Co-authored book: The Routledge Companion to Fashion and Business. Routledge. Due to be published Summer 2026.
he Routledge Companion to Fashion and Business brings together the latest research in one authoritative volume and engages with the past, present and future of fashion business to explore current and emerging issues. Fashion has expanded its reach into every area of our lives, satisfying a human desire for novelty and expression through self-adornment. Yet overproduction and lack of self-regulation has resulted in an industry previously renowned for its creativity and influence, now making headlines because of its negative environmental and social impacts. Fashion businesses and their customers have shown a desire to move towards a more sustainable, circular fashion system necessitating changes in design, production, promotion, retail, and life-cycle management. Fashion straddles many disciplines including design, economics, psychology, marketing, management and retail, sociology, material and cultural studies, human geography and business ethics. Six thematic sections illustrate the breadth and significance of the fashion industry written by those actively and currently engaged in its creation, management and critique.
Section 1 introduces the economic history of fashion and the significance of the textiles industry as a driver of industrialisation. Section 2 introduces key concepts in fashion psychology, consumer behaviour and trend prediction as well as contemporary fashion promotion platforms and practices. Section 3 explores the links between fashion and place, the changing landscape of fashion retail and the contribution of cultural heritage to emerging economies. Section 4 shows how the past influences today’s fashion business through archives and exhibits, secondhand vintage and charity retail, reproduction of historical dress, and circular fashion initiatives. Section 5 highlights fashion’s environmental and social impacts reflecting on how fashion activism, regulations, policies and emergent practices can deliver a more sustainable fashion industry. The final section comprises contributions from activists, entrepreneurs and individuals at the cutting edge of fashion business offering an engaging collection of opinion pieces that reimagine the future of fashion business.
With contributions from a range of highly esteemed international academics, cultural commentators and industry insiders, The Routledge Companion to Fashion and Business is an authoritative reference work for scholars, students and practitioners.
Chapter:
Fashioning Asia Through Fashion Media: The Modern Chinese Woman in Vogue. In the book: Fashioning the Asian Century Aesthetics, Sustainability, and Popular Culture in the New Millennium. Edited by Amanda Sikarskie. Bloomsbury. Forthcoming.
Refereed journal articles:
The future of fibres on show at the 2025 edition of the Future Fabrics Expo, Magazine London, London, 24–25 June 2025, In In International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Volume 4, Issue 2
The future of fibres on show at the 12th Future Fabrics Expo, Magazine London, London, 25–26 July 2024, In International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Volume 4, Issue 1
The future of fibres on show at the 11th Future Fabrics Expo, Magazine London, London, 26–28 June 2023, In International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Volume 3, Issue 2
Radclyffe-Thomas, N. and Radclyffe-Thomas, B. (2023). From the steppes to the runway: Mongolia’s fashion imaginary. In Pascale Cohen-Avenel & Graham Roberts (Eds.) Whose Space is it Anyway? Place Branding and the Politics of Representation. Bern: Peter Lang.
Material innovations on show at the 10th Future Fabrics Expo, Magazine London, London, 28–29 June 2022, In International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Volume 2, Issue 1, Apr 2023, p. 125 – 133
Radclyffe-Thomas, N. & Radclyffe-Thomas, B. ‘The New Shanghai Xiaojie: Chinese Fashion Identities.’ Journal of Fashion Studies, (2015). 2:1 pp 43-62.
Conference Proceedings: Radclyffe-Thomas, N. & Radclyffe-Thomas, B. (2013) The City as Cultural Fashion Icon: London and Shanghai. At 15th Annual International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI): The Business & Marketing of Icons Conference, 2-5 April 2013, The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles.
Conference Proceedings: Radclyffe-Thomas, B. (2018) Future Faces: Vogue China and curating Chinese beauty. At: 20th Annual International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI): Fashion Futures Conference, 10-12 April 2018 Donghua University, Shanghai
I specialise in Post-Graduate Education with a focus on fashion business.
I give guest lectures, seminars and workshops at global universities including Goldsmiths, London College of Fashion, Ravensbourne University, GCU, University of Antwerp, FIT New York, LASALLE in Singapore, Centro de Estudios Garrigues, GAFA (China) and the Summer School on Fashion Management at the University of Antwerp. Won an academic award from IFFTI conference for work on Chinese beauty constructions and representations, present academic research on Chinese fashion at conferences in Los Angeles, Shanghai, London and Bangor and wrote articles published in Intellect Journals. Worked as a Part-time Lecturer in Fashion and Image Design, Fashion Promotion at HKDI, teaching on the dissertation module on the top-up degree in collaboration with UCA London for one academic year. Have worked as a visiting lecturer on the new BA in Fashion Communication and Branding at Anglia Ruskin University, as a visiting lecturer at GCU, Regents and LSBU. I have worked full time specialising in postgraduate academia at BCU and Ravensbourne University. Have taught on the MSc Digital Marketing, MBA Fashion elective and Fashion MBA modules at Ravensbourne University.
Babette Radclyffe-Thomas 