The Emergence of the Fashion Industry and the Development of the Consumer Market in England during the Mid Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

The Emergence of the Fashion Industry and the Development of the Consumer Market in England during the Mid Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries Sarah Spoljaric F ashion has always been imbedded in society. As long as people have been wearing clothes there has been a minor sense of competition between one another. As technology expanded people began to be able to strengthen the competition and ability to wear new clothing. Mass colonization created a mechanism for the fashion industry to be successful and had the ability to sustain any social changes within England, which developed from stylistic competition and power assertion. Fashion developed from an elite pastime to a way of life for everyone. Due to British colonialism and sustained class power struggles, the beginning of the fashion industry is deeply tied to society today. The history of the fashion industry had influenced both the economy and society. Socially, due to the artistic nature of fashion, individually developed personal style, which influenced others to purchase similar goods, like bonnets. The economic aspects derived from the factories, which created jobs and the fashion products then flooded the markets. The stylistic tie gave people personal stake in the economic outcome, leading the two factors to work hand in hand to create a successful industry, which still dominates the world’s economy today. Fashion and style have always revolved around societies, however it never became an industry until the mid-eighteenth century. This was due to a variety of factors including urbanization, technology, trade roots, colonization, and industrialization. As opposed to previous generations in England which revolved around individual shops and specializations such as tailors or cobblers, the newly emerged workshops opened producing multiples of the same items. Due to mass-production, prices were lowered which allowed individuals to purchase even more products than they would have previously. There were a variety of factors, which allowed it to succeed especially the exploitation of the lower and working classes and the British colonization. Individuals put personal stake in what they wore and status was placed onto their wardrobe. While economically companies used this to their advantage to sell their newly imported goods to British consumers. British colonialism created a market, which fed off limited goods. Factories opened in larger cities and lower classes flocked to work in them in hopes of helping their economic situation. The upper classes used this to their advantage to exploit the workers in favor of keeping a fashionable edge with other people in their classes. Through a breakdown of the different themes revolving around the social and economic aspects of the fashion industry in England it will create an intertwining picture of how it could be sustained. Beginning with the class divisions in England then transitioning into the British colonialism and how through trade and the exploitation of countries and classes; they were able to gain access to the raw materials, which created luxury goods. Then introducing the goods into the market led to competition within the classes. Eventually leading into how the economic success allowed for people to use excess income to advance their own style and competition with others. Before the eighteenth century fashion tended to be reserved for the upper classes and royalty, this left the lower classes to use clothing for function rather than style. Not because of lack of fashionable knowledge but economic barriers. English history was filled with the class system. With royalty at the highest position followed by the upper class trickling down to the lower classes. The mass separation between the lower and upper classes began to dissolve with British expansion and colonization. A mercantile class began to emerge which in turn developed