The World of Fashion is the essential source for students who want to understand the fashion industry. Starting with an introduction to the history of fashion and its evolving role within the global marketplace, each chapter focuses on an aspect of the industry, from consumer behavior and fashion trends to textiles, product development, manufacturing, and merchandising. Each chapter has been fully updated to include new information and updated artwork. Fashion history has been updated to include current events and an added discussion of portfolio preparation provides complete coverage of careers in fashion. Unique chapters on the multicultural consumer and outsourcing fashion design, production, and management plus coverage of important industry trends such as social responsibility, eco-consciousness, social networking reflect the current state of the fashion industry.