Institutional Failures and Innovation

The creation of an unstable triangle consisting of the textile industry, the clothing industry, and high fashion was a reflection of a demand structure that in the early 1960s allowed each component to fully exploit its own established and well-defined reference market. Transformations in Italian society disrupted the dualistic framework of the sector and altered the perspective of the many institutional bodies that aimed to represent the interests of individual firms (such as the AIIA, Associazione Italiana Industriali dell’Abbigliamento) or to lead the entire movement (such as the EIM—Ente Italiano della Moda— and the CNMI—Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana). Throughout the 1970s, many of the main institutions, associations, and organizations that had been involved in protecting and promoting Italian fashion gradually withdrew from the scene. The only body that managed to survive was the CNMI. In this chapter, we will examine the impact the changes described in the preceding chapters had on the institutional framework of Italian fashion and the actors who facilitated the consolidation of the Italian fashion system in international markets during the 1980s.