Orderly Fashion: A Sociology of Markets

by Patrik Aspers

Overview

For any market to work properly, certain key elements are necessary: competition, pricing, rules, clearly defined offers, and easy access to information. Without these components, there would be chaos. Orderly Fashion examines how order is maintained in the different interconnected consumer, producer, and credit markets of the global fashion industry. From retailers in Sweden and the United Kingdom to producers in India and Turkey, Patrik Aspers focuses on branded garment retailers--chains such as Gap, H&M, Old Navy, Topshop, and Zara. Aspers investigates these retailers' interactions and competition in the consumer market for fashion garments, traces connections between producer and consumer markets, and demonstrates why market order is best understood through an analysis of its different forms of social construction.

Emphasizing consumption rather than production, Aspers considers the larger retailers' roles as buyers in the production market of garments, and as potential objects of investment in financial markets. He shows how markets overlap and intertwine and he defines two types of markets--status markets and standard markets. In status markets, market order is related to the identities of the participating actors more than the quality of the goods, whereas in standard markets the opposite holds true.

Looking at how identities, products, and values create the ordered economic markets of the global fashion business, Orderly Fashion has wide implications for all modern markets, regardless of industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400835188
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	314,699
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Patrik Aspers is associate professor of sociology at Stockholm University. He is the author of Markets in Fashion.

Table of Contents

Preface ix
Introduction 1
The Aims of the Book 4
Order 5
Outline of the Book 9


Chapter 1: Garment Sellers in Consumer Markets 11
Identity 12
Market Differentiation 13
Types of Sellers 19
Competition and Cooperation 26
Splitting and Fusing Markets 31
Summary 33


Chapter 2: Affordable Fashion 34
Identities of Branded Garment Retailers 35
Retailers' Customers 40
Consumption and Identity 43
Price and Garments 46
Fashion 49
Fashion and Power 54
Identity Management 55
The Culture of the Market 57
Status Order 58
Summary 60


Chapter 3: Entrenching Identities 62
Performance Control 63
Relations of Identities 89
Summary 91


Chapter 4: Branded Garment Retailers in the
Production Market 94
Design and Fashion 95
Finding Manufacturers 102
Competition among Retailers 112
The Product 117
Retailers' Identities 123
Summary 123


Chapter 5: Manufacturing Garments in the Global Market 125
The Industry from the Perspective of the Manufacturers 126
The Production Process 131
Identity Differentiation and Strategies 136
Price and Global Competition 138
The Market Culture 142
Order Out of Standard 144
Summary 145


Chapter 6: Branded Garment Retailers in the
Investment Market 147
Approaching Financial Markets 148
Retailers' Identities in Investor Markets 149
The Stock Market and Its Value 150
Trading Fashion Stocks 155
Evaluation of Stocks 156
Economic Evaluation 158
Summary 162


Chapter 7: Markets as Partial Orders 165
Discussion of the Study 165
Partial Orders 171


Appendix I: Empirical Material and Methods 175
Appendix II: Garment Trade Statistics 181
Appendix III: The Garment Industry 185
Appendix IV: Economic Sociology 191
Appendix V: Fashion Theory and Research 195


Notes 201
References 213
Index 235

What People are Saying About This

Richard Swedberg

This fine book makes an original contribution to our understanding of fashion, markets, and social theory. While there do exist books on each of these topics, none of them tie everything together in such a convincing manner. Orderly Fashion is a fine merger of Aspers' substantive theoretical research interests, and is his best work so far.
— Richard Swedberg, author of Principles of Economic Sociology

From the Publisher

"Patrik Aspers shines a bright light on how markets come to seem orderly to producers and consumers, so they can strive to enact the script of rational actors. His astute and subtle account of all aspects of branded garment retailing sets a high bar for future studies of industry."—Mark Granovetter, Stanford University

"This fine book makes an original contribution to our understanding of fashion, markets, and social theory. While there do exist books on each of these topics, none of them tie everything together in such a convincing manner. Orderly Fashion is a fine merger of Aspers' substantive theoretical research interests, and is his best work so far."—Richard Swedberg, author of Principles of Economic Sociology

"This book delivers on a huge promise to advance our knowledge of both order and markets through sociological concepts and insights. The book demonstrates with lucid reasoning why order in markets is best understood through the social construction of meaning. An impressive accomplishment."—Shyon Baumann, University of Toronto

Mark Granovetter

Patrik Aspers shines a bright light on how markets come to seem orderly to producers and consumers, so they can strive to enact the script of rational actors. His astute and subtle account of all aspects of branded garment retailing sets a high bar for future studies of industry.
— Mark Granovetter, Stanford University

Shyon Baumann

This book delivers on a huge promise to advance our knowledge of both order and markets through sociological concepts and insights. The book demonstrates with lucid reasoning why order in markets is best understood through the social construction of meaning. An impressive accomplishment.
— Shyon Baumann, University of Toronto

Editorial Reviews

"I do hope that economists read this book and realize the potential that such descriptive analysis holds."—-Nick Krafft, Open Economics

"Aspers enlightens readers about the intricacies of the workings of the global fashion market. He has accomplished what he set out to do, to bring together economic, sociological, and fashion theory."—-Wanda K. Cheek, Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences

"[T]his is a very stimulating, well researched and well-written book, which deserves to be read by those interested in fashion, economic sociology and/or sociology in general."—-David Dequech, European Economic Sociology Newsletter

From the Publisher

[T]his is a very stimulating, well researched and well-written book, which deserves to be read by those interested in fashion, economic sociology and/or sociology in general.

European Economic Sociology Newsletter - David Dequech

Aspers enlightens readers about the intricacies of the workings of the global fashion market. He has accomplished what he set out to do, to bring together economic, sociological, and fashion theory.

Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences - Wanda K. Cheek

I do hope that economists read this book and realize the potential that such descriptive analysis holds.

Open Economics - Nick Krafft

[T]his is a very stimulating, well researched and well-written book, which deserves to be read by those interested in fashion, economic sociology and/or sociology in general.
— David Dequech

European Economic Sociology Newsletter

Aspers enlightens readers about the intricacies of the workings of the global fashion market. He has accomplished what he set out to do, to bring together economic, sociological, and fashion theory.
— Wanda K. Cheek

Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences

I do hope that economists read this book and realize the potential that such descriptive analysis holds.
— Nick Krafft

Open Economics