Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

An “Orphan” Creative Industry: Exploring the Institutional Factors Constraining the Canadian Fashion Industry

Brydges, Taylor and Pugh, Rhiannon LU orcid (2017) In Growth and Change 48(4). p.942-962
Abstract
In recent years, tier‐two fashion countries have been making gains in the global fashion industry, with hip young brands, buzz‐worthy fashion weeks and export‐oriented designers. The Canadian fashion industry, on the other hand, continues to fall behind and instead has experienced recent high‐profile closures of leading domestic fashion names. This paper explores why this is the case by considering a wide range of factors from a historical and institutional perspective. We argue that Canadian fashion is facing a number of systemic problems relating to wider institutional and policy weaknesses, rather than a lack of talent and know‐how within the entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector. While the fashion industry is indeed global, we... (More)
In recent years, tier‐two fashion countries have been making gains in the global fashion industry, with hip young brands, buzz‐worthy fashion weeks and export‐oriented designers. The Canadian fashion industry, on the other hand, continues to fall behind and instead has experienced recent high‐profile closures of leading domestic fashion names. This paper explores why this is the case by considering a wide range of factors from a historical and institutional perspective. We argue that Canadian fashion is facing a number of systemic problems relating to wider institutional and policy weaknesses, rather than a lack of talent and know‐how within the entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector. While the fashion industry is indeed global, we argue that it is in fact national and local level factors—political, economic, and cultural—that structure and constrain the Canadian fashion industry for independent designers. Through exploring the experiences of this group of actors—entrepreneurial fashion designers—in this particular context, we not only learn about Canada as an economy but also what is needed in order to develop the fashion industry more broadly. We provide a framework for analysing the range of socio‐economic, historical, and political factors at the national level which affect the performance of the fashion sector and the operation of fashion designers as the entrepreneurial actors at the heart of the industry. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Growth and Change
volume
48
issue
4
pages
942 - 962
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85017096706
ISSN
0017-4815
DOI
10.1111/grow.12203
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
5870b303-b379-45bb-93d1-078c488df443
date added to LUP
2020-09-09 14:17:57
date last changed
2022-02-16 08:41:04
@article{5870b303-b379-45bb-93d1-078c488df443,
  abstract     = {{In recent years, tier‐two fashion countries have been making gains in the global fashion industry, with hip young brands, buzz‐worthy fashion weeks and export‐oriented designers. The Canadian fashion industry, on the other hand, continues to fall behind and instead has experienced recent high‐profile closures of leading domestic fashion names. This paper explores why this is the case by considering a wide range of factors from a historical and institutional perspective. We argue that Canadian fashion is facing a number of systemic problems relating to wider institutional and policy weaknesses, rather than a lack of talent and know‐how within the entrepreneurs and businesses in the sector. While the fashion industry is indeed global, we argue that it is in fact national and local level factors—political, economic, and cultural—that structure and constrain the Canadian fashion industry for independent designers. Through exploring the experiences of this group of actors—entrepreneurial fashion designers—in this particular context, we not only learn about Canada as an economy but also what is needed in order to develop the fashion industry more broadly. We provide a framework for analysing the range of socio‐economic, historical, and political factors at the national level which affect the performance of the fashion sector and the operation of fashion designers as the entrepreneurial actors at the heart of the industry.}},
  author       = {{Brydges, Taylor and Pugh, Rhiannon}},
  issn         = {{0017-4815}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{942--962}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Growth and Change}},
  title        = {{An “Orphan” Creative Industry: Exploring the Institutional Factors Constraining the Canadian Fashion Industry}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/grow.12203}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/grow.12203}},
  volume       = {{48}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}