Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the fragmentation of the fashion system can be conceptually explained by drawing on Peter Sloterdijk’s theory of spheres. Design/methodology/approach By conceptually discussing the changing nature of the fashion system and the institutional pressures exerted on fashion systems as a result of digital technology, the fundamental conceptual underpinnings of the theory of spheres are applied to these developments in order to explain the character of the contemporary organization of fashion. Findings Based on the conceptual analysis, this paper illustrates how a sphereological perspective to fashion provides a conceptual approach to explain the transformation and fragmentation of fashion systems. Originality/value This paper contributes to the field of fashion marketing and management by demonstrating how the concept of fashion spheres can explain social arrangements going beyond the boundaries of fashion systems and the associated implications that this brings to bear on the role of fashion.
Highlights
In recent years, a vast interest has emerged in fashion studies in regard to how digitization is changing the character of fashion and its associated system
Even though extant literature suggests that fashion systems can differ at the macro-level (Roach et al, 1980), the plethora of micro-expressions of potential fashion systems found in social media as a result of digitization
With this discussion in mind, this paper aims to explore how the fragmentation of fashion systems can be conceptually explained by drawing from the theory of spheres (Sloterdijk, 1998, 1999, 2004)
Summary
A vast interest has emerged in fashion studies in regard to how digitization is changing the character of fashion and its associated system. By drawing on this approach, this paper will illustrate how the notion of fashion spheres that emerge and are embedded in digital information and communication technologies (ICTs), and most notably social media, can conceptually explain the social interplay taking place in the digital spatial settings of which fashion is created, reproduced, and diffused.
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