Fashion speaks: the language of the fashion industry

Abstract

The aim of the study is to introduce a business language communication course focusing on fashion industry to undergraduate students. Fashion and related brands play an extremely important role in the lives of students, yet business language textbooks do not, or only tangentially, mention fashion and related innovative solutions. As the role of innovation in the production of clothes is very important in terms of products, business models and corporate organization, the syllabus of the course is built around these topics, as well as the students' interests, classroom practices and personal experiences. The structure of the course was defined by the following research questions: What innovative solutions have influenced the fashion industry over the past decades? Which innovation do you consider to be the most significant and why? How can participants in the fashion industry maintain their role vis-à-vis competitors? How do technical innovations (internet, smart phones, social media) affect innovation in the fashion industry? Do you consider sustainability important in fashion? The research presents the results obtained from internet fashion portals, blogs, videos, group discussions, and from short presentations of individual research. The terminology coming from a wide variety of
sources can be put to good use in the development of other courses on similar topics.