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From spacesuits to style icons: University of Delaware fashion grads make their mark on the industry

One of the best measures of a college program is where their alums land after graduation and beyond. In addition to the impressive list of soon-to-be degree holders who have already landed excellent jobs, the University of Delaware's fashion and apparel studies program can boast a roster of alums who now have prominent positions with some of the industry's most iconic companies as well as major retailers. Faculty at UD can talk about the materials that make up the proverbial fabric of their hidden gem of a program on the campus in Newark, Delaware. A quick snapshot of what some of the alums are up to: • Two students who have developed materials for space programs, including one who developed spacesuit textiles for future lunar missions. • A fashion merchandising graduate degree holder who now is a point person for sustainability at Tapestry, the home of iconic brands like Coach and Kate Spade. • High ranking executive at Target Brands. • An alum with a resume that includes Ralph Lauren and now Steve Madden. • Textile assistant with The Kasper Group, whose portfolio includes Nine West, Anne Klein, Kasper, Le Suit and Jones New York. Among this year's graduates is a star field hockey player from Argentina who landed a job at fashion retailer Moda Operandi; an award-winning student who will continue her pursuit of "changing the world" and making the fashion industry more sustainable as a graduate student at UD; and an entrepreneurship minor who paired her experience playing volleyball with design research that resulted in more comfortable apparel for athletes. To speak to one of these past or future graduates, contact mediarelations@udel.edu. Faculty from the program are also available for interviews: Huantian Cao, professor and department chair; Sheng Lu, professor and graduate director; and Brenda Shaffer, associate chair and undergraduate director.

Five Tips to Choose Sustainable Fashion

Getty Images Fast Fashion is the most popular trend in retail fashion today. Fast Fashion isn’t a specific style but rather clothing produced quickly and cheaply to respond instantly to consumer demand. Low prices and popular online retailers allow people to purchase clothing more often but at a devastating cost to the environment. According to EarthDay.org, the fashion industry is one of the largest global polluters, creating 4% of all greenhouse gas emissions, 40 million tons of landfill waste and 35% of microplastics in the ocean. According to fashion expert Jay Yoo, Ph.D., associate professor of apparel merchandising in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University, consumers are learning more about the environmental impacts of fashion and searching for better options. Fashion expert Jay Yoo, Ph.D., associate professor of apparel merchandising in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University Fashion expert Jay Yoo, Ph.D. Yoo’s research shows that purchasing apparel products that help reduce negative impacts on the environment has emerged as a lifestyle. “Fashion-conscious consumers are ready and willing to forgo fast fashion for more sustainable options produced in an ecologically and socially responsible way,” said Yoo. Yoo recommends five ways you can use your purchasing power to support sustainable fashion. Choose natural fibers - organic cotton, linen or hemp. Avoid clothing that requires dry cleaning. Donate to and shop at resale stores. Purchase from retailers that are committed to sustainability. Encourage your friends to join you in supporting sustainable fashion. Although fashion is often understood to center on apparel choices, fashion impacts nearly every aspect of human lives, Yoo said, including health, social responsibility and environmental issues involving consumptive behaviors. His additional research interests include appearance-related behaviors and their implications for individual and social well-being from consumer perspectives, from body-tanning behaviors, body image and quality of life among cancer patients, retail therapy and mental health, and irrational shopping and extreme body modification.

Baylor Researcher Seeks to Understand the Drive for the Perfect Tan

Despite being one of the most preventable cancers, the desirability of tanning is often stronger than the dangers of harmful UV exposure. Getty Images With summer on the horizon, the quest for the perfect tan has begun. However, there is no such thing as a healthy tan. Despite being one of the most preventable cancers, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, with more than 5 million cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Baylor University researcher Jay Yoo, Ph.D., associate professor of apparel merchandising in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, found that the social and cultural influences on the desirability of tanning – which has been associated with good health and an active lifestyle since the 1920s – is often stronger than the dangers of harmful UV exposure. “The appeal of a tan is so strong in U.S. culture, it may be difficult for some people to stop or even reduce the amount of tanning,” Yoo said. In his 2019 study, “Identifying factors that influence individuals’ intentions to quit body tanning: A sociocultural perspective,”, published in the international journal Social Behavior and Personality, Yoo identified what motivates people to seek the “perfect” tan. Yoo surveyed 385 college students to understand how society effects their tanning behaviors and intention to quit tanning. His research found that the greatest influence on reducing risky tanning behavior was the perceived attractiveness from tanning, whereas skin-aging concerns positively influence their intention to quit tanning. FINDINGS Yoo’s findings provide important implications for skin cancer prevention campaigns. Instead of promoting the message of body tanning as an unhealthy behavior, focusing instead on untanned healthy bodies as a positive image can serve as an effective approach to decreasing skin cancer incidence. Using messages that accentuate a healthy body without tanned skin should be promoted to boost a positive body image and to reduce the likelihood of engaging in risky tanning behaviors. ACTIONS To protect yourself and look great, the Skin Cancer Foundation recommends: Avoid tanning entirely: It’s the best way to safeguard against unhealthy, unsightly skin damage. Fake, don’t bake: If you want a golden glow, consider sunless tanning products. There are many options, but remember, when in the sun, you still need sun protection. Tone, don’t tan: Get radiant skin through exercise. Working out feels good and boosts your mood. Hydrate and eat great: Drink lots of water and choose whole, unprocessed foods. You don’t need to tan to look slim and your skin will thank you.

Find out how GSU is fighting fast fashion and promoting sustainability with students on campus

Sustainability Programs at Georgia Southern University recently teamed up with student organization Fashion Menagerie, a group of fashion merchandising and apparel design students, to fight fast fashion by hosting the first campus thrift store on the Statesboro Campus. Fast fashion is a textile trend where clothes are mass-produced to be quickly sold and thrown away. “Tons of textile waste gets dumped from people throwing away their clothes, even the ones that are lightly used, but more clothing is constantly being produced,” said Geneisa Ragin, president of Fashion Menagerie. “This thrift store can help our campus prevent that increase of waste and give students a sustainable way to donate and shop that can discourage fast fashion production.” Cami Sockow, Sustainability Programs coordinator, said in addition to being wasteful, fast fashion is often characterized by poor work conditions, such as underpayment, child labor, physical and verbal abuse, and working long hours. “The social costs of fast fashion are immensely under discussed,” Sockow said. “We largely leave out the social conversation when we discuss sustainability, but this is a great example of how many social costs ensue with our addiction to consumption. So while we pay a low economic cost, we need to start asking ourselves if it is worth the social and environmental ones.” Clothing donors received shopping credits at the thrift store for each item they donate. The thrift store also gave shopping credits for donations of nonperishable food items, hygiene products and cleaning supplies to the Eagle Essentials Food Pantry. On campus programs like this provide perspective and lived experiences from students and faculty – and if you are a journalist looking to know more about Georgia Southern’s Sustainability Programs – then let us help. Cami Sockow and Geneisa Ragin are available for interviews — simply reach out to Georgia Southern Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to set and time and date.

Why Some Mannequins Are Turning Blue, Taking a Dive and Putting on Weight

Baylor University fashion expert and author explains new twists in 'silent selling' -- and why frustrated customers may be relieved Women have long griped about pencil-thin mannequins in clothing displays, saying they bear little resemblance to real women’s bodies and make shopping frustrating and depressing. But the criticism is beginning to make inroads, and some members of the apparel industry are introducing changes to stop idealizing thin bodies and make mannequins more inclusive — among them creating mannequins with curvier shapes, modeling the figures after disabled people and, in a very different approach, fashioning forms that are totally unrealistic, says Baylor University researcher Lorynn Divita, Ph.D., co-author of the textbook "Fashion Forecasting” and associate professor of apparel merchandising in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. And more change may be in the works, prompted by research. A 2017 study published in the Journal of Eating Disorders found that 100 percent of the female mannequins studied in two large English cities represented an underweight body size — one that would be “medically unhealthy.” (Note: While female mannequins look scrawny, many of their male counterparts are brawny. Only 8 percent of male mannequins represented an underweight body size — although many appeared “unrealistically muscular,” researchers said.) Divita, who conducts research on the apparel industry, tracks trends and makes fashion predictions, offers some observations in this Q&A: Q: If mannequins are supposed to be a “silent seller” and a strong method for attracting customers, why are they so skinny that it is discouraging to women who are average or bigger? Why can’t their makers pack a few extra plastic pounds on them? A: For one thing, mannequins are expensive. The material for one that’s larger is going to cost more, the same way it is for plus-size garments, because you use more material. Typical department store mannequins can cost on average $500 to $900, and it can cost $150 just to repair a joint on a broken mannequin. In New York, where the retail industry is widely unionized, in some stores the sales associates are not allowed to touch the store mannequins. That responsibility is solely for visual merchandisers as a means of protecting the store’s investment. Another reason smaller mannequins have been appealing to retailers is that smaller dimensions make it easier to put on and remove clothing. Q: Wouldn’t it be worth the investment to make them bigger to showcase more realistic or inclusive figures and attract those customers? A: I recently visited the corporate offices of plus-size design company ELOQUII in New York, and their creative director, Jodi Arnold (B.S.H.E. ’88), shared with me that 65 percent of U.S. women are over size 14. Yet they represent only 17 percent of apparel spending. It’s hard to determine cause and effect: are they not spending on apparel because a wide variety of options aren’t available? Or is it that a wide variety of options are not available because this market does not spend on apparel? ELOQUII is betting on the former. In addition to their online store, they’ve recently begun opening brick-and-mortar storefronts which, unlike their website, feature merchandise on mannequins. Hopefully as the plus-sized apparel market continues to grow, the increased demand for plus-sized mannequins will result in wider representation of mannequin body types overall. Q: If most mannequins don’t reflect the majority of women’s physiques, where does the inspiration come for their sizes and shapes? A: Many mannequins can be sculpted using the measurements of live models or even have their proportions based on a celebrity who has a widely admired figure. Just like there is no standard apparel sizing system for women, there is no standard sizing system for display mannequins. Q: Besides beginning to be a bit more realistic in size, how are mannequins evolving? A: We are used to traditionally seeing mannequins in static poses like standing or sitting. With the rise in popularity of activewear, stores are devoting more floor space to this merchandise category, and it only makes sense to put those mannequins in dynamic positions like doing yoga poses or running. Another great example of dynamic poses can be found in swimwear: there are some great displays of mannequins diving. The impact of dynamic poses such as these are heightened when mannequins are displayed in groups of five or seven. Dynamic poses are currently being taken to the next level by actually suspending mannequins from the ceiling, so who knows how far this trend can go? One way to address representation is to go in the opposite direction and make a mannequin that is totally unrealistic. The last time I was shopping, I saw an entire section merchandised with glossy light-blue mannequins. This is actually a very clever way of appealing to everyone by targeting no one. Another interesting thing is that new technology allows visual merchandisers to creatively alter a mannequin’s appearance without changing it permanently by printing vinyl stickers to affix to mannequins’ faces. Merchandisers can print out bold lips or dramatic eyelashes, affix them to the mannequin in the display and easily take them off when they are done, which gives visual merchandisers yet another way to attract our attention. ABOUT LORYNN DIVITA, Ph.D. Divita is the author of the textbook “Fashion Forecasting” (Fourth edition, Fairchild Books). Her publications have appeared in the Journal of the Textile Institute and Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, both published in England; Clothing and Textiles Research Journal and Journal of Textile and Apparel Technology and Management. She is the United States editor for the Bloomsbury Fashion Business Case Studies project and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Fashion, Style and Popular Culture. Divita received her B.A. in French and B.S. in fashion merchandising from California State University Chico, her Master’s degree in apparel manufacturing management from University of Missouri, and her Ph.D. in textile products marketing from University of North Carolina at Greensboro.