Changing Geographies of Fashion in the European Semi-Periphery

Sustainability in fashion production and consumption is considered a major contemporary challenge and at the same time a visible trend in the fashion market. Despite a growing body of academic literature on the topic, detailed analyses have so far mainly pertained to only a selected dimension of the fashion market (design, production, retail or consumption). They have more often explored major fashion centres, brands and firms rather than independent designers, SMEs or independent fashion events and other alternative consumption means and spaces or less obvious intermediaries in the fashion market. Although the issue of sustainable fashion has been noticed in the academic discourse in Poland, it is yet to be examined bringing together the production and consumption side of the issue. Nor has the spatial dimension of fashion market transformation in Poland been analysed in detail. Taking a geographic perspective, this book fills this research gap by presenting a holistic approach to the fashion market – including design, production and consumption of fashion – considering the social, cultural and spatial dimensions of the matter and diverse stakeholders who participate in it. Providing a comprehensive analysis of long-term changes in the Polish fashion market, the book addresses several interesting issues. These include the extent to which the sustainable reorientation of the fashion market accompanies the broader processes of adaptation, restructuring and upgrading of the textile and clothing sector; how it fits into the broader logic of culturalisation of clothing production and commercialisation of design as an applied artistic genre and a part of the creative sector; and to what extent it is connected with new, alternative consumption patterns with respect to channels, places and spaces of clothing purchases and (re)use. The main premise of the book is that although it is still a relatively small part of the fashion market in Poland, sustainable fashion design, production and consumption is an increasingly important phenomenon, with significant social, economic and spatial implications. The book therefore argues that sustainable design and production constitute a promising opportunity for adaptation, restructuring and upgrading of the textile and clothing sector in the European semi-periphery. Using the metaphor of the fashion ecosystem, it also illustrates how sustainable fashion practices contribute to the creation of new links and networks within the fashion industry, alongside a more fragmented domestic production structure.