Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

This paper identifies the main challenges of diversity management faced by the fashion industry today and introduces diversity management research in the fashion industry. We want to provide to fashion scholars with suggestions to advance knowledge in diversity management. The issue of diversity is a hot topic in the fashion industry at the current moment. From embracing plus-size models to including various cultures, many fashion designers are developing open minds and progressing towards inclusiveness, rather than the exclusive stigma the fashion industry has evolved. For the moment, the academic world has paid little or no attention to research on the subject. It is striking how in other sectors, such as the tourism sector, exists solid research on the topic (Manoharan and Singal, 2017) and diversity fashion academic research remains unexplored. Firstly, we explore the existing central debates in the fashion industry using secondary sources of information. Then, we review the existing diversity management literature in the general business, deeply grounded in sociological, psychological, social-psychological, and management theories. We identify what theoretical debates lie behind these movements around diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry. This study’s results provide insight into areas of exploration that can significantly enhance the scholarship on diversity management in the fashion literature.