Olga Mitterfellner - Fashion Marketing and Communication

Some of the usual obstacles to modern teachings of marketing are ethnocentricity, the limitation of creative thought by conformity to existing theories, lack of questioning of ethics, and a disconnection from historic events or sociological discourse. This book, in contrast, draws together interdisciplinary approaches from marketing, branding, promotion and critical media studies as tools for understanding the way in which fashion works today, and re-evaluates what makes certain fashion marketing tactics fashionable.

Offering a combination of theory and practice, Fashion Marketing and Communication is full of international case studies, practice-based examples and interviews with scholars and practitioners in the fashion and communications industry. Covering subjects including the history of consumerism, fashion marketing, the creative direction of the fashion brand and the use of bloggers and celebrities as marketing tools, this book delineates the opportunities and challenges facing the future of fashion media in the twenty-first century.

Examining the last 100 years of marketing and communications, current theory and practice, as well as questions on the ethics of the fashion industry, this broad-ranging and critical text is perfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of fashion marketing, branding and communication.

Olga Mitterfellner is an internationally experienced fashion marketing professional and lecturer at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK. Previously, Olga was Professor of Fashion Management at Mediadesign Hochschule in Munich, Germany. She is a member of the British Sociological Association and a Chartered member of the International Textile Institute.

The fashion industry is the quintessential example of an industry whose marketing has profoundly shaped and manipulated consumer tastes and, indeed, society. In this intriguing new book, Olga Mitterfellner, a London-based fashion professional and teacher, reviews marketing and communication strategies and methods used in fashion in a refreshing and interesting way. This book includes a multitude of fascinating case studies, connecting fashion marketing to broader marketing principles, through historical and current examples as well as interviews with prominent figures in the fashion world.

Geoffrey Fong, Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada

This book shows that to be a fashion lover and maintain an activists heart are not mutually exclusive. The globally-minded concept speaks to an all-too-rare approach to fashion education for the student or professional. It has become commonplace to relate social responsibility to sustainability in the supply chain, but ethics plays a crucial role throughout the entire fashion industry. Olgas chapters blend history and modern practices in marketing to create a better understanding and support progressive change.

Monica Sklar, Assistant Professor of Fashion History and Merchandising and Liaison to the Historic Clothing and Textiles Collection at the University of Georgia, USA

Mitterfellner carefully takes us through traditional marketing structures, straight through their morph into current techniques of branding, all the while weaving ethical considerations throughout the discipline. Through the lens of an enterprises social responsibility, her sharp critical eye forces us to consider fashions journey and cultural impact on the market in which it operates. This book is required reading for any sustainability, fashion management or marketing student. For marketing practitioners, as a moral guide, it must live on ones reference shelf.

Ellen Pabst von Ohain, Managing Director of Phoenix Sustainable Communications and Professor of Sustainability and Business, PR and Communications at the European Business School in Munich, Germany

Olga Mitterfellner presents a refreshingly honest account of contemporary marketing practices in the global fashion industry that takes account of their historical origins and global application. Her account of this alluring but sometimes brutal sector presents a balanced perspective of the paradoxical relationship between commercial and ethical imperatives at play in fashion. This comprehensive, easy-to-read text is distinctive in the modern fashion setting and is a must-read for industry practitioners, students of fashion marketing and those keen to understand how we got to where we are now.

Tony Cooper, Lecturer in Fashion Marketing at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK

Professor Mitterfellner takes the subject of fashion marketing and communications and illustrates the whole process from early examples of historical PR to the impact of social media on modern consumerism, traditional marketing techniques to the cynicism of targeted advertising through selling aspirational lifestyles, and finally what the future holds for this most embedded form of outreach from the retailers. This book is an ideal text for students and practitioners alike.

Rebecca Unsworth, Executive Director for The Textile Institute, UK

This impressive book has a refreshing look at the fundamentals of theory and practice coupled with the past and present developments of Fashion Marketing. Students and practitioners will learn, explore, and re-evaluate the industry as Olga Mitterfellner has expertly added a much needed dialog on ethics in marketing, prompting us to think and work responsibly.

Ilan Alon, Professor of Strategy and International Marketing and Head of International Affairs at the University of Agder, Norway