If you are as fashion conscious as I am, which is minimal, you probably spend little time giving any thought to fashion. From the perspective of a business librarian, however, fashion is big business. According to both the U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook 1998 and the Encyclopedia of American Industry, between the production and wholesale sectors of the domestic market, this is a $100 billion industry. The popular image of fashion may radiate from the glitz and glamour of highpriced clothes, fashion models, and designer names, but the industry is far more complex.

It can be difficult to properly identify just what the fashion industry is. The NAICS manual barely mentions it. Rather, most fashion information in traditional business information sources is embedded in the more mundane apparel and retailing categories. But a whole stream of activities, from textile manufacturing to the development of color and pattern specifications to the vast amount of licensing activity, are encompassed in the world of fashion. Much of the big money is not in haute couture fashion design at all, but in the lucrative licensing of a designer name to products, such as cosmetics or perfumes, or retail outlet chains selling high-fashion knockoffs to the masses.

Fashion industry online sources fall into two distinct categories, textual and visual. Textual information is contained in the traditional trade publications. Two industry standards are WWD and Daily News Record. Several databases, including The Gale Group's Trade and Industry Database, provide full-text versions of these publications. Articles on publicly traded design houses, reports of industry trends, and other news and analysis stories can be retrieved through any number of online systems. Visual information is far more challenging to deliver in an electronic environment.

Fashion is a design art. Color, shapes, textures, shades, and patterns must be seen, not read about. The industry moves at a frenetic pace. New designs are frequently introduced, so rapid electronic distribution of information is highly desirable.

Worth Global Style Network (WGSN) brings all of these elements together in its Web-based information service. WGSN (http://www.worthstyle. com) is an online information source worth examining because it demonstrates the Web's remarkable capacity to revolutionize the delivery of industry information to the desktop. The Web is flooded with fashion sites (http://www.firstview.com is one), all loaded with graphic content. There is hardly a design house without a Web presence. The industry "Bible," WWD, also maintains a Web site with an online version of its publication (http://www.wwd.com). What makes WGSN different? Content is the key, supported by a mix of multimedia and Java applet technology that makes the system a one-stop center of incredibly up-to-date news, trend analysis, trade resources, and technical data, along with video transmission of the latest international catwalk scenes delivered within hours of the event. The system is tremendously easy to use. Other than needing to get familiar with the layout of the site, no technical online search knowledge is necessary.

THE ORIGINS OF WGSN WGSN is the creation of two brothers, Julian and Marc Worth. They are textile manufacturers from Nottingham, England. Seeing an obvious gap in the marketplace for fashion and textiles information, the Worths sought to develop an online information system that would do more than simply mount fashion photography on the Word Wide Web. WGSN is intended to serve as a universal source of news, trends, and resource listings for everyone in the trade, from fashion executive to fashion editor. The system first became available in July 1998. Since then, the system has grown to contain over 135,000 pages of information, and gained companies such as Courtaulds, Sears, Tommy Hilfinger, Liz Claiborne, Dayton Hudson, and Levi Strauss as subscribers.

According to an article in the November 12, 1998 Financial Times ("Catwalk wakes up to cutting edge cybertalk"), the service originally began as an Internet site, but its graphic load time was too slow. The alternative is daily satellite broadcasting. The satellite feed offers near instantaneous retrieval of site pages. While the satellite service is more costly, $9,350 compared to $6,000 for Internet access for a single-user flat-- fee annual subscription, the gap narrows as multiuser size increases. At five or more users, the satellite cost is slightly less than the Internet. Also, Worth includes the satellite dish, a required server, and installation in the cost of the subscription.

The database is organized around the major components of the industry. All are accessible with a click from the main screen. This includes the following sectors: news, city-to-- city, trends, catwalk, graphics, mailbox, resources, and technical.

MORE THAN JUST NEWS

Using a staff of journalists based in the major fashion capitals of the world, WGSN provides up-to-the-- minute news of fashion-related developments. All stories are available in full-text format. The News category of WGSN is divided into six sections: today's news, past week's news; news archive; features; trade event reports; and events calendar. The news delivery is straightforward. Today's News is a list of the latest stories, similar in look and feel to the "What's News" column on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Each story summary links to a full-text article. A recent example is an item on a hot, new, hiphop lifestyle Web site. News stories often include pictures. This one did, but lacked a link to the actual site mentioned in the article. The news stories are collected into the "past week" category before moving to the "archive" for long-term storage.

The archive contains all of the "today's news" collected since the service began, and will continue to add all additional stories. Naturally, you'd want an archive of stories to be searchable. This one is, but the search interface is simplistic. It finds only exact search strings. There is no Boolean search capability. As the archive grows, a date restriction feature should be added. The news provided by WGSN is timely, written with good detail, and provides wide coverage of industry events, but additional, external news sources could enhance the system. For example, users might want timely financial or economic news to supplement industry events. A WGSN representative told me that the firm subscribes to Reuters, and may be adding Reuters content to the archives in the future.

The most valuable information in the news category is found in the under the "features" heading. This section would be more appropriately named "industry analysis." It contains in-depth interviews with international design and retail leaders and reporting of industry developments. Features is not limited to the design and retail sectors of the industry, but also analyzes nitty-- gritty textiles concerns. Recent stories featured items such as the outlook for China's cotton crops, trends in the denim market, and the applications of smart fibers. One disappointment is that the features section is not searchable. I found an interesting article about wearable computers, but didn't take note of the area within Features containing the story. Having forgotten where it was, I had no way to search the content of the feature stories. The main page of Features lists the major reports in each category, by month. To its benefit, the features section is fully supported by graphics. What good would an article on "Men's Clothes Get Funky" be without some photos to illustrate just how funky?

WGSN is geared to the practitioner, with a wealth of resource information. The news area is no exception. It contains both a trade show roundup and an events calendar. From the Asia-Pacific Leather Show to Bobbin '98, the trade show summary provides both text and graphics to let those who could not attend know what happened at a trade show. The events calendar is more like an online trade show directory. Events are organized into categories such as fibers, textiles, hosiery, and interiors. If needed, you can search by keyword. If available, entries contain hypertext links to the Web site that contains more information on the show or to the site of the sponsoring organization.

ALMOST LIKE BEING AT A FASHION SHOW

The catwalk sector gives the user a virtual front row seat at the industry's top fashion shows. WGSN succeeds by delivering photographs and video footage of international catwalk shows just hours afterwards. The material is organized by fashion season, such as spring/summer 1998, and reports are available from the major fashion centers of London, Milan, New York, and Paris. The catwalk section of WGSN is probably the most visual and least textual of the system's offerings.

Users can choose to find information by city or collection. The city reports contain extensive catwalk photos organized by designer name. The photos typically, but not always, contain both women's and men's clothing lines. With so much graphical content, download time is an important consideration. On my office T-1 line, the system worked adequately. I also experimented with accessing WGSN with a 56K modem. It is possible, but the graphical pages loaded too slowly for comfort. At the time this article was prepared, I did not have an opportunity to work with the satellite version, which is the recommended mode of transmission for WGSN.

Catwalk photos are typically eight thumbnails to a page. Each thumbnail is linked to a full-screen size image. On my fair quality 15-inch monitor, the quality of the images was excellent. There is typically in the range of 100 photos for each design house. Navigating the photos can be done only eight per screen, so it is time-consuming to get to the end. It would improve efficiency to give each photo an accompanying accession number that could be used later to quickly connect to a specific photo. As it is now, if I need to get to photograph 99, I must go through the first 98 to get there. Photos for a specific season are accompanied by a "round-up" that includes summaries of major changes in color, fabrics, print textures, accessories, and even makes hemline projections. The one other area of text among the catwalk photos is the international designer overviews. Think of them as analysts' reports for a segment of the clothing industry. They provide detailed information that supplements the catwalk photography. For example, a report on menswear for the spring/ summer 1999 season reported on color, fabric, and pattern trends. The "key item" analysis offers detail by specific article of clothing. Here one can see and learn what the latest developments are in shirts, pants, sport clothes, and many other categories. I wasn't sure what a "Blouson Suit" was until I viewed the catwalk shots of this apparel oddity. After a review of the photos of male models in cropped pants and bare chests under sleeveless jackets, I knew I wouldn't be wearing one to the office. The "No-Suit Suit" on the other hand looks more to my tastes. It requires no necktie.

TRENDY INFORMATION

What is fashion about if not trends. Following trends is at the core of an information system for the fashion industry. WGSN delivers by anticipating and confirming ongoing industry trends and new developments in areas that include womenswear, menswear, children/ toddlers, activewear, and youthwear. Trend information is also organized into categories such as color, textiles, or by season. Here again the content is highly visual. How exactly do you describe colors such as carmine or palest petal pink? They must be shown. Color precision in fashion is critical, and one challenge of online transmission of color information is that on-screen appearance may differ slightly. To assure color correctness, WGSN always refers users to the Pantone Textile Color System. Pantone is the textile industry standard for color identification (carmine converts to color number 17-1744; the user looks up the color in the printed Pantone volume for exact color identification).

Fashion industry employees tend to be on the artistic side. So it's no surprise to find segments of WGSN characterized by a certain artistic flair. These often are the areas least clear in communicating to the user. Take for example the photos provided to illustrate the latest trends in textile fabrics. One of the coming themes is "open." A photo of a tangle of wires illustrated this. Since these themes are difficult to communicate, the graphics give the user a feeling for what the theme conveys. On a more practical note, there is great depth of information in the clothing trend information categories. This section is divided into even more specific segments, including consumer attitudes, apparel trends, and textile preview. Owing to the newness of WGSN, a number of the categories did not yet contain any active links (many indicated information coming soon). Those that did work, such as "color previews," bring an awesome amount of information to the desktop, in text and graphics.

IF YOU CAN'T SHOP IN PARIS, THIS IS THE NEXT BEST THING

Directory listings are common on traditional online hosts, but City-- by-City is a component of the system that gives a boost to the traditional directory listing. First, it concentrates specifically on the major fashion capitals of the world. Second, it provides a visual guide to the firms listed. Starting with a global map, a user can click on a city, and then go to a map that shows the major shopping districts in that city. For example, a map of New York is divided into several areas, including Fifth Avenue, Upper Midtown, and SOHO. Each of these areas is an image map so users click on the area they want to focus on and then link to a street grid of that area. All the stores in that area are organized into categories such as womenswear, menswear, activewear, and some non-clothing items such as food, lodging, and furniture/housewares. New stores recently opened or about to open are featured at the top of the page.

This layout makes good sense for a system used by fashion merchandisers. It provides an up-to-date listing of potential customers through a highly targeted delivery mechanism. Need to know where the Prada stores are in New York and London? They can be found with ease. WGSN's strength is providing visual content, and that is not forgotten in this sector of the system. Not only can one find out about fashion retailers on the street, but also photos provide a view of the products sitting on the shelves in those stores. There were many photos available to illustrate the latest trends, such as white dish sets, being shown in housewares shops. Giving a nod to the notion that not all fashion is found in high-end retail shops, City-byCity- also provides a service called "street style." You can visit any of the available cities to see a wide array of photos that show the latest trendy items being sported by the public. I was able to get a good idea of the latest fads in backpacks. Satchels with extra wide straps are hot this season, but must be worn with the strap over the front and the pack in the rear. A VARIETY OF FASHION UTILITIES

Fashion industry workers need to know more than just what the latest fashions are. For that reason, WGSN provides three industry specialized directories. The first of these is a graphics directory. A line of fashion merchandise typically has its own logo or design. A common example would be the Lacoste alligator or the polo player and pony found on many Ralph Lauren Polo items. The graphics directory is a library of original artwork, prints, and logos designed by the Worth organization's team of graphic designers. New collections of graphics are added weekly. The idea here is to give a designer looking for a logo some creative assistance. All the designs can be downloaded and edited. While WGSN identifies its the artwork as original, a disclaimer advises users to check all words and logos in the graphics for any potential copyright infringement.

The second directory is called the resource directory, and it contains two distinct types of business listings. The first is an international listing of licenses available in the textiles and fashion trades. The license file can be searched by all or part of a name. For example, a search on the name "Les Frogs" reveals that Proactive Sports Management owns the license. Dilbert is licensed on nearly every continent. The address and phone number of the licensor is provided. There is also an alphabetical browse list for all license names. A company name search quickly provides a list of all the licenses owned by Walt Disney.

The other portion of the resource directory is a more standard listing of fashion industry suppliers and services throughout the world. Each listing provides full contact information and a description of the company. The listings are divided into two categories, "good and services" and "manufacturers." Over 8,000 companies are included in the goods and services category. All the listings are organized by country, and then by a clothing or product category. It makes it possible for a fashion manufacturer to identify a dyeing house in Bavaria or a knitting machine factory in China. Despite the depth of information provided, some researchers may find it disappointing that the search mechanism is weak. There is, for example, no company name or classification scheme search capability. It would also be more helpful if the listing provided additional company information, such as the name of a contact person.

The technical directory is geared to the business side of the fashion industry. Soon to be activated, it will focus on practical information for conducting business, as well as providing technical data such as industry standards. This segment will also include information on doing business in specific countries, how to run a textile business, and the law of the textile industry. The next few months will see the addition of other utilities. The "mail box" will feature live, interactive chat sessions with industry leaders and personalities. The "bulletin board" will allow industry personnel to share information and news with each other. Finally, Worth will add a career resource and recruiting area where employers and job seekers can find one another.

CONCLUSION

Whatever comes to your mind when someone mentions the fashion industry, be it a vision of models parading the catwalks of Europe, the never-ending stream of clothing trends and fads on display in mainstream fashion magazines such as Vogue or GQ, or the absurdity of $3,000 dresses, like any other industry, fashion thrives on information. WGSN takes advantage of the latest communication and Internet technology to deliver information to the desktop, and does so in a way that requires virtually no learning curve. According to Marc Worth, the system was intentionally designed to be as untechnical as possible because fashion people are not computer people. Systems like WGSN may become the standard for industries where the workers are not technologically sophisticated, but require extremely up-todate information on a wide range of topics. WGSN is not a revolutionary product, but rather one more evolution in the design and development of Web-- based business information research databases.