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Abstract
This article examines entrepreneurial small-scale labels that share an artisanal approach to fashion design and production. This approach bridges fashion and artisanship by integrating skillful design and craftsmanship in the context of contemporary fashion. In this study, artisanal fashion is understood as “skillful materiality”, which signifies the artisanal qualities of the design and production processes such as skillfulness, craftsmanship, and materiality, and recognizes the integrated role of the artisanal designer. Besides the tangible elements of artisanal fashion, the article also discusses the immaterial qualities of artisanal work.
Notes
1. The cases in this study were selected by theoretical sampling, i.e. by considering their prospective relevance for the emerging concepts of the study (cf. Glaser and Strauss Citation1967). These data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with the head designers of the selected labels; in all cases, the designers are also central figures behind the companies. All the brands are small, independent fashion labels employing 2 to 10 people. They produce garments in small quantities (e.g. one to thirty pieces of each garment) and apply artisanal methods as part of their production. However, the amount or type of craft is not measured; rather, some of them use more artisanal methods and some less. The chosen brands focus on either men’s or women’s clothing, but some also design and produce accessories, such as shoes, bags, and wallets. At the time of interviewing all the companies had been operating for at least five years, some for even over 30 years. As the study centers on finding similarities in the working methods and philosophies of these companies regardless of their location, it includes cases from several places: Paris (France), Veneto (Italy), Rome (Italy), New York (USA) and Antwerp (Belgium).
To gain a more complete picture of the topic, complementary material about the companies and their ways of operating was collected from journalistic articles and companies’ websites, and by ethnographic methods, such as visiting their ateliers and seeing their collections during showroom sales, presentations, and/or fashion shows. In addition, object analysis was partly used to gather data, i.e. looking at the garments, examining, and touching them (cf. Prown Citation1982; Steele Citation1998). Additionally, participant observation through the author’s own experience as a fashion design assistant at a local fashion design studio in New York, a men’s wear fashion label that shares similar principles of artisanal fashion production as the other labels of this study, offered significant insight in this study.
These data were analyzed with the constant comparative method: by identifying essential elements within the data, grouping them into concepts (such as “small batch”), and into further categories (such as “skillful materiality”). These concepts represent the essential features of the phenomena under study and thus attempt to answer the research questions “What are the essential features of “artisanal fashion”?” and “What is the significance of the artisanal approach to fashion in the current cultural and societal environment?”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Maarit Aakko
Maarit Aakko is a Visiting Post-Doctoral Researcher at Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture. Her work centers on the artisanal approach to fashion within the current cultural and societal environment.