Fashion (including cosmetics): Professional and Trade
This guide brings together key resources to help you find information relating to the study of fashion and cosmetics, including design, styling, management, business, branding and promotion.
Image Credit: BCU Assets
Professional organisations and trade associations can be valuable sources of information for your subject.
There are some examples below but you will find others, some will include library subscriptions and some are freely available online.
You should also explore books, academic journals and articles to support your research.
Remember to evaluate information you find online!
Learn to assess the credibility of your sources in our online course: Navigating the Library (Moodle).
Learn to assess the credibility of your sources in our online course: Navigating the Library (Moodle).
Professional Organisations
- British Beauty CouncilNot-for-profit acting as the first industry-wide organisation lobbying legislative issues with policy-makers.
See their useful lists of charity and trade affiliates under "Who We Are" menu. - British Fashion CouncilThe British Fashion Council promotes leading British fashion designers in a global market. Its events and initiatives support and strengthen the UK's reputation for developing design excellence.
- Costume SocietyPromoting the study of all aspects of clothing and textiles, the Society aims to encourage access to costume history, including contemporary dress.
- Design NationPromotes the work of some 100 of the most talented designers based in the UK.
- Independent Beauty AssociationComprised of more than 600 member companies representing a broad cross-section of the indie beauty industry. These include raw material and packaging suppliers, finished product manufacturers, brands, distributors, and retailers.
- MaterialDistrictMaterials District is a freely available website listing a good range of innovative materials with their uses and properties.
- RSN Stitch BankOngoing project from The Royal School of Needlework, The RSN Stitch Bank aims to digitally conserve and showcase the wide variety of the world’s embroidery stitches and the ways they have been used in different cultures and times.
- The Textile InstituteThe Textile Institute exists to promote professionalism in all areas associated with the textile industries worldwide. The individual professional expertise of members is diverse: management, art, design, economics, education, engineering, fashion, marketing, production, research, retailing, science, selling, sustainability, technical and training. These skills relate to the totality of industrial and commercial operations from fibre production to the use of products by individual and corporate consumers.
Trade Associations
- American Apparel and Footwear AssociationRepresents more than 1,000 world famous name brands.
- Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing IndustryCovers all key sectors of the industry.
- British Footwear AssociationProvides support, resources, training and guidance to their members. The BFA’s mission is to promote and celebrate British footwear, and the British footwear industry globally.
- The BeautyguildThe guild of beauty therapists are the biggest UK trade body for the professional beauty industry. Beauty Guild have been providing expert insurance cover for over 25 years and have around 15,000 members in the UK and across the world.