Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2019
This article investigates the dynamics that characterized the top fashion industry companies in Italy and Spain in the last three decades of the twentieth century and the first thirteen years of the new millennium. The first section describes the sources and the methodology adopted. The second compares the features and transformations of the largest firms in the industry. The third focuses on these companies in 2013. The fourth discusses our findings, focusing on the impact that globalization and a possible “advantage of backwardness” had on the emergence of Italy and Spain as trendsetters.
The authors would like to thank the referees and editor for their insightful comments and suggestions. We would also like to thank Obra Social “La Caixa” and Fundación Bancaria Caja Navarra, who generously financially supported the research on the Spanish case within the framework of the initiative “Ayudas para la Captación del Talento adscritas a los Institutos de Investigación de la Universidad Pública de Navarra” (Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics, Universidad Pública de Navarra).