Apparel Books & Fashion Books

Books for learning the apparel, fashion and textile business

Reading is one of the most reliable ways to learn the clothing business, because the industry runs on specialised knowledge that is rarely written down in one place: how patterns are made, how garments are graded and sourced, how retail math works, how trends are forecast and how fashion is marketed. This page is the starting point for books across Apparel Search. From here you can reach the clothing book publishers, the fashion book stores, the Fashiondex book store sections, and individual titles covered in depth, including books on pattern making, retail math and merchandising, textiles, fashion forecasting and fashion marketing. The book notes gathered below introduce a few titles of possible interest, and the links organise the rest by subject so students, designers, merchandisers and new business owners can go straight to the shelf that matches the job they are learning to do.

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Apparel Books and Fashion Books and maybe a few textile & clothing books ...

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Educate yourself about fashion by reading.

Fashion BooksDon't forget to visit the fashion library in our fashion industry terminology section.

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Career Guide Books - fashion careers

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Pattern Making Books - books for pattern makers ...

Retail Math Books - Math for Merchandising

Salesman Buyer Guides

Textile Books

Fashion Book Stores

Below you will find a few books of possible interest:

Fashion Forecasting (by Kathryn McKelvey and Janine Munslow) Everyone in the fashion business needs to develop an essential survival skill: how to interpret the intelligence provided by the fashion forecasting industry, to anticipate and respond to emerging trends. Lavishly illustrated in full color throughout, with clear and relevant explanations of the processes involved, Fashion Forecasting is for fashion students and young professionals who already have acquired some fashion knowledge and skills. The authors interviewed the key players within this exciting industry and provide here fascinating insights into the dynamic contemporary fashion forecasting world and the varied creative roles within it - from intelligence gatherers to project consultants. The book covers how a trend is sourced, anticipated and developed, and also explores the interaction with marketing and brand development.

IL FIGURINO di MODA (Italian and English language) Step-by-step the book analyzes the fundamental aspects of the woman, man and children Fashion Drawing In the book Il Figurino di Moda you can find lot of topics related to the basics and practical application of fashion design illustration, from hand-creation to fashion accessories. From this fashion drawing book will benefit both students who are just beginning in the fashion field and those who already have studied or possess work experience.

The Ins and Outs of the Fashion Industry From a Fashion Insider : If you're interested in breaking into the exciting world of fashion, The Ins and Outs of the Fashion Industry from a Fashion Insider will show you how. With over ten years of experience in the fashion industry, author Yolanda Brunson-Sarrabo divulges the secrets to achieving success in this competitive business. This book reveals the intricate world of fashion step-by-step. In each section, Brunson-Sarrabo shares invaluable tips from her personal experiences. From finding a job to keeping it, this guide will show you how to navigate through the peaks and valleys of the industry. Of special interest are a detailed description of New York's Garment District, and a chart that breaks down the positions, responsibilities, skills, and experience necessary to succeed in the fashion industry.

Fashion Marketing Third Edition : The new edition of this fashion marketing book has been updated throughout with new material on different promotional media, visual marketing and international marketing research; and new coverage of internal marketing, supply chain management, international marketing communications as well as the role of the internet.  

For more books about fashion you can try LibraryThing.  View this library of fashion books to get a nice view of what is available.

Learn more about Fashion for Profit.

Visit our new Fashion Books page as well.

Find a job as a fashion editor.

In addition to reading books about fashion and apparel, you may have interest in various fashion magazines.  You can find a very good selection at our new Apparel Magazine web site.

If you do not like to read fashion books, or simply do not know how to read, you may have interest in Fashion Movies.

If you are researching the fashion industry, you may want to check out the fashion industry statistics section.

Have you heard about Silk by Rupert James.  Christine Fairbrother is a high-powered barrister, the scourge of the divorce courts, hoping to become a QC to take silk after her next high-profile case. Her daughter, Isabelle Ciss, is a talented graduate launching herself on the London fashion scene, full of dreams and ambitions and still smarting from her parents divorce. Blonde, beautiful Victoria Crabtree is the mistress of a wealthy Italian garment manufacturer, bored with being a kept woman, hungry for security and stability with the man she loves. Three women three generations set on a collision course. Their lives and conflicting ambitions become tangled as Christine handles the divorce case that could give Victoria the man she's wanted for her own for so long but which could wreck her daughter's career at the same time.

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How the Book Sections Are Organised

The book coverage is divided the way the industry itself is divided. Pattern making books serve the technical side of design, where a sketch becomes a garment that fits. Retail math and merchandising books serve the buying office, where markup, markdown, stock planning and six-month plans decide whether a season makes money. Textile books cover fibres, fabrics and fabric care, the material foundation every other decision rests on. Forecasting and marketing titles address the forward-looking side of the trade: reading trend intelligence, anticipating what customers will want, and communicating a range so that it sells. Around those subject shelves sit the publishers who issue fashion textbooks and illustrated books, and the book stores that specialise in fashion, textiles and apparel titles.

Who These Books Are For

Fashion students use these pages to find the textbooks their courses are built around and the reference works that stay useful after graduation. Working designers and pattern makers use them for technical references on grading, sizing and construction that are consulted daily rather than read once. Buyers and merchandisers use the retail math titles to formalise skills often learned on the job. Founders of new clothing lines use the business and how-to books to understand manufacturing, sourcing and selling before they commit money to a first range. Because the sections are linked by subject, a reader who arrives looking for one title can follow the neighbouring shelves — from a pattern making book to grading, from retail math to marketing — in the order a real fashion education tends to unfold.

Common Questions

What kinds of books are covered in this section?

The section covers apparel, fashion, textile and clothing books across pattern making, grading, sourcing, design tools, dictionaries, technical reference, retail math, forecasting, marketing, directories and how-to guides, together with the publishers and book stores that supply them.

Where should a fashion student start?

Start with the subject that matches your course or job: pattern making for construction skills, retail math for buying and merchandising, textiles for fibres and fabrics, and forecasting or marketing for the forward-looking side of the business. Each subject has its own page linked from here.

Are individual books covered in detail?

Yes. Selected titles have their own pages with full descriptions, including Fashion For Profit by Frances Harder, Math for Merchandising: A Step-by-Step Approach (3rd Edition), Fashion Forecasting by Kathryn McKelvey and Janine Munslow, and Fashion Marketing (Third Edition), edited by Mike Easey.

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