Referencing the Past to Build a Strong Future: The Value of American Corporate Fashion Archives

Kristen Robinson
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

About this Item

Title
Referencing the Past to Build a Strong Future: The Value of American Corporate Fashion Archives
Contributor Names
Robinson, Kristen (Author)
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
Byrd, Sarah (Thesis advisor)
Date
2022
Degree Information
M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2022.
Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.
Advisors: Byrd, Sarah.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot examination of fashion archiving practices at United States corporations, as of the years 2019 – 2022, describing the history of their origination, current uses, and challenges today and in the future. The paper argues that archives are the core identity of a corporation and a valuable asset, which when invested in, can support many sectors of the business, generating revenue for the company, directly and indirectly. The argument is solidified through a range of methods including literature drawn from scholarly archival journals, publications on corporate business archive practices, case studies on corporate marketing and publication relations / communications strategies, newspaper articles highlighting trending topics, and interviews with designers, marketers, archivists, conservators, and scholars. Despite a large number of archival societies, graduate programs, and growing interest in archives at fashion brands, to date, there has been little formal scholarship on the topic. Furthermore, the scholarship available often describes the topic from one perspective, when fashion archives specifically, are multifaceted. A quick review of index pages of roughly three hundred fashion marketing, branding, and management books at the Gladys Marcus Library at FIT returned only two books that had a mention of historians, librarians, archives, or heritage. By reviewing literature and speaking with individuals across departments — marketing, public relations, design, and archives, the paper aims to codify the value of archives from all sectors. This paper is written from the perspective of a fashion and textile collection management and conservation graduate student whose former career in nonprofit marketing and database management spurred an interest in the nuances of this field. This unexplored topic along with the resurgence of archival reissuing, vintage-inspired, and nostalgia fashion, and the unprecedented event of a global pandemic, makes the topic of this paper timely and relevant.
Subject
Clothing trade
Museum techniques
Archives
Fashion
Access Rights
Access restricted to members of the FIT community.
Rights
In Copyright
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Identifier
FIT Repository ID: lb_sc_000903
pqdiss: 29213161
ISBN: 9798438772163
Type
Text
Thesis
Language
eng
Publisher
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,

Citation

Robinson, K. (2022). Referencing the Past to Build a Strong Future: The Value of American Corporate Fashion Archives [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/8343
Robinson, Kristen. Referencing the Past to Build a Strong Future: The Value of American Corporate Fashion Archives. 2022. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/8343
Robinson, Kristen. "Referencing the Past to Build a Strong Future: The Value of American Corporate Fashion Archives." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2022. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/8343