Since the 1990s, young Asian Americans including Doo-Ri Chung, Derek Lam, Thakoon Panichgul, Alexander Wang, and Jason Wu have emerged as leading fashion designers. They have won prestigious awards, been chosen to head major clothing labels, and had their designs featured in "Vogue," "Harper's Bazaar," and other fashion magazines. At the same time that these designers were rising to prominence, the fashion world was embracing Asian chic. During the 1990s, "Asian" shapes, fabrics, iconography, and colors filled couture runways and mass-market clothing racks. In "The Beautiful Generation," Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu explores the role of Asian American designers in New York's fashion industry, paying particular attention to how they relate to the garment workers who produce their goods and to Asianness as a fashionable commodity. She draws on conversations with design students, fashion curators, and fashion publicists; interviews with nearly thirty Asian American designers who have their own labels; and time spent with those designers in their shops and studios, on their factory visits, and at their fashion shows. "The Beautiful Generation" links the rise of Asian American designers to historical patterns of immigration, racial formation, and globalized labor, and to familial and family-like connections between designers and garment workers.

Despite all the medical and media attention focused on the rate of overweight and obesity in the African American population, African American images and body types are greatly influencing changes in the fashion, fitness, advertising, television and movie industries. This is because overweight, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder. Most research studies investigating attitudes about body image and body type among African Americans have shown they are more satisfied with their bodies than are their white counterparts and that there appears to be a wider range of acceptable body shapes and weights, and a more flexible standard of attractiveness, among black Americans as compared to whites. That fact is not being lost on leaders of industries that might profit from understanding this wider range of beauty, as well as playing to it. In this book, medical anthropologist Eric Bailey introduces and explains the self-acceptance and body image satisfaction of African Americans, and traces how that has spurred changes in industry. His book fills the void of scientific evidence to enhance the understanding of African Americans' perceptions related to body image and beauty-and is the first to document these issues from the perspective of an African American male. Despite all the medical and media attention focused on the rate of overweight and obesity in the African American population, African American images and body types are greatly influencing changes in the fashion, fitness, advertising, television, and movie industries. This is because overweight, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder. Most research studies investigating attitudes about body image and body type among African Americans have shown they are more satisfied with their bodies than are their white counterparts. Most black women, for example, are of course concerned with how they look, but do not judge themselves in terms of their weight and do not believe they are valued mostly on the basis of their bodies. Black teen girls most often say being thick and curvaceous with large hips and ample thighs is seen as the most desirable body shape. Thus, there appears to be a wider range of acceptable body shapes and weights, and a more flexible standard of attractiveness, among black Americans as compared to whites. That fact is not lost on leaders of industries that might profit from understanding this wider range of beauty, as well as playing to it. Voluptuous supermodel Tyra Banks is just one African American who's broken the mold in that industry. The effects have been seen right down to department and local clothes stores, where lines of larger and plus-size fashions are expanding, becoming more colorful and more ornate. In the fitness industry, health gurus Madonna Grimes and Billy Blanks have been revolutionizing how people get fit and how fitness needs to be redeveloped for the African American population. Advertising has taken a similar turn, not the least manifestation of which were the major campaigns Dove and Nike ran in 2005 with plus-sized actresses (who continue to appear in promotions for both companies). In movies and on television shows, the African American beautiful body image has followed suit. In this book, medical anthropologist Eric Bailey introduces and explains the self-acceptance and body image satisfaction of African Americans, and traces how that has spurred changes in industry. His book fills the void of scientific evidence to enhance the understanding of African Americans' perceptions related to body image and beauty-and is the first to document these issues from the perspective of an African American male.

In virtually all the countries of the world, men, and to a lesser extent women, are today dressed in very similar clothing. This book gives a compelling account and analysis of the process by which this has come about. At the same time it takes seriously those places where, for whatever reason, this process has not occurred, or has been reversed, and provides explanations for these developments.
The first part of this story recounts how the cultural, political and economic power of Europe and, from the later nineteenth century North America, has provided an impetus for the adoption of whatever was at that time standard Western dress. Set against this, Robert Ross shows how the adoption of European style dress, or its rejection, has always been a political act, performed most frequently in order to claim equality with colonial masters, more often a male option, or to stress distinction from them, which women, perhaps under male duress, more frequently did.
The book takes a refreshing global perspective to its subject, with all continents and many countries being discussed. It investigates not merely the symbolic and message-bearing aspects of clothing, but also practical matters of production and, equally importantly, distribution.

It is said that "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." It is human nature to be noticed and appreciated, and it is not surprising that the fairer sex desires to be beautiful, a source of attention, appreciation and secret envy. Beauty has acquired new dimensions and an altogether new definition. Beauty, today, engulfs grace, intelligence, a healthy and toned body, and an unmatched poise. This book provides detailed information - the secret pathways to success, the endless efforts and the hard work - that goes into the making of a beauty queen.

Changing trends in fashion have always reflected large-scale social and cultural changes. Changing Fashion presents for the first time a multi-disciplinary approach to examining fashion change, bringing together theory from fashion studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and art history, amongst others.Ideal for the undergraduate student of fashion and cultural studies, the book has a wide range of contemporary and historical case material which provides practical examples of trend analysis and change, from the art deco textile designs of Sonia Delaunay to the chameleonic shifts in Bob Dylan's appearance over time. Key issues in fashion and identity, such as race, gender and consumption are examined from different disciplinary angles to provide a critical overview of the field. Changing Fashion provides a concise guide to the main theories across disciplines that explain how and why media, clothing styles, and cultural practices fall in and out of fashion.

New York, Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo. This familiar list of cities conjures up the image of high fashion. This book examines the powerful relationship between metropolitan modernity and fashion culture. The authors look at the significance of certain key sites in fashion's world order and at transformations in the connections between key cities. The status of fashion capital has now become a goal for urban boosters and planners, part of the wider promotion of the "cultural economy" of major cities. In a rapidly changing global fashion system new centres like Shanghai are making claims to join the ranks of Fashion's World Cities. In chapters ranging from Los Angeles to Moscow and Dakar to Mumbai, Fashion's World Cities explores the relationship between major metropolises and the production, consumption and mythologizing of fashion.

Howard Murad, M.D., the renowned Los Angeles dermatologist, has studied the effects of the environment on skin and aging for thirty years. The methods he's developed to counteract those effects are packed into this book's simple 5-Minute twice-a-day regimen. Murad's revolutionary discoveries include:
--why water is the most powerful anti-aging ingredient of the 21st century
--how to turn back the clock naturally, without surgery
--reversing the sun's damaging effects
--how to keep cells plumped for fresh, smooth skin
Let Dr. Murad's internal and external skin care techniques repair, renew and rejuvenate your skin-starting today.
Featuring a complete shopping guide to skin care products in every price range.

In this revealing social history, Daniel Thomas Cook explores the roots of children's consumer culture--and the commodification of childhood itself--by looking at the rise, growth, and segmentation of the children's clothing industry. Cook describes how in the early twentieth century merchants, manufacturers, and advertisers of children's clothing began to aim commercial messages at the child rather than the mother. Cook situates this fundamental shift in perspective within the broader transformation of the child into a legitimate, individualized, self-contained consumer.

"The Commodification of Childhood" begins with the publication of the children's wear industry's first trade journal, " The Infants' Department, " in 1917 and extends into the early 1960s, by which time the changes Cook chronicles were largely complete. Analyzing trade journals and other documentary sources, Cook shows how the industry created a market by developing and promulgating new understandings of the "nature," needs, and motivations of the child consumer. He discusses various ways that discursive constructions of the consuming child were made material: in the creation of separate children's clothing departments, in their segmentation and layout by age and gender gradations (such as infant, toddler, boys, girls, tweens, and teens), in merchants' treatment of children as individuals on the retail floor, and in displays designed to appeal directly to children. Ultimately, " The Commodification of Childhood" provides a compelling argument that any consideration of "the child" must necessarily take into account how childhood came to be understood through, and structured by, a market idiom.

"Three Faces of Beauty" offers a unique approach to understanding globalization and cultural change based on a comparative, ethnographic study of a nearly universal institution: the beauty salon. Susan Ossman traces the images and words of the beauty industry as they developed historically between Paris, Cairo, and Casablanca and then vividly demonstrates how such images are embodied today in salons located in each city.
By examining how images from fashion magazines, film, and advertising are enacted in beauty salons, Ossman demonstrates how embodiment is able to display and rework certain hierarchies. While offering the possibility of freedom from the tethers of status, nation, religion, and nature, beauty is created by these very categories and values, Ossman shows. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, she documents the various rituals of welcome, choice-making, pricing practices, and spatial arrangements in multiple salons . She also reveals ways in which patrons in all three cities imagine and co-opt looks they believe are fashionable in the other cities. By observing salons as scenes of instruction, Ossman reveals that beautiful bodies evolve within the intertwining contexts of media, modernity, location, time, postcolonialism, and male expectation.

The Fashion Business Reader is the first comprehensive anthology of classic and cutting-edge writings on the global fashion business, from production to consumption. Bringing together a rich interdisciplinary and international range of writings in one volume, this essential text encompasses creative, theoretical, and practical approaches from scholarship spanning business, the social sciences, arts, and humanities. As well as extracts from ground-breaking journal articles, book chapters, and other key writings, the reader includes several newly commissioned articles on contemporary themes and methodological approaches. Each section of the volume contains an introduction by an expert scholar plus a guide to further reading, and each individual extract is introduced so that readers can place important writings in context. This is an essential course text for students on a wide range of fashion and business courses and a one-stop authoritative reference for scholars and professionals.

Are you aware that the T-shirt or running shoes you're wearing may have been produced by a 13-year-old children working 14-hour days for 30 cents an hour? The clothing sweatshop, as a recent string of media exposes has revealed, is back in business. Don't be fooled by a label which says the item was made in the USA or Europe. It could have been sewed on in Haiti or Indonesia--or in a domestic workshop, where conditions rival those in the third world. The label might tell you how to treat the garment but it says nothing about how the worker who made it was treated. To find out about that you need to read this book. "No Sweat" will show you:
How Michael Jordan earned more for endorsing Nike running shoes than the company's 30,000 Indonesian workers get between them in a year.
How Disney CEO Michael Eisner's annual pay and stock options, worth $200 million, are paid for out of profits from the sale of Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame T-shirts made by Haitian teenagers working for less than $10 per week and force-fed contraceptive pills.
How companies like the Gap and Wal-Mart (producer of the Kathie Lee Gifford line) have been forced into embarrassing concessions after successful campaigning by the New York-based National Labor Committee, the American garment workers union UNITE and the European-based Clean Clothes Campaign.
How you can join the growing global campaign of consumer groups, human rights activists, and international labor organizations to close down sweatshops and guarantee basic rights for those who cut and sew our clothes.
In hard-hitting words and pictures, "No Sweat" surveys the chasm between the glamor of the catwalk and the squalor of the sweatshop.
Don't go shopping without it

Prior to the 1970s-1980s, fashion marketing focused heavily (and perhaps solely) on women's fashions. Today, fashion marketing influences all products and the manner of style consumers use products. How products are marketed, when products are marketed, the evolution of products into different sizes, shapes, color, and uses are all influenced by fashion marketers. Fashion marketing is taken to different levels from branding a person (e.g., Ralph Lauren, the person), line of products (e.g., Lexus luxury cars) to a single product (e.g., Coach handbag). This much needed text will provide information regarding the introduction, making and machine the industry calls Fashion Marketing. Features: -- Addresses how branding and imaging of fashion, once used for a product or product line, is now used for the company spokesperson, owner, or representative -- Looks at the industry through a global perspective -- Case Studies including company logo and discussion of the company's impact on fashion marketing -- Online links throughout the chapter for students and instructors to investigate fashion marketing around the U.S. and world -- End of chapter elements include: summary, list of key terms, 3-4 assignments, discussion questions, study questions, and references -- Appendix includes glossary, bibliography and references (both for citations within text and for further study), index for subject and company -- Instructor's Guide includes exams with answers -- PowerPoint(r) Presentation provides outlines and ideas for lectures; compatible with PC and Mac platforms

Menswear Trends will help you understand the relationship of menswear to society, enabling you to become both a forecaster and trend thinker - and bring new ideas, innovation and strategies to men's fashion. With designer and educator Aki Choklat you'll learn how menswear trends fit within the larger context of retail, how brands can use trends to be more competitive, and how to create an inspiring trend forecast. Later chapters show how to analyse catwalks, gather information from street-style coverage, compare short-term and long-term analysis and how to analyse and forecast colour trends. In the final chapter you'll explore the various job roles within the trend industry, learn to differentiate between trend services and how to navigate the contemporary job market and illustrate your skills in a portfolio. Industry Insight Interviews: Peter Betsche, CEO, Arvenco David Edgar, one of the founding partners of Bureaux Design Associates (BDA) Michael Fisher, Creative Director - Menswear, Fashion Snoops Jaana Jatyri, founder of Trendstop Volker Ketteniss, Head of Menswear, WGSN Sandy MacLennan, founder of East Central Studios Ember Todd Colour and Trend Manager for Chaco Brand, Wolverine Worldwide Barbara Vinken, Chair of Comparative and French Literature, University of Munich Geraldine Wharry, founder of Trend Atelier

War Paint is the story of two extraordinary women, Miss Elizabeth Arden and Madame Helena Rubinstein, and the legacy they left: a story of feminine vanity and marketing genius. Behind the gloss and glamour lay obsession with business and rivalry with each other. Despite working for over six decades in the same business, these two geniuses never met face to face - until now. 'The definitive biography of women and their relationships to their faces in the twentieth century' Linda Grant, Guardian 'I have seldom enjoyed a book so much . . . the research is staggering . . . a wonderful read' Lulu Guinness

"No other book compares...This is the book students reference during their four years at university." - Tara Konya, Southern New Hampshire University, USA Learn how fashion lines are designed, manufactured, marketed, and distributed. The book covers the full supply chain - from textiles to fashion brand production - as well as supply chain management, and competitive strategies, so that you can be successful in your future career. Topics covered include sustainable design for a circular economy, 3-D printing, fashion entrepreneurship, disruptions in fashion calendars, supply chain transparency, impact of social media, growth and evolution of online retailing, expanded omnichannel strategies, and changes in international trade, among others. Case studies, a Career Glossary, and key terms help you connect concepts to practice. New to this Edition * Content addresses knowledge and skill guidelines in the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and Textile and Apparel Program Accreditation Commission (TAPAC) accreditation standards * Expanded discussions of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and technology across the supply chains for fashion products * Updated and expanded industry examples and case studies, emphasizing fashion brand companies from around the world * A new Careers Glossary listing job titles and descriptions found throughout the fashion industry The Business of Fashion STUDIO Study smarter with self-quizzes featuring scored results and personalized study tips Review concepts with flashcards of essential vocabulary

The global beauty business permeates our lives, influencing how we perceive ourselves and what it is to be beautiful. The brands and firms which have shaped this industry, such as Avon, Coty, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, and Shiseido, have imagined beauty for us.
This book provides the first authoritative history of the global beauty industry from its emergence in the nineteenth century to the present day, exploring how today's global giants grew. It shows how successive generations of entrepreneurs built brands which shaped perceptions of beauty, and the business organizations needed to market them. They democratized access to beauty products, once the privilege of elites, but they also defined the gender and ethnic borders of beauty, and its association with a handful of cities, notably Paris and later New York. The result was a homogenization of beauty ideals throughout the world.
Today globalization is changing the beauty industry again; its impact can be seen in a range of competing strategies. Global brands have swept into China, Russia, and India, but at the same time, these brands are having to respond to a far greater diversity of cultures and lifestyles as new markets are opened up worldwide.
In the twenty first century, beauty is again being re-imagined anew.

Discover the best-kept beauty secrets from three generations of editors and experts at Vogue Paris . . . 'French beauty secrets that'll give you some ooh la la!' DAILY EXPRESS 'Breaks down everything you've ever wanted to know about French beauty' INSTYLE _______ Your guide to French beauty will guide you through . . . * Simple changes to your beauty habits, from the correct way to wash your hair to the vital items no make-up bag should be without * How to give your skin a healthy glow in just a few simple steps * Advice for women of all ages, Jeunesse, Plenitude and Maturite, to ensure energy, confidence and happiness * Which self-tanners to use and how to apply for a beautiful, healthy, summer tan * The four pillars of French wellness: food, posture, exercise and movement you need and dormez-vous And much more . . . Clemence Von Mueffling draws on her family's wisdom and passion to show how you can achieve effortless French beauty at any age. Filled with tips, intimate anecdotes and expert interviews, Ageless Beauty is sure to become every woman's definitive beauty guide. _______ 'A delicious dose of effortless chic, timeless glamour, priceless beauty secrets, self-care and self-confidence' Sarah Brown, former Beauty Director, VOGUE 'This book is a magical guide, with expert advice in three categories so women of all ages will feel it is specifically tailored to them' Aerin Lauder, Style and Image Director of ESTEE LAUDER

In virtually all the countries of the world, men, and to a lesser extent women, are today dressed in very similar clothing. This book gives a compelling account and analysis of the process by which this has come about. At the same time it takes seriously those places where, for whatever reason, this process has not occurred, or has been reversed, and provides explanations for these developments.
The first part of this story recounts how the cultural, political and economic power of Europe and, from the later nineteenth century North America, has provided an impetus for the adoption of whatever was at that time standard Western dress. Set against this, Robert Ross shows how the adoption of European style dress, or its rejection, has always been a political act, performed most frequently in order to claim equality with colonial masters, more often a male option, or to stress distinction from them, which women, perhaps under male duress, more frequently did.
The book takes a refreshing global perspective to its subject, with all continents and many countries being discussed. It investigates not merely the symbolic and message-bearing aspects of clothing, but also practical matters of production and, equally importantly, distribution.

How do consumers decide what to buy for their wardrobes and their homes? What drives them to choose one brand over another? This current textbook tells all about how consumer behavior theory and practice is applied in the fashion industry. The second edition of Why of the Buy: Consumer Behavior and Fashion Marketing updates its presentation of how psychology, sociology, and culture influences consumers' fashion purchase decisions-and ultimately impacts the success of global fashion enterprises. The unifying element of this text is its presentation of current knowledge of consumer behavior applied to the fields of fashion and design in an enthusiastic and relevant way that will attract and engage students. New to this Edition ~ New Chapter 11, Social Media and the Fashion Consumer, explores how the relationship between marketers, retailers, and consumers is aided by social media and the internet ~ Added discussion of Omnichannel retailing in Chapter 13 ~ Expanded and updated coverage of technology, ethics, and social responsibility ~ What Do I Need to Know About ...? list the objectives of each chapter and provide a roadmap for study ~ More than 20% new photos all in full color Chapter Features ~ Let's Talk features throughout each chapter encourage students to relate the topic to their experiences and observations ~ Case in Point and Point of View box features in each chapter offer real life case studies or current viewpoints on relevant consumer behavior and marketing topics ~ Chapter mini-projects offer an opportunity to apply chapter concepts to realistic fashion settings ~ Summaries, Key Terms, Questions for Review and Activities

This text provides the foundation for a wide range of careers in the fashion business. Incorporating the experience of the author and her earlier editions of Dynamics of Fashion, this book covers product development, home fashions, retailing strategies, and examines how communication trends and technological advances impact the fashion world.New to this Edition-- New chapter on the history of fashion, focusing on the evolution of the apparel industry from the Industrial Revolution to the present and profiling influential designers from the 1900s to the 21st century-- Substantial updating and addition of new theories, applications, and practices-- All new photos and illustrations in color-- Updated and new Fashion Focus and Then and Now features. The Fashion Focus sections highlight pertinent people, organizations, and companies. Then and Now elements discuss past fashion influences in relation to today's style-setting individuals and productsOther Features-- Trade Talk, For Review, and For Discussion activities promote student learning -- Exploring Careers assignments discuss available fashion-related careers-- Updated and expanded glossary of industry terms, and a list of Internet resources help prepare readers for their roles in the fashion business-- Instructor's Guide includes options for organizing the curriculum and general suggestions for teaching the course, as well as supplementary assignments, test banks, and a final examination-- PowerPoint(r) Presentation includes more than 400 slides that illustrate key concepts from the book and provide the basis for classroom lectures and discussions for each chapter; compatible with PC and MAC platforms

A brand new edition of the bestselling text aimed at anyone in merchandising - from store planners and manufacturers to visual merchandisers. Pegler zeroes in on all aspects of visual merchandising and display, from classic techniques to the most avant-garde developments. Hundreds of textual and visual examples reveal how to add interest to window and interior displays, optimizing the retailer's image and the target market.

Straight talk and tough love on power, beauty, and the art of the sale   Called the “Queen of Beauty� and the most influential lone woman to impact the beauty industry since Estée Lauder by the New York Times, Leslie Blodgett’s story is anything but ordinary. As the CEO of the struggling Bare Escentuals, Blodgett shifted the company’s focus and launched bareMinerals. In a move that would revolutionize the beauty industry, she went on QVC and sold $45,000 worth of makeup in the first six minutes. Before long, she was selling $1.4 million an hour. In 2006 Blodgett took the company public in one of the largest cosmetic IPOs of the decade, and in 2010 the company was acquired by Shiseido for $1.8 billion. Pretty Good Advice provides beauty secrets, business tips, life lessons, and lots of personal stories. Some ideas are common sense. Some are pretty unconventional. Most importantly, everything in this book is honest, all tried (and sometimes failed) by Blodgett. Fun, frank, and filled with actionable advice, Pretty Good Advice is a glimpse into the unlikely story of a successful beauty executive who approached her work and life a little bit differently.

Beginning with Alexander McQueen’s infamous attempt to live stream his 2009 Plato’s Atlantis collection on SHOWStudio, this book traces how digital and social media have disrupted social structures within the field of fashion, and transformed the way it is communicated and consumed. Analysing key case studies, from Chanel, Givenchy, Yeezy and Opening Cermony to interactive social media and ‘see now buy now’ campaigns from Burberry, Topshop and Tommy Hilfiger, The Fashion Show Goes Live analyses the mode and impact of fashion shows’ transmission. Through the rise of experimental film, fashion shows tailored for media transmission and the use of live streaming and social media to render shows ‘immediate’ to consumers, fashion weeks – and fashion shows – have become not just trend barometers but material sites that demonstrate media’s effects. Rebecca Halliday evaluates the performativity of consumer relations to such live streams and other mediatized content. In linking these relations back to fashion show footage, she demonstrates that although intended to communicate fashion to mass audiences, these practices also promote it as exclusive and aspirational. Despite democratized, international access to content, the shows themselves remain elite events; kindling new forms of consumer attention, interaction, immaterial labour and desire. Through the microcosm of the fashion show, The Fashion Show Goes Live asks broader socio-political questions about the effects of the fashion industry's mediatization, challenging the notion that new technology has fostered inclusivity.

Learn how to make ethical decisions on a daily basis. This second edition of Ethics in the Fashion Industry continues to document the relationships between functions in the fashion industry and the people who make these functions happen. Covering topics such as corporate social responsibility, social media, social compliance audits, diversity, and human rights, this book empowers students who will soon become fashion professionals to make good decisions. Whether debating issues like factory conditions, fair wages, fast fashions, or designer knock-offs, shoplifting, and controversial advertising, Ethics in the Fashion Industry gives you the tools to do the right thing. New to this Edition: Box Features: In each chapter you will find three key boxes that call your attention to current ethical practices. Ethics in the Industry highlights relevant industry practices relating to ethics; Ethics in the News analyzes recent reporting on ethics; and Ethics in Practice profiles present industry professionals' and fashion scholars' work in the context of the chapter's topic. Case Studies: Each chapter ends with two Case Studies that facilitate exploration of current and relevant industry activities into the knowledge-building process, allowing students to think critically on scenarios that may present themselves in the course of their careers. New Insights: The responsibility that millennials, Gen Xers, and Gen Nexters have in positioning not only the fashion industry, but the planet itself, for a healthy future cannot go unobserved. This second edition includes new insights about generational behaviors and perspectives in making ethical decisions, in addition to the role that consumers play in shaping fashion industry decisions. Ethics in the Fashion Industry STUDIO Study smarter with self-quizzes featuring scored results and personalized study tips Review concepts with flashcards of essential vocabulary

It is no coincidence that the garment industry gained a foothold in Pennsylvania's hard-coal region as mines were closing or reducing operations. "Runaway" factories, especially ones from Manhattan, set up shop in mining towns where labor was plentiful and unions scarce. By the 1930s, garment factories employed thousands of wives and daughters of unemployed or underemployed coal miners in the Wyoming Valley. Organizing workers would prove difficult for the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU).

Fighting for the Union Label tells the story of how workers in the Wyoming Valley, led by Min Lurye Matheson and her husband, Bill, banded together and built one of the largest and most activist movements of garment workers in the ILGWU's vast network. Workers' education, political activism, a health care center, and a widely recognized chorus were among the union's trademarks. Despite the union's influence, however, the apparel industry migrated to the American South and then overseas in the 1970s and 1980s. Tens of thousands of workers throughout the state and nation would loose their jobs, and sweatshops would become part of the economic landscape in countries like Guatemala.

The first major work on the garment industry and its workers in Pennsylvania, Fighting for the Union Label draws extensively upon the Wyoming Valley Oral History Project (co-directed by Ken and Robert Wolensky) which has collected the reminiscences of more than 325 workers, factory owners, public officials, and others. The story of the dynamic Min Matheson and the rise and fall of the garment industry provides key insights into the deindustrialization of northeastern Pennsylvania.