming, CRC Press, Boca Raton 2013.

  49. 49.

    E. Cietta, La Rivoluzione del Fast Fashion. Strategie e modelli organizzativi per competere nelle industrie ibride, Franco Angeli, Milan 2008, pp. 187–220.

  50. 50.

    T. Polhemus, Style Surfing: What to Wear in the 3rd Millennium, Thames & Hudson, London 1996.

  51. 51.

    McArthurGlen, “20 mln di visitatori nel 2014”, in Pambianco News, 4 December 2014.

  52. 52.

    “Con Palmanova village Blackstone a quota 5 outlet e 650 store”, in MF Finanza, 19 June 2015.

  53. 53.

    Istituto italiano di statistica, Annuario statistico italiano 2015, Rome 2015, p. 715.

  54. 54.

    C. Lévi-Strauss , The Savage Mind (1962), University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1968, pp. 16–21.

  55. 55.

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  56. 56.

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  57. 57.

    D. Muggleton, Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style, Berg, Oxford and New York 2000.

  58. 58.

    Area studi Mediobanca, “Top 15 moda Italia” cit., pp. 1–2; Contactlab and Exane BNP Paribas, Digital Frontier 2016: Digital Luxury Is Turning Mainstream, Milan 2016, p. 6.

  59. 59.

    Casaleggio associati, E-commerce in Italia 2015, Milan 2015, pp. 9–12.

  60. 60.

    Ivi, pp. 22–23.

  61. 61.

    G. Williams, “How Yoox Turned the Luxury-Goods Industry onto Digital”, in Wired, 24 September 2014.

  62. 62.

    Exane Bnp Paribas, Luxury Goods. Digital Frontier 2016: Digital Luxury Is Turning Mainstream, Milan 2016, p. 6.

  63. 63.

    Ivi, p. 14.

  64. 64.

    Ibid., Altagamma Retail Evolution, Milan 2015, p. 15.

  65. 65.

    S. Seymour, Fashionable Technology: The Intersection of Design, Fashion, Science, and Technology, Springer, Vienna 2008; R. Pailes-Friedman, Smart Textiles for Designers: Inventing the Future of Fabrics, Laurence King, London 2016.

  66. 66.

    Ufficio studi Acimit, Il commercio mondiale di tessile-abbigliamento: uno scenario al 2020, Milan 2014, p. 6.

  67. 67.

    Cf. for example the exhibition Futurotextiles: Surprising Textiles, Design & Art, Museo del Tessuto di Prato (30 September–13 November 2011).

  68. 68.

    Ufficio studi Acimit, Il commercio mondiale cit., pp. 5–6.

  69. 69.

    Ivi, pp. 30–39.

  70. 70.

    Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, Manifesto for the Sustainability in Italian Fashion, 13 June 2012 (available at https://www.cameramoda.it/media/pdf/manifesto_sostenibilita_en.pdf).

  71. 71.

    Lenzing, The Global Fiber Market in 2015, September 2016, http://www.lenzing.com/.

  72. 72.

    K. Fletcher, Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys, Earthscan, London and Sterling 2008, pp. 6–38.

  73. 73.

    Ivi, pp. 14–18, 27–30.

  74. 74.

    Ivi, p. 75.

  75. 75.

    H.C. Andersen, The Flax (1848–1849).

  76. 76.

    “Waste End. Economia circolare, nuova frontiera del made in Italy”, monographic issue of I Quaderni di Symbola, 13 March 2015, p. 111.

  77. 77.

    Assosistema, Studio di settore sul fine dei prodotti tessili, Rome 2015, p. 7 (the estimates are based on 2012 data).

  78. 78.

    “Waste End” cit., pp. 26, 35.

  79. 79.

    K. Tranberg Hansen, “Youth, Gender and Secondhand Clothing in Lusaka, Zambia”, in The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity, and Globalization, eds. E. Paulicelli, H. Clark, Routledge, London and New York 2009, pp. 112–144; K. Tranberg Hansen, Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia, Chicago University Press, Chicago 2000.

  80. 80.

    Assosistema, Studio di settore cit., pp. 9–12.

  81. 81.

    Ivi, pp. 19–47.

  82. 82.

    United Nations/UNCTAD, Creative Economy. Report 2008, Geneva 2008; United Nations Development Programme, Creative Economy Report: Widening Local Development Pathways, Paris 2013.

  83. 83.

    OECD, The Creative Society of the 21st Century, Paris 2000.

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    Emanuela Scarpellini

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Scarpellini, E. (2019). The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century (1995–Today). In: Italian Fashion since 1945. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17812-3_6

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