Innovation intelligence and entrepreneurship in the fashion industry

Over the course of economic globalization, the innovation aspect of entrepreneurship has gained critical importance in almost all sectors, including the fashion industry. The emergence of an entrepreneurial economy stimulated a new type of competition in the fashion industry and changed the face and nature of the competitive advantage around the world. In this context, the introductory part of the study elaborates on “innovative entrepreneurship” by focusing on the theories and definitions of innovation and entrepreneurship. In the light of the eminent literature on innovation-related entrepreneurship we could argue that fashion businesses and fashion employers require high level of innovativeness and entrepreneurship to produce high performing firms. As specifically emphasized in the literature, innovation increases firm performance and contributes to competitive advantage. To support this argument, evidence on innovation-based entrepreneurs and how innovativeness relates to entrepreneurship were given from fashion companies, entrepreneur-fashion designers and their various innovations. The fashion industry provides numerous examples of individuals who are simultaneously inventors, owners and managers of fashion business firms. These emerged as a product of commercialized fashion ideas and design, manufacture, business or marketing methods that caused revolutionary or incremental change in the fashion industry. Their impact as elements of competitive advantage in the fashion industry is also highlighted. In the last part of the study, innovation management in the fashion industry is evaluated. Despite the high influence of fashion in modern society, its analysis from a management perspective has not been sufficiently conducted, and hence “fashion creativity and business intellect” have been categorically viewed separate. Today, global business of fashion requires sophisticated management techniques in addition to a high level of creativity and innovation in view of the rapid development of business strategies that relate to fashion management.