Fashion is under the spotlight like never before. Activists call for social and environmental accountability at every point in the fashion cycle. Wide ranging debates highlight the exploitation of labour across global supply chains and the reliance on unpaid labour. And digital technology undermines the traditional fashion companies, while small-scale independent fashion designers provide radical innovations in design and invent new ways of working in more socially inclusive ways.

This book contributes to a new sociology of fashion labour by focusing on the working lives of independent fashion designers. Based on ethnographic research and interviews carried out in London, Berlin and Milan, the authors consider the urban policy regimes in place in these cities, how they shape the micro-enterprises and the emerging political economy, and the facilitating structures needed for the designers to flourish. Widening the lens to investigate fashion’s place in urban development, they consider the art and design schools as training regimes, for passionate work in times of precarious labour. They also chart the new world of digital-fashion-tech and e-commerce. Importantly, they develop several key concepts - the ‘milieu of fashion labour’, ‘social fashion’, ‘feminist fashion and post-Fordist place-making’ and ‘fashion diversity’ - within the context of de-centralising and localising the fashion sector such that it becomes less exclusive and more diverse. Drawing important lessons from European initiatives, the authors call for fashion to be significantly de-centralised with new fashion hubs and centres providing jobs in a much wider range of locations.

Recognising the capacity of micro-enterprises and start-ups to shape fashion’s future, this timely book will be of interest to students of Media and Cultural Studies, Sociology of Work and Employment, Urban Studies, Fashion Studies, and Creative Entrepreneurship Studies.